Record Your Home Improvements

Will that new HDTV and home entertainment center fit in your existing space, or will you have to remodel the room to make it fit? How can you communicate the size available vs. the size needed? Do you know what's there now and what was there previously?

What did your living room look like before you remodeled it? What will it look like after the furniture is re-arranged? Your inventory and photo records help make the job of moving furniture matching wall colors, and shopping for new wall and floor coverings a lot easier!

Begin by looking through the old photos taken during the holiday seasons or other occasions. They will help you put together a more detailed sketch of what the rooms looked like at earlier times. These will give you an idea of how the room looked at that time. They may also reveal before remodeling issues like walls or doorways that have been changed.

Now is the time to update views of your rooms. Take photos of various directions of the room. The color photos may even be taken without flash to give you a better idea of how natural window lighting impacts overall view and shadows in the room. Take photos at eye level when standing in the entry, seated in your favorite chair and from a child's eye view.

Copies of these photos can then be added to the room inventory that you develop and maintain from now on as you make changes and update room furnishings. Some of the current photo storage and software options permit storing the file off site. This can be extremely valuable if you ever have a flood, fire or other disaster.

A more valuable benefit of these records comes during the shopping phase prior to purchase of window coverings, wallpaper, paint, art, furniture or floor coverings. These references should also contain reference measurements like room width, room length and ceiling height. While you're measuring, don't forget to measure door widths and sketch out the locations and measurements for wall electrical outlets, hearing and air conditioning vents and registers.

With the current schedule of communication changes, especially HDTV, many consumers are purchasing new, larger screed HDTV units. While the sales people are very helpful at suggesting a larger screen format, you may find that it is just too big for the space available!

How do you plan to upgrade the present equipment and furnishings? Can you do it yourself? If you plan to have someone else do it like a local handyman or interior design or home furnishing company, your planning, outlined above can greatly reduce down time, cost and ultimate satisfaction with the finished job.

Dennis Bries
http://briespix.com Home and Yard Improvements don't 'just happen' they need to be planned.