7-Day Home Improvement Challenge

Looking to fill your extra free time these days? Thinking this quarantine is the perfect time to improve your home but need a push to get started?

You’ve come to the right place. At Rendon Remodeling & Design, home improvement is our passion – and now that we are spending more time at home, we’ve created a 7-Day Home Improvement Challenge to help motivate & inspire projects to get your home ready for summer!

Monday: Organize your Garage

We’re going to hit the ground running with one of the more daunting, and time-consuming home projects. With kids & a busy day-to-day, it’s easy for your garage to become a dumping ground for tools, balls, scooters, golf clubs, you name it. If it doesn’t have a place in the house – throw it in the garage.

Here’s our method to the madness:

1. Take EVERYTHING out.
2. Organize the stuff into piles on your driveway or yard – categorize these however it makes sense for your household.
3. Get the family involved. Have everyone take inventory of what belongs to them, and see if they’ve used it in the past year and really need it or not.
4. Create a trash pile and a donations pile. If sporting equipment or toys are in good shape your local Goodwill or other donation center will most likely accept them!
5. Define areas in your garage where each category of stuff will return. Find bins, boxes and shelves that can be labeled to enforce the organization.
6. Sweep & wipe your garage clean before bringing everything back in!

We hope these steps give you a nice, organized garage that will stay that way (at least for a year or so).

If you don’t have a garage to clean, use this tip to tidy up a storage room or closet in your home (which can be just as tough to organize!).

Tuesday: Clean your Gutters

Checking your gutters and downspouts for leaves, sticks, and debris is crucial for protecting the structure of your home and preventing (sometimes) costly inconveniences in the future. You want to check your gutters twice a year, once in the spring and again in the fall, but it’s also a good idea to check them before & after any heavy rain showers – we’ve sure seen some of those this April!

Steps to clean your gutters:

1. Set a ladder on solid, stable and level ground. Avoid standing on the top three rungs (If you’re uncomfortable on a ladder, call a professional for help).
2. Begin by removing any debris near the downspout. Also remove and clear any downspout strainers if you have them.
3. Flush out the rest of the debris with a hose. If your gutter isn’t draining, you may have a clog in your downspout.
4. Check for leaks in your gutter & repair them with gutter sealant or call a professional.

Cleaning your gutters will help prevent water damage to both the interior and exterior of your home, keep pests away (a clogged gutter makes a great home for rodents & birds) and save you money in the long run!

Wednesday: Get Cookout-Ready

We LOVE cookout season, and you can’t have a cookout without a properly functioning grill. Grill cleaning and maintenance helps remove grease stains, bacteria, mold and even animal droppings – EW!

Steps to clean your grill:

1. Open it up & take it apart. Food particles and grease drippings tend to land below the grates.
2. Use a cheap putty knife (metal or plastic) or an old spatula to scrape the sides of the grill chamber free of as much gunk as you can.
3. Use a nylon or steel wire brush to gently clean the burner tubes (in a gas grill). Dirty burners can reduce flame size.
4. Reassemble the grill, turn it on to its highest temperature setting and close the hood. After a few minutes, open the lid and scrape the grates vigorously with a non-bristle metal grill brush.

Having a clean grill will improve the taste of your burgers, and keep you and your family safe this cookout season.

Thursday: Reinvent your Workspace

Whatever your in-home workspace looks like, whether it’s an office, a desk in your bedroom, or the kitchen table, this area needs to be kept clean and organized to ensure you are your most focused and productive year-round.

1. Think about what sort of workspace storage you have, and what works for you. For example, some people like shelves, for others they just create clutter, and some people utilize drawer space efficiently, and some turn it into a junk drawer.
2. After you’ve surveyed the space, keep the storage pieces you use and repurpose the others in a different part of your home.
3. Adjust the furniture in your workspace to maximize natural light and give you a fresh perspective of the room. Make sure the space does not feel crowded.
4. Weed through your papers, pens sticky notes, and journals and put all non-essentials away or in the trash.
5. Spice up the room with things that make you feel happy. A plant, some wall art, a candle, or some décor from a different room.

Reinventing your workspace can help spark creativity and productivity in your work!

Friday: Set Up a Coffee Bar

(Or a breakfast station!) You may have seen these charming little in-home coffee bars on social media, or maybe a friend’s house, but they are easy to create and add some wholesomeness to your morning.

1. Choose a space in your kitchen to designate as the coffee bar or breakfast station. This can be a small end table, a corner of your countertop or a stand-alone shelf.
2. Move your coffee machine here along with your favorite mugs. You can install some hooks or shelving to store the mugs!
3. The rest is up to you: get creative! Does your coffee bar need a featured cereal of the week, a flowerpot, or some chalk paint for a message board? SO MANY POSSSIBILITIES!

If you need some inspo, check out these awesome ideas from Home Lovr: https://www.homelovr.com/diy-coffee-station-ideas/

Saturday: Landscape your Home Entrance

When people visit your home, their walk to your front door is their first impression of what’s to come inside your house. We want this walkway to be welcoming and weed-free!

1. Grab some gloves and get to work on those weeds! Make sure you are weeding properly – pulling out the whole root so they do not regrow.
2. Define and streamline your walkway with stepping stone squares and filler pebbles (you can order these from your local home improvement store)
3. Plant some flowers or bushes along the walkway. Make sure they are far enough way so they don’t get trampled on!

Continue to maintain this walkway by sweeping the stepping stones, watering the plants, and keeping it looking fresh!

Sunday: Sit Back & Enjoy

If you completed Monday-Saturday of housework – go YOU! Sunday is for sitting back and enjoying the progress you’ve made.

Home improvement can be sometimes be daunting, but it can also be just as rewarding when you complete a project. Hopefully these projects helped you get in-touch with all areas of your home, and got you thinking about which areas you love and which ones may need some work.

During this social distancing period, Rendon Remodeling is offering Virtual Initial Consultation. If you’ve considered some remodeling projects during this time at home, contact us and learn how our team of professionals can assist in a “virtual” evaluation of your next remodeling project.

Please contact us today at (703) 444-3127 to learn more.