A home remodel is exciting. Whether it’s updating your kitchen, creating a spa bathroom, or transforming your entire home, there's nothing quite like seeing the ideas you've been dreaming about finally come to life.
But before the first cabinet or wall comes down, there's one important step many homeowners overlook: preparing the home.
If you are in Austin, you know the exact rhythm of 4:00 PM. The garage door opens, and everyone makes their way inside the house. Whether you are dropping off backpacks, wiping muddy paws, or unloading your bike and hiking gear after an afternoon outdoors, the mudroom is the central landing zone for your family's daily gear.
The typical doorway setup from the garage or backyard usually has a few shelves for shoes and wall hooks for jackets and bags. This basic storage rarely supports the way a family actually moves through the day.
That is why a custom mudroom between the garage and the main living areas is one of our most popular additions. If a dedicated mudroom was not part of the original floor plan, it is common to convert a back hallway or reconfigure part of the laundry room, kitchen, or other transitional space into one.
Investing in a custom mudroom gives you a practical drop zone that can handle your daily load, from bags and shoes to pet supplies and outdoor gear, so every arrival at home can be smooth and manageable.
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“Is this even in the realm of possible for us right now?”
“We’ve actually thought this through. We’re not hiding behind a giant cushion because we didn’t plan.”
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“Who do I want in my corner when those bumps happen?”
Luxury bathroom design has evolved significantly over the past two decades.
The heavy stone finishes and ornate details that once defined upscale homes have given way to cleaner lines, softer palettes, and a stronger connection to natural materials. Today's spa-inspired bathrooms focus on simplicity, comfort, and visual calm.
Current design principles combine organic textures, warm stone tones, and carefully selected architectural details that create a sense of balance throughout the space.
Luxury bathroom remodels frequently begin with rethinking the floor plan itself.
In some cases, walls may be relocated to improve circulation and functionality. Structural evaluations help determine whether walls are load-bearing and what modifications may be required to safely support the new layout.
When heavier materials such as cast-iron tubs, natural stone, or large-format tile are introduced, the floor structure may also need reinforcement to ensure long-term performance.
These improvements aren't always visible, but they create the foundation that allows every finish and fixture to perform properly for years to come.
Beautiful finishes can only perform as well as the systems supporting them.
For luxury bathrooms, our clients love features such as rainfall showerheads, body sprays, handheld wands, steam systems, and heated flooring. These upgrades may require modifications to your home's existing plumbing and electrical infrastructure.
For example, larger shower systems often demand increased water volume and drainage capacity to deliver a comfortable experience without sacrificing performance.
Thermostatic shower controls have also become increasingly popular. Unlike traditional valves, they allow homeowners to maintain a consistent water temperature regardless of what's happening elsewhere in the house.
These small but thoughtful upgrades have a big impact, giving you the comfort and convenience of a truly luxurious bathroom.
Few features capture the feel of a luxury spa quite like a spacious walk-in shower.
Curbless, or zero-threshold, showers have become a hallmark of modern bathroom design because they create a seamless visual transition throughout the room while improving accessibility and ease of use.
Achieving this look requires careful planning. The shower floor must be recessed and properly sloped to maintain drainage while remaining flush with the surrounding flooring.
For homeowners seeking an even more elevated experience, steam showers add another layer of comfort and relaxation. Because steam requires a fully enclosed environment, every detail matters, from ceiling design to ventilation and waterproofing systems.
We also prioritize proper waterproofing. High-performance waterproofing membranes help protect wall cavities and structural components from moisture intrusion, preserving both the beauty and longevity of the space.
One of the most overlooked elements of a luxury bathroom design is the wall finish itself.
Many homes feature orange peel or knockdown textures that were originally used to conceal minor imperfections. While practical, these textures can work against today’s clean, sophisticated aesthetic.
A smoother wall finish creates a more refined appearance and allows materials, lighting, and architectural details to stand out.
For bathrooms, moisture-resistant drywall, cement board, and specialty backing materials for wall substrates help ensure long-term durability while protecting against mold and water damage.
These interior finishes come together to create an elevated, more polished space.
Lighting plays a huge part in how a bathroom feels. A single ceiling fixture rarely provides the flexibility needed for both morning routines and evening relaxation. If your goal is to create a cozy space, stay away from harsh overhead lighting. Instead, use layered lighting, which can adapt to different activities throughout the day.
Our clients love wall sconces, floor-level lighting, and backlit panels. They are warm and easy on the eyes, helping you relax the moment you step in.
Many of our clients love stepping onto a warm floor after a shower.
Electric in-floor heating systems provide consistent warmth throughout the bathroom, a luxury you can’t live without, especially during colder winter mornings.
