The Domino Effect
Have you ever played dominos before? It’s so fun to line them all up and then knock the first one over and watch the others fall.
This is an amazing display of falling dominos!When I'm called in to help our clients fall in love with their homes, I typically see a domino effect. We usually start in one room and before we know it, we've seen other rooms and quite possibly the entire house. So why does this happen?
Everything Relates to Everything
It’s impossible to think of your home as separate pieces. A home, although it may have many pieces such as a family room, a kitchen, bedrooms, etc., they all are related to each other (or should be related to each other). So when I get called in to see a guest bedroom, we tackle the guest bedroom and then end up moving on to the next area. Why? Because when things need to be moved from the guest bedroom, they end up in a different room OR my clients see the change and want to address more changes in the home.If you've ever gone through a renovation or are thinking of a renovation, you will definitely see the domino effect.
Image credit – Get It Together
Take this image as an example. My clients wanted to fall in love with their home and knew a couple of renovations they tackled on their own did not relate to each other. The domino effect here: they had white cabinets and then had black granite installed (a classic choice). However, they really like the warm earthy tones of brown so they installed a brown backsplash. This is an example of mixing dirty and clean colours together. White and black do not go with brown. Plain and simple – they will never look right. When we talked about changing out the brown backsplash, we then needed to look at the brown paint that was also not helping out this kitchen.
Image credit – Get It Together
That led to talking about paint in their entire home, then on to the trim colour, and then...the entire home. It’s a domino effect.
See What I Mean?
I was recently talking to my brother-in-law about our upcoming renovation and the domino effect we have. On my list are the following:
- Repaint kitchen cupboards.
- New Kitchen counters.
- Replace and paint all trim work and interior doors.
- Repaint all walls.
- Replace all flooring.
These are the big things happening however, knowing that everything relates to each other, there’s a domino effect; here is where our dominos fall:
- Since our kitchen is getting a new paint job, the current hardware on our cabinets will need to be replaced. Could we keep what we have? Yes, but our cabinets will not look updated so they have to be changed.
- Since we are getting new paint on our cabinets, our current backsplash will need to be replaced. Could we keep our current backsplash? Yes however we will then have an updated kitchen with a dated backsplash. Will the backsplash stay? Let me think about that for a second - NO!
- Since we are getting new counters, we will be in need of a new kitchen sink and faucet. Could we keep our current sink and faucet? No. They will not work with our new counter as it will look like new counter, old sink and faucet. If we're going to do this, we're going to do this right.
- Since we are getting new backsplash in our kitchen, our tile around both fireplaces will need to be replaced. Could we keep what we have already? Oh no, no, no.
- Since we are getting new flooring, we need to look at a good entrance mat (since we have snow which equates to wet boots that come through the front door).
- Since our entire main floor is going to have an entire makeover, our current blinds on our windows will need to be changed. Could we keep our current window coverings? Yes however, we'll have a totally updated main floor with dated blinds. That is not the look I'm going for so the blinds will need to be changed to a more classic style that will last throughout the trends.
See What I Mean?
Plan it Out
As our list continues to grow, will we be able to do everything on our list all at once? Not unless we win the lotto. HOWEVER, there is a plan in place so that when spring rolls around and we've got a little bit more renovation money set aside, the next thing on the list can get done. As my husband tells me, “Rome wasn't built in a day.” And what I continue to tell him is that I will only live through one renovation so all the yucky, gross work is going to get done all at once (kitchen, flooring, tile, backsplash, etc). The key is to have a plan so that when you can get to the next step, you're ready to go and your home will have the desired flow you are looking for.
Wishing to fall in love with your home, see how we can help!
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