Guide to Deciding on Rental Renovations
As we’ve shared, our real estate investment strategy focuses on updating houses and adding basement suites. This increases the value and equity in our homes (which can be leveraged) as well as creates …
Category: Renovations
Why Every Couple Needs a No Reno Zone
During our first renovation together, we got to the point where the reno was all we talked about. There was constant assessing, planning and obsessing about the renovation. It didn’t help that we …
Eating Area Turned Playroom
What do you do when you don’t use your eating area? Turn it into a playroom, of course! We desperately needed a way to contain our now very mobile baby and we haven’t …
What’s your Renovation Motivation? **Freebie Alert
We had a few reasons why we wanted to renovate: add value, update the house, generate income from a basement suite – to name a few. But part way through our renovation we felt …
Lessons Learned: Wood Shrinkage and the Importance of Acclimation
Although we hate to admit it, mistakes happen to all of us. Yes, even us! Unfortunately, mistakes are part of the renovation process. They often become stories we can laugh about later …
Laundry Room Refresh – the Difference Paint can Make
Paint is one of the cheapest and ways to make any space look better. In fact, it’s our favourite way to update a space. Even a laundry room is more inviting with a …
Make your Budget Count When Building Rental Suites
We have added basement suites in 2 houses (so far) and have learned that spending money in the wrong places is wasted money. In the beginning, this was a challenging concept for us. Mainly …
Renovation Stress: How the Worst Case Scenario is the BEST Thing to Think About
Renovation stress and the what-ifs it brings Renovation stress often stems from the worry about what might go wrong. Like other times in our life when we undertake something new or a big …
Taking Breaks to Reduce Renovation Mistakes
You and your partner have decided to take on a renovation. You want to avoid making mistakes so have planned, budgeted, researched and are prepared for some surprises. You’re ready to get …
Part 3: The (Eventual) Value of DIY Renovations
The (Eventual) Value of DIY is the third and final post in our 3-part series about do-it-yourself (DIY) renovation assumptions. The first 2 posts tackled assumptions about time and money. This post considers the assumption DIY …