Making Your Own Selections for Your home remodel
May 6, 2025
Whether you’re remodeling or building a custom home from the ground up, making selections will be a big part of the process. The term “selections” refers to all the things you will need to choose as your home is remodeled, from tile to flooring to paint colors to cabinet knobs. As you can imagine, there are a lot of selections that need to be made.
At BOLT Builders, we have three options for you as you get ready to make selections:
- First, you can hire a third-party designer who will discuss your wants and needs with you and make all the selections for you.
- Second, you hire us to provide you with selections. You give us your Pinterest boards and ideas and tell us what you want, and we give you a curated–and not overwhelming–list to choose from.
- And third, you make all the selections yourself, working off a list we give you of the selections that need to be made.
Most people choose the first or second option, but if you’re a go-getter who wants to make all the selections yourself, we can help you accomplish that goal. Read on for the how-to.
Make Selections Early
It might seem too soon to discuss backsplashes and cabinet color when demo hasn’t even started, but believe us, it’s not. Some of the selections you choose will impact the design and even the building process of your home. For example, if you want a freestanding soaker tub, the rest of your bathroom will be designed around that feature. If the biggest “must-have” in your kitchen is a custom range hood, choosing it first will help as you make the rest of your selections fit in with that design choice.
Another reason to make selections early is that some things you need (especially cabinets and custom items) have a long lead time. Sometimes they take months to come in after the order is placed. This means that the sooner you can choose materials and order them, the sooner you’ll receive them, and the less likely it is that your construction project will be delayed.
Prioritize Your Must-Haves
Unless you have an unlimited budget, you probably won’t be able to choose the top-of-the-line everything in every space you’re remodeling. And even if you could, it may result in your rooms looking overdone. Instead, focus on a few favorite must-haves in each space. Prioritize those, and design the rest of the room around them, letting them dictate your other selections.
Go With Classic Over Trendy (Mostly)
You’re probably not going to want to remodel your home again anytime soon. If you’re building a custom home, you probably plan to stay in it a while. So going with classic designs on permanent surfaces is going to be the best option for you. Permanent surfaces are things like countertops in the kitchen, tile in the bathroom, and flooring throughout the home. Think: things that are difficult or expensive to change.
But trends can be fun and can make your home feel less cookie-cutter and more personal! Don’t ignore today’s trends if you love them. Just use them in easy-to-change locations: drawer pulls, accent walls, and small lighting fixtures, for example.
Start With the Kitchen
Practically, the best place to start making selections is the kitchen. The kitchen is the heart of your home–one of the most important spaces, and one that also has a lot of selection requirements. Get all those decisions made, and the rest of the house will be a lot easier.
Additionally, if you have an open floor plan, chances are that your kitchen is visible from the other rooms of the house. This means that what you choose for the kitchen countertops will impact what colors you choose for the living room walls, for example.
Where to start in the kitchen? Generally speaking, the countertops, cabinets, and backsplash are the selections that run the kitchen show. Make those decisions first, and they’ll help dictate the rest of the kitchen’s design.
Go Room-By Room
If you feel overwhelmed by looking at an entire house full of selections that need to be made, you’re not alone. Try breaking the process into manageable chunks by going room by room through the house. We already discussed starting with the kitchen. Choose a space to work on next, and make all necessary selections. Then move on to another area.
Make sure to check with your contractor to see if any selections need to be made before others, based on the scope of work of your specific project.
Flooring is Significant
If you have an open floor plan, you’ll probably want the same flooring throughout the main floor. Because your floor is such a large part of your home (visually and actually), it carries a lot of design weight. So make sure you think through your options, talk to your builder for help and suggestions, and make a thoughtful decision. Things to consider include:
Your practical needs. Do you have small kids? Pets? Then you will need something durable and washable.
Your style and taste. Do you love the warmth of wood or the gleam of marble tiles?
Your budget. You may love the most expensive flooring type out there, but would it make more sense financially to choose something less expensive and put your money elsewhere?
Your priorities. Do you value sustainability most? Consider bamboo or cork. Are comfort and convenience the most important things to you? Maybe LVP is the way to go.
Consider Furniture Placement
It might seem too early to think about where your furniture will go–after all, you’re still in the thick of the remodeling process. But it’s a good idea to consider where you will want large pieces to go–like the couch, the dining room table, and any heirloom pieces. Here’s why:
First, it helps you make other decisions like where to install lighting, if you will need outlets in a particular place, and what the flow of each room will be.
Second, if a piece of furniture–like a gorgeous dining room table–will be the room’s focal point, you can make other selections based around it. It can help give you direction for a space and make the room feel more put-together in the end.
Finally, if you’re planning to order any custom furniture, you need to do that early on in the process. Custom furniture can take a long time to come in.
Balance the Budget
Staying on budget can be hard when you’re making selections. But setting a good, reasonable budget and trying to stick to it will help you manage your finances responsibly and give you more flexibility. Make a list of the things that matter most to you–your must-haves–and spend your money there. This ensures that, when your remodel is finished, you’re satisfied with the results. You will have spent your money according to your priorities, and that’s a good feeling.
Ask for Help
Making selections is a difficult and time-consuming process. But we’re here to help! Our designers are excellent at walking clients through the process and helping them choose finishes, fixtures, paint colors, appliances, flooring, and more that they will love. If you want to make all your own selections, you can still reach out with questions. If you’re in the DC, Virginia, or Maryland area, our team at BOLT Builders would love to help you with every part of the remodeling process, from design to selections to construction to the finished product: a home you love. Contact us today.