Recognize and Overcome Fear-Based Renovation Decisions
Are you making home renovation decisions out of a place of fear rather than out of your own values and purpose in life? Then you're definitely going to want to keep reading.
Being overly cautious and afraid of making mistakes could result in renovation regret.
Your fear could end up limiting your choices and hold you back from making the right decisions for your project. Read on to find out how to recognize fear-based reno behaviors, and how to overcome them.
Watch this full How-To video on Kickstart House’s YouTube channel.
Home Renovation 101
Are you making home renovation decisions out of a place of fear rather than out of your own values and purpose in life? Then you're definitely going to want to keep reading.
Hey, House Friends. This is Mona here with Kickstart House where we support homeowners in navigating the home renovation and remodeling process.
As a house coach, who also brings many years experience as a licensed architect and interior designer, I've met with many, many homeowners and so many of them come from a place of fear in their decision.
Here’s an example of that.
Questions that start with “Should I…?”
The example is, if you are looking to invest in your house, make some major changes, perhaps do that kitchen remodel or the bathroom remodel, finally update your fixer upper into a state that is up to the current times, a big hangup that many people have when they come to me is they ask me a lot of questions of... “should I do…?”
Should I do open shelves, or should I do traditional cabinets?
Should I open up this wall?
Should I remove a wall and make an open plan?
Should I work with the layout as-is?
Should I add onto my house or work with the square footage that I already have?
What these “Should I…?” questions say about your remodeling fears and hesitation
All of these questions have monetary implications for your remodel budget, as well as impacts on the schedule and how long it takes to get the project done and the disruption to your life while you're living in a state of construction.
Could you use some guidance on navigating your home build? Download my Renovation Roadmap.
Now back to our discussion about renovating out of fear. These fear based questions really stem from a place of insecurity and not having confidence behind your decisions.
Insecurity about your renovation options leads to fear-based decision making.
When you're feeling unsure or unclear about your choices and your options and what that means to your life and how they align with your needs, it's easy to get swept up with other people's opinions.
Other people’s opinions feed fear-based decisions.
Other people's opinions will fool you into thinking that you need to make decisions based on what is acceptable by others. That there's a right answer out there.
And before you know it, you're designing for an imaginary buyer of your property one day. Or you're making decisions based on fairly arbitrary criteria of what you think your house may resell for. What is the added dollar amount that your renovation will put into the value of your home when you resell one day?
Well today I want you to give yourself permission to acknowledge that those are valid concerns. Those are valid thoughts.
However, if you are going to be the one living in your home, if this is a long term home for you, a forever home, or even one where you're going to live in for a few years before you resell your property, then you need to be making decisions based on your own values and not those of some arbitrary buyer who you haven't even met.
You are more important than other people, especially when it comes to decisions about your own home.
Because you are more important than that imaginary person who doesn't exist yet, who hasn't walked into your house. You're going to be the one who lives in your house every single day.
So how do you get to that? You get to that by, first of all, shifting from external influences to your own internal values and your own internal priorities.
Tapping into YOUR values and priorities
You need to understand what your options are. As the boss behind your own project. As a person who's going to hire your vendors and contractors and builders and designers, architects. Landscapers, anyone else who's going to be working on your home.
You need to understand how all those components come together so that you can best advocate for your needs and your priorities, and not to be swayed by other people's selling tactics.
Advocating for your needs starts with you.
If you're getting value from this post so far, then you will benefit the resource I have to help you dive deeper with this subject. I authored the Renovation Roadmap as a homeowner-focused framework for you to understand what you need to do to get to a successful renovation.
It’s a guide that is focused on you (the Homeowner) and your needs (as the Boss of your house projects), and how to set up the process to best be in alignment with what’s specifically important to you.
Because ultimately every project is different and there's no right answer.
There's only the right answer for you and the right answer for your resources, your values, and your purpose.
Not anyone else’s.
Give yourself permission to invest in your immediate surroundings and to be fearless.
So it is my hope that you're not going to fall for all these messages from the outside world that make you want to act out of fear. That you find the strength within yourself to give yourself permission. To give yourself the time to invest in your renovation in a way that best suits you.
Because nobody wants to spend a lot of money and in the end realize that they've gotten something that they don't actually like. Or that they made decisions based out of fear. And now you're out of a bunch of money, you disrupted your life, and you're still not living in a home that serves your best purpose.
Use this link to get my Renovation Roadmap sent to your inbox for free.
And I invite you to connect further with me at Kickstart House for more tips and tools and strategies on navigating your home renovation, remodel or build project.
Ready to make serious progress on your reno?
Hi, I’m Mona. An architect and renovation coach who’s on a mission to help everyday homeowners feel empowered in their build journeys.
Grab my free Renovation Roadmap to navigate any build project with confidence and clarity.