Many homeowners love home makeovers. They’re the ones you see in home improvement stores comparing granite and marble tile pieces, who have their decorator on speed dial, and who know which home auctions to attend. They’re the lucky ones. However, for many home owners, it’s difficult to start a makeover because they don’t know what they want.
Fortunately, plenty of resources exist that are designed to inspire great home makeovers. If you’re one of those who’s facing a makeover with no idea where to start, take a look at these four ideas to get you started.
Parade of Homes
Many cities have a Parade of Homes event a couple of times a year, usually in the fall and spring. Real estate companies normally set them up. The Parade of Homes allows people to come inside the homes in the parade to look around. These homes feature high-end materials, interesting floor plans, and beautiful landscaping.
Many people participate in the tours just to have a gander at homes they wouldn’t see otherwise. However, for the homeowner looking for design inspiration, few better options exist. If you opt for this route, be sure to ask if you can take photos of the homes. If you can take photos, start a computer file for the photos and label them so you know what drew you to them in the first place.
TV Shows
TV shows like “Trading Spaces,” “Property Brothers,” and others give you plenty of home design and decorating inspiration. They’re also on constantly, so they’re easy to catch up with when you have some time to watch TV.
Additionally, many of these shows also get featured on websites like HGTV’s site. This allows you to watch episodes again and even take screenshots of features that you like. Some of these shows even feature step-by-step instructions for doing a home makeover.
If you’re a homeowner on a budget, this is a nice feature to take advantage of. And when you’re lacking design inspiration, this can be one of the easiest routes to take to makeover heaven.
Social Media
These days savvy home designers and decorators like Hilary Farr of Rules of Renovation keep active social media accounts. Through them, sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram become photo galleries for the homeowner searching for makeover ideas. You can aggregate these social media accounts with features like Twitter lists or Facebook groups to help you keep better track of them.
Design Websites
Websites like Houzz, Apartment Therapy, and Ask the Decorator count as some of the go-to places on the web to find makeover and design inspiration. Some of these sites feature more photo essays, allowing you to glean some inspiration: They don’t always include instructions for implementing the makeovers.
Others, however, do. You’ll want to bookmark both types of sites once you find them. You’ll particularly want to keep track of pages that offer inspiration. Aside from bookmarking your sites on pages like Safari or Google, you can use sites like Zotero to organize your bookmarked links.
Making your home over can be a fun process if you know what you want to do. However, if you’re stumped for ideas, some of the fun gets taken out of the process. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. Plenty of sources of inspiration exist, including social media sites, TV shows, and websites. If you’re stumped about your home makeover, visit these resources to get your inspiration kickstarted again.
