6 Helpful Tips For Your Next Living Room Remodel Project

While bedrooms are very important for every individual’s piece and identity, the living room is probably the most important place for the family as a whole. This is the area where all of us entertain, relax, sit around the TV, and discuss family issues. This is the place of living and every member of the household should feel safe and comfortable in it, which is why a living room remodel is usually the first and sometimes the only step of interior remodeling.

Both listing and selling agents are real estate agents and they help their clients get the best offer out there, but the main difference is precisely the client. A selling agent represents a homebuyer, while a listing agent represents a home seller. Oftentimes one real estate agent can do both jobs, depending on the client, but some agents prefer to specialize in one or the other. There are cases when one agent represents both parties during a transaction, but it is frowned upon and an agent has to show unwavering unbiased.The right kind of planning can help you make the process less stressful, as it can get messy and tiring. Living room renovation can bring unplanned costs, mess up your home, and bring overall frustration to your household. It doesn’t have to be this way if you do the first few steps right.

Look at your living room and note the things you do not like, write them on a piece of paper, and try to calculate the possible budget for that project. If the budget seems too high for you, prioritize the things you need to do that fit into your budget. In this article, we laid out some tips and ideas for your next living room remodel, many of which will work for you even if you are doing it on a budget.

Living Room Remodel Factors to Consider

You need to factor in the size, layout, style, and budget when planning your remodeling project. These four things will depend on one another, and you need to be precise with all of them before you start tearing something down or buying furniture.

Having the right dimensions for your living room will save you a lot of trouble in the long run. Apart from the standard room dimensions: length, height, and depth, you need to measure angles, windows, wall surface, and any unusual corners that you might have. Knowing the exact size of the place will help you plan the budget, as many contractors get paid by the square foot.

The dimensions of the existing area could help your living room remodel if you are looking for a change in the layout. Layout change might affect the size or it can mean changing the flow of the room - adding or removing a window, or rearranging the furniture.

Style is subjective, so there is no need to make big changes if you like the general feel of it right now. On the other hand, living room remodel ideas are everywhere on the internet if you wish to reevaluate your style and then you can decide if you are going to change it. Styling your interior may require some layout changes, but it is also possible to do it on the budget.

Important Decisions

After you have established the key living room remodel factors, you need to make two decisions that will correspond with your wishlist and the budget - the first one being whether you’ll DIY it and to which extent. Are you going to hire a professional and what for? Additionally, you will need to decide if you are going to do a minor or a major remodel.

Sometimes homeowners skip out on professional help because they want to save some money, but it comes back to haunt them after the first unskilled mistake. So you need to objectively evaluate your own skill and knowledge, as well as the scope of the project of the living room remodel.

DIY vs Hiring a Professional

“Do it yourself” projects can be so much fun, a way to connect with the family and save some money. But they can also be frustrating and more expensive than what it would originally have cost had you hired a professional. That is why you should choose wisely what part of your living room remodel is DIY-friendly and when it is time to hire someone who knows what to do.

There are only several things you can accomplish by watching a YouTube video. For example, you can probably repost a sofa with appropriate tools, but you might not be as skilled in tiling a wall. Do not overestimate your home repair skills, because it can be more expensive and difficult to restore an unskilled mistake than to “hire a guy”.

The Extent of the Renovation

If you are about to change the whole layout of the house during your living room remodel, you are probably deciding on a major renovation. If, however, you are covering your walls with paint and buying new furniture, that is a minor renovation.

Minor renovations can usually be DIY projects, although that is not always the case. On the other hand, major renovation should not be done without the help of skilled labor. Not only that it is not profitable, but it is also unsafe. Major renovations take more time to finish, and you sometimes have to find temporary housing if demolition is a part of your living room remodel.

Rearrange Your Living Space

A living room is a specific area that historically had a focal point - a TV or a fireplace, and the rest of the furniture is arranged around that one thing. If you have a fireplace it could be harder to change the layout, but a TV is easily transferable, so moving it to another wall can change the entire room’s appearance.

Oftentimes, homeowners line up all of their furniture against the walls even though there is a big space in the middle of the conversation area. This creates imbalance and disrupts the intimacy of the living room. Just pulling your furniture away from the walls can freshen up the room and make it feel cozier and furnished.

Paint and Wallpaper

Sometimes what a room needs is just a fresh coat of paint to look its best. Other times it is not as easy, but finding the right color pallet for your living room is going to change how you feel inside this area. A living room remodel can just be a two-day DIY project if you decide to glue the wallpaper on. This could transform your sitting area from an ordinary room to a luxurious space for the whole family.