Warmth isn't the only hallmark of a luxury bathroom. High-efficiency exhaust systems remove excess moisture while operating quietly in the background. Modern humidity sensors can automatically activate ventilation when needed, helping protect finishes and improve indoor air quality without requiring any additional effort from homeowners.
Premium materials and upgraded fixtures, yes. And beyond that, your luxury bathroom genuinely supports your daily routines, soothes your mood the moment you step inside, and provides a sense of calm within a busy household.
Every design decision, from layout planning and plumbing infrastructure to lighting and material selections, contributes to the overall look and experience.
At Simply Home, we guide homeowners through every stage of the renovation process. Our team manages the planning, design, and construction details so you can focus on what matters most: enjoying a home that works beautifully for your family.
Remodeling naturally brings noise, dust, extra foot traffic, and temporary inconveniences. Preparing your home helps:
With proper prep, you create an environment where work can proceed safely, efficiently, and with minimal disruption.
Our ongoing Ginkgo project is a great example of how thoughtful preparation lays the foundation for a successful remodel.
Before any demolition took place, our team took the time to prepare both the home and the job site through the following steps:
These behind-the-scenes preparations play an important role in setting the stage for a successful renovation.
In the one to two weeks leading up to your project, our team works through a detailed pre-construction checklist to prepare your home, organize the job site, and make sure everything is in place.
Throughout the process, your Project Manager will keep you informed, answer questions, and make sure you know what to expect every step of the way.
Before demolition begins, we walk through the home with you to determine what will be saved, donated, demoed, or discarded. Making these decisions early keeps everyone aligned, protects the features that matter, and allows construction to begin with a clear plan.
Preparing your home also means protecting the areas that aren't being remodeled.
Before construction begins, we cover floors, doors, trim, and other finished surfaces to help protect them throughout the project. Depending on the season and the scope of work, we'll also cover HVAC vents—or temporarily adjust the HVAC system—to help reduce dust circulation and protect your HVAC system during construction.
These protective measures allow our crews to work while keeping the rest of your home as clean and protected as possible.
A well-organized job site benefits both the construction team and the homeowner.
Before work begins, we establish designated entry and access points for our crews and deliveries, install the lockbox in a location that won't damage doors or trim, and coordinate the placement of project dumpsters or portable restrooms, if needed.
Before construction begins, we'll establish a schedule for regular site walkthroughs and weekly project meetings to ensure your project progresses smoothly from start to finish.
Throughout construction, our team stays actively involved to keep your project on track. Two to three times each week, a team member conducts an on-site walkthrough to review completed work, monitor progress, and coordinate with our trade partners. You don't need to be present for these visits.
In addition, your Project Manager will meet with you on-site each week to review progress, discuss the upcoming schedule, answer questions, and make sure everyone stays aligned throughout the renovation.
If you'd like to schedule an additional site visit outside of these regular walkthroughs, we're happy to arrange one. Please note that special requested visits may incur an additional charge.
From site protection and job site organization to regular walkthroughs and weekly project meetings, our goal is to create a remodeling experience that feels as organized and predictable as possible.
Preparing the job site is only part of the equation. Preparing your home is a shared effort, and the steps taken before construction begins can make a meaningful difference throughout the renovation.
Before construction begins, we ask homeowners to complete a few important preparations.
All architectural drawings, structural header calculations, and electrical layouts must be fully signed off before work begins. Altering sightlines or changing structural plans mid-stream disrupts the permitting flow and causes major schedule shifts.
From your primary tile choices to every doorknob, finish selections must be finalized, ordered, and tracked. Having builder-supplied materials—like windows, exterior doors, or custom cabinets—either on-site or verified in our warehouse avoids costly mid-project pauses.
All personal belongings, furniture, clothing, and wall decor must be completely removed from the project areas. For kitchen remodels, this includes emptying pantry items entirely, as paint or finish fumes can easily penetrate standard food packaging and ruin food.
During construction, our crews and trade partners will be working in and around your home each day. To help the project run smoothly:
Construction zones are filled with hazardous materials, loud noises, and constant movement. We require all pets to be safely removed from the home or securely boarded during all working days, as we are not liable for any incidents involving your pets.
Additionally, if your project involves extensive cabinetry painting or major plumbing shut-offs, you will lose access to appliances and plumbing. We highly recommend scheduling a few days to stay elsewhere to avoid strong fumes and the lack of operational bathrooms.
Remove all pantry items and personal belongings from the work area before painting begins. Paint fumes can penetrate food packaging. During this phase, you may temporarily lose access to appliances, bathrooms, or other parts of the home.
