Today I am so excited, because we have finally made the decision to go ahead with our little home remodel and addition! You are probably wondering why this is worth a blog post, and I would be to! But since we have been working on this for a year and half now, I think deserves to be written about. The process has not been easy at all, and we have not even gotten started yet!
So, here’s the story….
5 years ago when we got married and were looking for a place to live, I convinced my soon-to-be wonderful husband that we should live in a condo rather than a house, because I felt safer there (common concern of my Mexican self, haha). I didn’t feel comfortable with the front door of my future house being out in the open without being surrounded by a wall, like we have back home.
Dustin was completely against the idea, and with good reason, but being the nice man that he is we ended up with the exact condo I wanted (wink wink). Our apartment was super cute, but a little too small for the two of us, our two dogs, and my minor addiction to shows. 🙂 After two years in the apartment, we felt it was time to look for a house. After visiting millions of houses (that can be saved for another post), we could not agree on one until we visited the open house of where we currently live.
Initially, the house seemed like a great size. Since we were coming from a small apartment and it was just the two of us, I took over our master closet plus the other two bedroom closets. Life was great, until we found that our life was about to get even better because we were having a baby! We were so excited, but immediately realized that we were going to need more space. That is why my room now, as you can see in the pictures, looks like a market (haha).
After a few meetings with an architect, we had our plans! I was so excited, but to make a long story short, we had to change our plans three times. We interviewed a million contractors, but none of them made us feel comfortable enough to say yes. When it comes to this remodel, the big factor is that we will be in the house while the project is going on.
Finally, a year and half later, we have permits and have found our perfect contractor: Luster Custom Homes! They have been our clients at Bloguettes for some time, and we are super excited that they will be in charge of the project. Through this process, I have found that choosing the right contractor is such an important part! Here are my 5 tips for choosing the perfect contractor:
- Understand your needs! Be clear about what you want even before you meet with a potential contractor. So do some research online, talk to your architect, and then start interviewing contractors.
- Collect 2-3 detailed bids. You don’t want to go with the first person that presents a bid. Be patient and talk to at least two contractors, that way you get to compare both proposals and potentially identify missing items.
- Check reviews. If you have never worked with a particular company make sure you go online and look for reviews but also talk to previous clients. Not just ask them about the quality of that company’s work but also their service and the experience of working with them.
- Trust your instincts!! it’s not just all about the price, you will be working closely will this person so you have to like them and feel good about them.
- As a true Bloguette would say: Check out their instagram account and make sure you like their style and previous jobs.
Once we start construction, I will be doing bi-monthly updates on the project! I am super excited, and hopefully we get exactly what we want right before our little boy turns one!
Here’s the proof of why we need this addition and the closet of my dreams hahah:
