Renovation Guide: Ideas & Tips for Beginners

Renovation Checklist: What's important?

Basically, it makes no difference whether you're planning a bathroom renovation, just want to wallpaper a room, or update an entire house – every renovation consists of the same five steps:

1. Take stock: What needs replacing, and what can stay? What condition is the room or house in, and what do you want to achieve with the renovation?
2. Planning: What steps are necessary, which tools and materials will you need, how many people should help, and how long might the job take?
3. Preparation: Lay out all your materials, clear the room, and protect it from dirt with plastic sheeting, etc.
4. Renovating: Follow the sequence of work steps precisely (for example, when sanding windows). Pay attention to any drying times, etc.
5. Cleaning up: Dispose of renovation waste and clean the area. Put furniture, etc., back in place.

Precision and skill are essential when renovating. If you're not yet sure how to sand a wall or cut tiles, for example, read through our guides or ask a professional for help. Then it's a matter of practising first before you get started on the actual renovation!

The five golden rules of renovation

Classic renovation jobs include tasks like wallpapering walls, painting windows and doors, and cutting and laying laminate flooring. You can manage this even without much prior experience, as long as you stick to the golden rules of renovation:

1. Always work from top to bottom

Always start with the messiest jobs and work your way from the ceiling to the floor. This is especially important if you want to renovate an entire room. As a general rule:

• Sanding comes before filling
• Drilling before painting
• Wall breakthroughs before flooring, etc.

2. Always plan generously

Whether it's wall paint, hardware, dust sheets or laminate: renovations create a lot of waste. If you plan for about fifteen per cent more materials than you've calculated, you can easily avoid minor disasters.

3. Cleanliness is key

Renovating is a messy business, but keeping your site clean is still important. Carefully cover any areas you don't want to work on and remove debris or leftovers after each step. This saves you from huge clean-up jobs at the end and prevents one step of the renovation from creating more work for the next. We show you how to work cleanly and efficiently in our guide to planing, for example.

4. Take your time

As soon as you use liquid or viscous materials like paints, fillers or sealants during your renovation, they need time to dry. You should never ignore the specified times – even if it means you're twiddling your thumbs while you wait. In general, you should be aware that a renovation usually takes longer than you think.

5. Save money in the right places

Renovating can be quite expensive, so it's natural to want to save money somewhere. But pay attention to what you're saving on. Tools should be high-quality, as they need to be precise, durable and powerful. With wall paints, a high-quality formula also saves money – because the paint provides perfect coverage or is ideally suited for the respective room. However, you don't necessarily have to go for the premium product when it comes to dust sheets, fillers and many other consumables.

Kleines Update statt großer Renovierung: Ideen für ein frisches Zuhause

Du musst nicht gleich renovieren, wenn du Lust auf Neues hast. Wir hätten ein paar Ideen für kleine DIY-Projekte, die easy frischen Wind in dein Zuhause bringen:

• Neue Griffe für Möbel, Türen oder Fenster
• Fugen säubern oder erneuern
• Einzelne Wände in Akzentfarben streichen
• Beleuchtung mit mehr Stimmungslicht anpassen
• Neue Vorhänge befestigen
• Lichtschalter modernisieren

Du willst nichts erneuern, aber trotzdem ein Gefühl wie nach dem Renovieren haben? Dann her mit den Putzhelfern und ran an den Deep Clean: Räume das gesamte Zimmer aus und reinige jeden Winkel von der Decke bis zum Boden – Fenster putzen oder Teppich shampoonieren inklusive. Dabei kannst du gleich gründlich entrümpeln!