You’ve had this redesign in your mind for years. You can picture how beautiful and expansive your kitchen could feel if you just knocked down a wall and put in an island. Or maybe you’ve had a vision for your outdoor oasis and it’s just matter of designing your dreams.

Whatever improvements you see when you look at your home, what stands in most of our way is the simple matter of the dollars not making sense. Here’s how you can budget and save for that renovation project of your dreams.

Dream it, then research it

Any great design first starts with a vision. See what you want your space to look like. Draw it out, even if you can’t draw. The more real you make your design dreams, the more you will have something tangible to reach for. Once you have a firmer grasp on your plans, you can then begin the research necessary to find out what you need, how much things will cost and where you can potentially cut corners and save. Don’t slouch on the research. The more informed you are on your project, the more accurate your budget will be and you’ll be more educated when you meet with an architect.

Build the budget

All the thorough research you did will lead you to create a detailed and accurate budget. Make sure to allow some cushion for the unexpected, which always comes up in renovation and construction.

Meet with an architect or designer

With a solid budget, you can then consult with a designer or architect and see if they can work within your financial plan. A professional should always give you a reasonable look at the cost of a project, as well as their estimate of how likely it is a project can be completed within a given budget.

Feed the piggy bank

Before you start knocking down walls, you’re going to want to have some savings set aside. You could designate a savings account to home renovations and formulate a savings strategy by estimating your overall budget and looking at your finances to see how much you can reasonably put away each month. You may have to review your household and lifestyle expenses to see where you can trim the fat but every little bit can help as you add to your savings.

Renovation as investment

One way to frame a renovation is as an improvement to your home that will ultimately increase your equity and investment. Some renovations can pay off in the long run. Just make sure to consult with a designer or architect to thoroughly discuss what particular renovations can add value to your home.

Thank you COVID?

While it might seem a little counterintuitive at this point to thank COVID for helping with our savings, consider how being confined has helped with the budget. Vacations, for example, are budgeting items that got forced off of most of our lists.

Business Insider found that the typical American family spends around $2,000 on a summer vacation. That number keeps jumping up depending on whether you’re traveling domestic or international, how big your family is, what kind of accommodations you’re staying in and how large you’re living while on vacation. Let’s say you average 4 vacations a year, some are shorter or longer than others, but if you could potentially spend $2,000 or more per trip, that’s $8,000 you’re potentially saving. Guess where that $8,000 could go?

Additionally, people are eating at home more, dining out less, and saving money. There are fewer recreational options like movies, theme parks and other places we go to use our disposable income. As some businesses where we normally spend our money have had to limit their hours or close their doors altogether, we are inadvertently saving money. Add to that the fact that we are spending more time in our homes and it makes complete sense that we’d want to invest in beautifying our surroundings with home renovations and redesigns.

While it never hurts to build that savings account, sometimes finding the budget for our home renovations is a matter of rethinking and reallocating our current expenses. Sometimes it’s a matter of building renovations into a larger investment plan for the equity of our homes.

However you save and wherever you find space to build the budget, Debowsky Design can work with you to design your dreams with the plan that makes sense for you.