Before you meet with your designer to talk color, it’s a good idea to do some research on your own to find inspiration and ideas. Here are some places to start:

Benjamin Moore: Personal Color Viewer
This interactive tool is a fun way to experiment with color and visualize what different hues will look like in your home. Choose from an array of room photos and then instantly apply color from hundreds of swatch choices.

HGTV Designers’ Portfolio
There’s a lot of great content on the HGTV site when you are planning your whole home remodel. We love this particular function, which allows you to browse photos by the color of a room. You’ll find hundreds of inspiring photos in a variety of styles.

Frazee Paints: ColorLife
At the Frazee Paints color chooser page, you will find ColorLife, where you can explore an amazing amount of information about the world of color, including color analyses, trends, design ideas, the “color of the day,” and a virtual decorator (registration required.)

Pratt and Lambert Paints: Personality Quizzes
These simple quizzes (one for the interior and one for the exterior) ask you a series of questions about personal preferences. After you submit your answers, you are given a suggested color palette that “matches” your personality.

Choosing a color palette should be one of the most enjoyable phases of a whole home remodel, but there are so many options it may sometimes seem overwhelming. Take the time to assess your current home’s aesthetic – what do you love and what don’t you love? Do you want a subtle change or something dramatically different? What mood do you want to create in your home? How would you like visitors to describe your home? Do you have important pieces of art or home furnishings that you want to complement with color?

Explore all of the possibilities and open your imagination to the trends and products available today. With your ideas captured and the help of a professional designer, you will create a home where every room welcomes you, your family and guests with color that expresses your personal vision and lifestyle.

1. Make it Work for You. Some people revel in downtime, taking the opportunity to catch up on summer reading or take afternoon naps in the backyard. Some prefer to garden. Others enjoy inviting friends for a visit to cook gourmet meals and drink wine together. For some second home owners, total retreat from everyday distractions is a must – such as a no television rule. For others, a small home office in their second home is a necessity. Spend some time reflecting about how you use your home now and how you would ideally enjoy spending time there. This will inform the majority of your decisions about remodeling your second home.

2. Create a Relaxing Retreat. A second home represents a place to “get away from it all.” The design of your home should reflect that feeling of relaxation in a way that is very personal. A favorite vacation spot can be a wonderful design inspiration, using cultural influences from another locale to reflect on treasured memories. Another idea is to make your second home a sanctuary for a relaxing hobby such as reading or gardening with an expansive library or lush landscaping. A spa-like bathroom is a popular option in a second home, where there is more time to linger and luxuriate.

3. Choose an Easy Process. Homeowners sometimes think that they must be present during the remodel of their second home to monitor each step. This should not be necessary if you choose a design and build firm with the experience and systems in place to make your remodel an enjoyable experience. Be sure to choose a company that has demonstrated skills with project management and communication during a second home remodel. You don’t want the remodel of your vacation home to cause extra stress!

Your home away from home should be a place you can retreat to and leave behind the worries of the world. Choose the right remodeler to make that happen and your second home will always be hard to leave!

When you are choosing a remodeling company with a professional design team, look for a company that embraces a collaborative approach with their clients. Designers should not impose their personal tastes on your home, but instead elicit from you the information needed to capture your vision.

A remodeling plan should include a thorough examination of your home’s essential character so that the new design will seem like it has always belonged. Your needs and desires for your space should live in harmony with your home’s style and architecture.

Successful design expresses your personal style and enhances the character of your home. A good designer will guide you to the right choices for you and your home with informed, professional advice.

Music Sets a Mood
Feel like dancing? Or would you prefer meditating? An iPod docking station brings mood management to your home, making it easy to instantly select the music you’d like to hear, when you want to hear it. Add a custom-designed surround sound system and you can control the music in each room of your home for personal enjoyment, or while entertaining.

Home at the Movies
Home theaters are a wonderful way for families to spend quality time together and for movie lovers to share their passion for the cinema with groups of friends. Sure, you can watch movies on a giant flat screen, but there’s nothing like the experience of seeing your favorites in a luxurious setting with plush theater seating and all the lighting and sound that brings a film to life.

Safe and Sound
Adding cameras and an intercom to your entryway brings reassuring security to your family and can be convenient as well, making it easy to see who is at the front door when you’re on the third floor. For added peace of mind, you could also install lighting systems that automatically illuminate your garage, entryway, and all rooms leading to the center of your home as soon as you pull into the driveway, just by pressing a “hot button” on your visor.

Rooms that Recognize You
For instant ambiance, Lutron lighting controls set the desired mood in any area of your home at the touch of a button, with programmed settings for “entertaining mode” or “relaxation mode.” Some systems sense the presence of a person in the room and adjust the environment’s music, lighting and temperature according to programmed controls.

These are just a few ways that automation makes for smarter living spaces, bringing convenience, fun and safety to your home!

1. Choose Your Remodeler Wisely: The first step is to find a remodeler you can trust. The contractor should be properly licensed and insured, and should be able to provide several references for work similar in scale to what you need. How you feel about the people you meet with also matters quite a bit. Remember, especially with a whole home remodel, you will be working with these people in your home for several months.  You can learn more about what to look for in a contractor here.

2. What About Design and Build?: You may have heard the term “design and build” while researching your whole home remodel. A design and build firm is responsible for both the design and construction of your home. Instead of having to find an architect, a designer, and a construction contractor, you work with just one company. Especially when you are remodeling your entire home, this can be a wise choice that will bring peace of mind as your project progresses. There is plenty to think about and take care of during your whole home remodel – the last thing you want to be doing is handling multiple contacts and contracts.

3. Know What You Want: When you’re remodeling your whole home, it’s vital that the elements all work together, and fit with your existing structure. You probably have some ideas about how you want your new home to function and look. Get your thoughts down on paper, gather some examples from home magazines, and let your contractor know what you want before you get started. Working with a contractor who has a design team on staff can be very helpful in this area.

4. Understand How Much a Whole Home Remodel Costs: A whole home remodel is a major undertaking. This is not the time to shop on price alone – you’re looking for reliability and proven skills. But, you also want to get good value for your investment. If you are getting comparison bids and they vary significantly, ask questions and take a closer look. If the parameters have been established correctly, prices should not be that different. Make sure that the bid includes everything that will be required for your remodel – from start to finish – and ask questions about how the contractor will handle any unanticipated changes during the remodel.

5. Be Patient: There’s no avoiding the fact that a major project like a whole home remodel take time. Be prepared, and depending on the level of construction involved, think about the option of living somewhere else while your home is being remodeled.

6. Have Fun and Enjoy the Process! If you have chosen the right contractor and done your homework, the process of remodeling your home really can be stress-free and rewarding. Take time to be creative, enjoy the journey from vision to completion, and learn something new about remodeling along the way.