DIY renovation isn’t for everyone. You need to have a creative side and at least a little perfectionist in you. You also need to be able to visualize a project before it begins so you don’t end up disappointed with the results.

Some people are perfectionists with the ability to visualize, and great handymen, but just struggle with ideation. Thinking up good ideas is one of the hardest parts of doing DIY renovations. Here are a few pointers to enlighten your mind with incredible renovations ideas.

Spend an hour on Pinterest

This may seem obvious to a lot of people, but plenty more have never used Pinterest. Males, in particular, have been known to avoid Pinterest, calling it a social media site for women. This may be how it started, but is definitely not where it is now.

When it comes to the creative and DIY sphere, Pinterest is king. You can type in just about any DIY project in the world that you can think of, and see how thousands of other people just like you chose to do the same project. Often they will post instructions, material costs, and other useful bits of information. It is easy to browse as well because you can just scroll through pictures until you see one that you like. Click it and you know exactly how to make it.

Look at homes for sale

It never hurts to look at new homes that are selling on the market. You can use realtor sites like realtor.com, or FSBO sites like Fizber to accomplish this. Just spend an hour going through different homes to get an idea of what kind of look you would like to go for. You can also get an idea of what people that are purchasing homes want if you are looking to sell the home anytime soon.

Use home renovation sites

A lot of companies offer to do home renovations for you. They spend a lot of money making their websites appealing so that they can bring in visitors. As part of that, they will usually have galleries and pictures online that show a lot of their past projects. This creates a perfect opportunity for DIY fanatic because they can go look at all of the ways the home renovation companies are currently renovating homes, mix it with a touch of their own personality, and come out with something that is both trendy, and appeals to their own personal style.

Get more than one head involved

A lot of people don’t enjoy group brainstorming sessions because of the concessions that must often be made. However, it has been proven that better ideas can come out of a group session. Get a few friends together and ideate together. You don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to do, but maybe one of your friends has done a similar project and has some good advice. This can also be helpful if you already have an idea and want to confirm the possibility of doing it. Maybe a friend or neighbor has tried a similar project and has run into problems in the long run with it. This can be particularly true with concrete based projects.

Plan

This last step isn’t part of ideation but it is incredibly important. Before you start the project make sure you have a plan for every part of the project. You know how much it will cost, where to get the materials, how much time it will take, etc. There is nothing worse than realizing halfway through a project that it is going to cost significantly more than you thought.