Cool Websites For Home Remodeling & Redecoration
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House remodeling and decoration has been part of owning a home for as long as there have been homes to own. (Even back in the caveman days we can imagine Mrs. Caveman working to remodel the fire pit area while Mr. Caveman sought to improve his spear storage area.) In today’s real estate market fixing up a current home is an especially desirable option when compared to the difficulties of selling your house and buying a new one.
Here are our favorite websites for finding a contractor, finding home remodeling inspiration and finding new home furnishings:
Find a Contractor
By far, the most important step to remodeling project you aren’t doing yourself is finding the right contractor. The difference between a bad contractor and a good one is the difference between your home remodeling project being completed slightly late and over budget and it being very late and over budget.
There are several sites designed to help you find a contractor. The best two:
Angie’s List is one of Spot Cool Stuff’s favorite sites of any sort. Essentially, the site gathers reviews of home contractors in every conceivable category (along with reviews of car mechanics, dry cleaners, hairstylists, doctors, lawyers and the like) describing their experience and giving each a grade from A to F. Unlike some other vaguely similar sites, these reviews are not anonymous and contractors do not pay to be listed on the site (meaning that Angie’s List has no stake in whether the reviews are positive or not). Angie’s List also allows contractor’s to reply to negative reviews and runs a complaint resolution service. More than 40,000 new reviews come into the site every month. The service is not free but the higher value, higher quality, contractors you’ll find because of Angie’s List will make the site fee pay for itself many times over.
Service Magic is a free contractor finder service. Unfortunately, the website is currently limited to the United States but anyone in the U.S. with a home construction project—anything from repairing a fence to building a major home addition—should take five minutes to type your zip code into this site and answer a few basic questions about your project. Do that and Service Magic will email you a list of suggested available contractors along with a ballpark quote from each for your project.
Find Inspiration
At Spot Cool Stuff we are, not surprisingly, partial to our own design blog where you can browse our posts featuring living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, home office, dining room and patio items. Once you looked through that . . . and bookmarked it . . . and subscribed to our Design newsletter or RSS feed . . . and followed us on Twitter . . . there are several other excellent blogs for finding home remodeling inspiration:
Remodelista is a clean, minimalist-looking blog that’s all about home redesigns. The writers include many photos of their own homes, which gives this site a nice personal touch. Start with the 10 Easy Pieces section that reviews the “best of” home remodeling items.
The Style Files is based in the Netherlands and so it makes sense that this blog would have a European bent to it. What we like most about this site is that it’s photo-rich. Peruse through the photographic examples of great design to come up with ideas for your own.
The Kitchen Designer is all about kitchen design. (Go figure). Kitchens, we think, are the most difficult rooms to design because there are so many features—the refrigerator, the oven, the counter space, etc—that have to be included. The Kitchen Designer blog is full of ideas on how all the aspects of a kitchen can fit together beautifully. We especially like how many of the featured kitchens are modest. This is the sort of site you can look through and think to yourself Hey, I could do something like that in my kitchen.
This Young House is like an ongoing reality series in which a young couple, Sherry and John, document the trials and tribulations of their own home improvement projects. Their practical advice is all grouped together in the How To section but, really, it is their personal ongoing story that will keep you returning to this blog.
decor8, the blog of hip German interior design consultant Holly Becker, is packed with tips and ideas. Finding your way through the past posts can be a bit confusing. Start by clicking on “categories” in the right column or by going directly to the inspirations section.
Hooked On Houses is the website of woman who really is fixated on all things house-related judging both by the passion of her writing and the frequency of her blog updates. Check out the before and after comparisons and the Five Changes section in which blog readers chime in on how they’d remodel a specific house.
Charles & Hudson has much more of a do-it-yourself aspect than the sites featured above. This isn’t where you’d go for design ideas. But if you want to fix a leaking bathtub faucet, for example, Charles & Hudson is your online helper.
Punch! is not a website as much as it is a software program that lets you virtually test out your various home remodeling ideas before committing to them. It is rather incredible how easily you can come up with a 3D rendering of your home without any specialized design or computer knowledge. Check out the intro video below and see their website for details. Highly recommended.
Find Supplies, Appliances and Furnishings
There are, of course, hundreds of places to buy furnishings and equipment for your home remodeling project, as well as places to maintain older appliances. Here are a few:
Amazon.com is associated more with the sale of books and electronics but they have surprisingly low prices on a surprisingly large selection of home furnishings, power tools, appliances and general home improvement items.
All In One Decor is exactly as the name suggests. Here’s you’ll find quality items for every room in your house at discount prices.
Home & Garden Fountains has a collection of garden statuary and beautiful running water sculptures.
eFaucets has a HUGE selection of sink and tub faucets. They have sinks and tubs too.
InhabitLiving is another Spot Cool Stuff favorite store, especially for bedding. Read our review of their Wall Flat textured wallpaper.
Lumens has a superb collection of contemporary lights, fans, and accessories. Free shipping on orders over $50.
Homeclick is an enormous online store with all sorts of home furnishings and accessories. They run a lot of liquidation sales and special bargains so it’s worthwhile hunting around on their site for the best prices.
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April 17th, 2012at 9:34 am(#)
Love the caveman analogy…nice post.
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March 19th, 2012at 5:52 pm(#)
Thanks for posting! These tips were very helpful and I’ll definitely use them while remodeling :)
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January 31st, 2012at 4:19 pm(#)
That’s a huge list. I have to spend a lot of my time reading all this but it’s worth the time. I especially like the kitchen designer part. I wife is re-designing the kitchen so I would suggest this to her :-)
Usman recently posted..Automatically Download All Streaming Videos From The Internet
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January 12th, 2012at 12:36 am(#)
Hello I was thinking if you could write a post renovating a car garage.
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Spot Cool Stuff Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 5:34 pm
Good idea, Samantha. Thanks. We’ll start looking into doing exactly that.
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November 23rd, 2011at 4:02 pm(#)
Great list! Even as a new home builder I am always scouring the internet for fresh new home designs and products.
Hinsdale Builder recently posted..Commercial Remodeling Stain Project In Lansing
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November 17th, 2011at 4:31 pm(#)
My parents are just now discovering the beauty of Angie’s List. I told them they needed to stop relying on the actual Yellow Pages, and move their search to the web. Plus, I never would have guessed Amazon as a home remodeling resource.
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November 15th, 2011at 10:44 am(#)
I actually use Service Magic to read up on their blogs. They usually do a monthly catalogue collection of home improvement tips and tricks from user reviews and editors from the site.
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November 15th, 2011at 10:39 am(#)
I love browsing Lumens. They have such a wonderful array of stuff. I’ve got a few of their fans for my sunroom. To answer deck builder’s comment, there’s a great resource for bathroom fixtures, Bathtub Surrounds, that has a pretty good selection of accessories, too.
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February 9th, 2011at 6:16 am(#)
These resources are very helpful. I’m thinking of doing a spot of remodeling for my home and I stumbled into this useful resource for custom decks and patios — http://www.eckhoffconstruction.com/. Anyone know good resources for remodeling bathroom spaces?
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January 26th, 2011at 8:11 pm(#)
Hello everyone, i have put together some helpful tips and idea for you to plan out your next renovation with a better understanding.
http://homerenovations2.blogspot.com/
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January 19th, 2011at 6:58 pm(#)
Thanks for the great post! These are great sites. There’s also another one I’ve been using called DiggersList.com-you can buy and sell your leftovers (tile, brick, lighting, etc.). They also allow you to donate to Habitat for Humanity ReStores if you don’t sell or just want to give the stuff away.
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November 16th, 2010at 2:19 pm(#)
kitchen designs that makes use of space efficiently would be the best thing to go with ‘”~
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October 21st, 2010at 12:14 pm(#)
There are a lot of resources here. Remodelista is my favorite. I definitely like the minimalistic approach. There is something about a spacious room that makes it look so elegant and neatly kept. The punch software looks like it would be exciting to use too.
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May 5th, 2010at 12:15 am(#)
Nice site! Please check out my new site…it will be an informational site (www.remodelingbible.com)…we will be adding short, How To Videos weekly…and the videos will ultimately become the primary reason for visiting the site. Please consider it for your referral list! thanks!
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April 26th, 2010at 2:05 pm(#)
Actually I love that software. From a visit to your site months ago, I decided to try the software for my planning and designing. It takes some getting used to, but works great.
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May 1st, 2009at 4:08 am(#)
Great resources… I could certainly use some inspiration for re-decorating my home now that I’m a newlywed, and want to change things up to make it more homey.
~ Kristi
Kikolani’s last blog post..Butterflies at the Desert Botanical Gardens
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April 13th, 2009at 8:16 pm(#)
Thanks for the shout-out for my blog! :-)
This is a great round-up of resources for those of us who love houses. I thought I read all the major blogs and websites already, but you introduced me to a few new ones that I’m very glad to know about. Thanks!
Julia @ Hooked on Houses’s last blog post..The Mushroom House
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April 12th, 2009at 5:33 am(#)
Hi guys, I would love to suggest one more if possible – My Next Kitchen – an independent kitchen site full of kitchen remodelling advice.
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