If you are up for a challenge, you could change the texture of the walls, or create an accent wall made out of stone or wood. These projects take a bit more meticulous work and preparation, and you will most likely need skilled help. However, glued-on wallpaper is the easiest wall decor for a living room and is less expensive than all others.

Another detailed project that could spruce up your living space is the addition of crown moldings. This is such a small decorative detail in your living room remodel project, but it adds luxury and elegance, and it doesn’t have to be expensive. You can find finished moldings and trims in different sizes, shapes, and materials in craft stores.

Lighting Revamp

A living room needs to be a warm and comfortable place, and if you don’t feel like your living room gives off that energy, it is probably due to bad lighting. There are two ways to improve your lighting situation: adding more windows or changing the electric light sources.

Adding a window in your living room is of course a much more demanding job than buying a new lamp, but it is not impossible. Not only by adding a window can you create more light transmission, replacing old windows with new ones can help you achieve the same effect.

Adding a new lighting source and creating ambient lighting in your living room can upgrade the space on a budget. Having a ceiling light as your only source of light in the living room can make it cold and uninviting, especially if that light is white-colored. Adding a few table lamps and floor lamps will make your living room remodel easy and quick.

You can also add LED strips around your shelves and make them look like luxurious displays, instead of just plain old book racks. Once you realize that giving your living room a makeover can mean just adding some inexpensive details, you will save so much money and time.

Flooring and Carpeting

If your carpet looks old and dusty, if your tiles are cracked, or your wooden floors look splintered and dry - there is no expensive furniture to cover that. Flooring is what you need to invest in, before anything else, and it doesn’t even have to be a costly investment.

Yes, if you plan on putting marble flooring in your living room it can cost a lot of money, but materials like linoleum or laminate flooring can be a great living room remodel idea for a limited budget.

Hardwood floors are very popular and luxurious, but it is expensive and high-maintenance, as opposed to bamboo flooring - which is less expensive and low-maintenance. However, bamboo floors can swell in humid areas, so we advise you to use them if you live somewhere in dry weather.

Red (and other colored) oxide is a popular flooring situation in many tropical countries because it is cost-effective and not prone to damage. The downside is that it is hard to find skilled contractors in the US.

Floor tiling is a good idea for a high traffic area such as a living room, as they are durable and easy to clean. The only downside is that they can feel cold, as opposed to carpets which feel warm and cozy.

Create More Space

Creating more space during your living room remodel project can mean either tearing up the wall and adding more physical space or using some tricks to manipulate the eye. Demolishing a wall to create more space is a major renovation, and you need skilled professionals to check where your load-bearing walls are.

If you don’t have more space to spread your living area, having pale-colored walls and especially ceilings is a must. Adding reflective surfaces, like mirrors and other finishes is going to help, but do not overdo it. Add storage to put away stuff you do not frequently use because decluttered space looks wider. How do you renovate a small living room? Decluttering is the best way to do it on a budget.

Use color in a way to enunciate space, and textures to create coziness. If you put an area rug, do not make it too small as it will feel too jammed, and install the curtains and shelves at the top of the wall to make it look elongated.

Furniture: New or Renew

There are many living room designs and sitting room ideas on the internet, which suggest buying new furniture. First, if you decide to buy new stuff, make sure to buy something that will not go out of style in a few years. A living room remodel should not be a frequent project, especially if it is a major renovation. And second, if you were wondering “how do I renovate my living room on a budget?”, the answer is revamping existing furniture, instead of buying new.

Renovation of the old doesn’t necessarily mean buying new, as you can restore an old couch by cleaning it thoroughly, reposting it with new material, and adding decorative stands. The same goes for cabinets, doors, and shelves: fresh paint and new decorative details will save you thousands of dollars worth of furniture.

Why Are You Remodeling?

An important question to ask yourself is why am I remodeling? Is it to make my living area more comfortable or functional for my family? Or am I just looking for a way to invest so I can attract more buyers and get a higher price when selling?

If you are looking to sell your house, there is no need for a living room remodel, because SleeveUp Homes looks for potential in your home and offers top dollar for it. You can request a no-obligation cash offer and decide if you really need to change your living room design or if you can simply sell as-is.

Author:

Zachariah Peterson , CMO /

Zach has broad experience in marketing, technology, and finance, and he has held leadership positions at multiple startups since 2017.

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