Getting A Head Start On Your New Year’s Renovations
Every year, there’s lots of talk about New Years resolutions, those wishful, aspirational goals we set for ourselves – every new year is a new chance to become a better, happier person, which is pretty awesome. In this post, however, we’ll be discussing New Year’s renovations, which you can think of as like New Year’s resolutions for your home. To renovate something literally means to “restore it to a good state of repair”, and here we’ll look at a few ways you maximize your home’s potential, whether you live in an apartment, condo, house or houseboat (ok, you probably don’t live in a houseboat), and how you make effective use of your newly renovated space with solid wood furniture.
Renovations can be quite an undertaking, so it helps to start thinking about things early, plotting out what you’d like to do differently in your home, and budgeting for the time and materials it will take to see your vision come into fruition. And because renovations are an undertaking, that budgeting should take into account longevity; if you’re going to renovate this year, you want to choose features and furniture that will last a long time, both physically and aesthetically.
A popular place to start is the kitchen. Instead of the bog-standard stainless steel kitchen sink, go for something that will add charm, like porcelain, or something that looks old-fashioned and rustic, like copper. Wood paneling around the kitchen, as well as “butcher block” countertops further this bespoke theme and make your kitchen appear more relaxed and welcoming. Pair it with matching furniture that’s been lovingly made like one of our Woodcraft dining room tables (if you’re living in an apartment where the kitchen and dining rooms are adjoined) or rustic buffets or sideboards to store napkins and silverware.
If you have stairs in your home, a good, practical renovation is to make the most out of the space underneath it. Adding sliding drawers underneath, or a solid wood cabinet like our Riverdale 5 Drawer Hiboy, boosts the efficiency of your storage space, while adding charm and decoration to a corner of the house traditionally without. The same can be said for any space in your house that is a “dead space” – a space that is not functional, or is just wall. People have taken to installing built-in wine racks where there’s dead space, proving that there’s no limit to the ingenuity of a wine-lover.
But why be constrained to renovating existing space? Why not make your own room? A popular renovation idea is the addition of a mudroom, a room that serves as a transition between outside and inside. This space often includes mats for stomping away any excess dirt your shoes may have dragged in, a shoe rack for easy organization, and plenty of hooks to hang jackets, coats, hats and baseball gloves. For a mudroom, it goes without saying that you’ll want a surface that is easy to clean (i.e. not carpet), like tile or hardwood, and ample lighting.
As for the rest of your place, there are plenty of personal touches you can make, like a new entertainment unit in the living room, or a new statement sideboard in the dining room; check out our latest promotions to find deals on all of these items in handcrafted, solid Canadian wood. Before you start your personal resolutions, celebrate this New Year by improving your surroundings, starting with solid wood furniture and practical design choices.