If anyone in your household is sensitive to paint fumes, consider making temporary arrangements to stay elsewhere until this stage is complete.
Construction schedules are dynamic. While we carefully plan every phase of your remodel, inspections, material deliveries, weather, and unforeseen conditions can affect the schedule. You may notice that work isn't scheduled every day, and that's often intentional to allow different trades and inspections to happen in the proper sequence.
Clear communication helps every project stay organized.
If you notice something that needs attention, simply add it to your Buildertrend portal so your Project Manager can review it during the next site visit. To ensure requests are tracked properly, we ask that all project communication go through your Project Manager rather than directly with vendors.
Our team is available Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Please allow up to 24 hours for responses, as much of our time is spent managing active job sites. Throughout the remodel, you may occasionally be asked to make decisions or answer questions so work can continue as scheduled.
In the event of an emergency—such as flooding, fire, or theft—please contact the appropriate emergency services first.
To keep your project moving on schedule, payments should be made within seven calendar days of invoicing. If you anticipate a delay, please let your Project Manager know. Otherwise, work may be paused until payment is received.
Understanding the timeline of a renovation helps normalize the natural emotional highs and lows of the process. Every project follows a predictable pattern, and knowing what to expect can keep you grounded when the workspace feels chaotic.
Many of our clients are quite excited about this prep period, and every homeowner approaches remodel prep a little differently.
Some are eager to get started and begin packing weeks in advance. Others are juggling work, school, and busy schedules, so they tackle it one room at a time. Some families with kids even turn clearing out the kitchen into a weekend project together!
However, you’d choose to do it, preparation is the official kickoff to your remodel. Once the cabinets are emptied and the work area is ready, the transformation can begin.
At the same time, choosing a remodeling company that invests in careful planning and site preparation helps ensure your home is protected every step of the way.
With the right preparation on both sides, you can focus less on the disruption and more on the excitement of seeing your new space come to life.
Unlike the front door’s entryway or foyer designed to welcome guests, a mudroom is your home’s everyday transition zone. Typically located off the garage, side entrance, or back porch, it is the space that bridges the outdoors with the rest of your home.
A well-designed mudroom can serve several important purposes:
A truly functional mudroom balances open, quick-access spaces for your daily grab-and-go items with closed cabinetry to tuck away seasonal gear you do not need every day.
The upper cabinets are great for items you only reach for a few times a year, like heavy winter coats, holiday entertaining essentials, travel luggage, or seasonal décor. Using top-hinged or soft-close doors can keep these overhead areas clean and help reduce clutter along your hallway wall.
The middle section is for the items you use most often. Open cubbies, drawers, or shallow lockers make it easy to hang coats, set down packages and bags, store pet leashes, or keep outdoor gear within reach.
For a more personalized setup, consider installing individual lockers for each family member or creating dedicated zones for everyday essentials, pet supplies, or hobbies. Add sturdy hooks or drop trays for keys, sunglasses, and mail. You can also opt for charging drawers to keep everything organized and easy to find.
The base of the storage handles constant weight, from taking off shoes to setting down heavy bags and outdoor gear.
Reinforced framing, topped with solid hardwood caps or quartz tops, supports built-in benches and prevents wear and tear from heavy loads. Underneath, the full-extension drawers can hide bulky items like sports pads or foldable trolleys. There are also ventilated metal mesh trays that give damp footwear room to air out.
A great layout is just the beginning. Your mudroom should be built to handle heavy bags, wet shoes, and everyday wear with durable, high-quality materials.
What happens behind the walls matters just as much as the finish on top. Strong structural support keeps hooks, benches, and built-ins secure for daily use, keeping your mudroom just as dependable as it is beautiful for years to come.
Think about everything your mudroom hooks are expected to hold, from heavy backpacks and work bags to sports equipment and bulky coats. Over time, that daily weight adds up. Hooks fastened only into drywall can loosen or pull away from the wall.
For a stronger installation, we recommend adding solid wood support between the wall studs behind the drywall. This gives hooks, cabinetry, and other hardware a secure surface to fasten into, preventing sagging and standing up to years of everyday use.
While Medium-Density Fiberboard (MDF) provides a smooth surface for paint, it can absorb moisture from rain jackets or muddy boots and may swell over time.
To help prevent that damage, we recommend using interior cabinet boxes and benches made of high-grade maple or birch plywood. Moisture-resistant plywood holds hardware fasteners tighter over time. It also withstands humid Central Texas weather without swelling or warping at the seams.
Most suburban Austin homes have standard orange peel or knockdown drywall textures. While that works fine in hallways, rough surfaces in a mudroom can trap dust and catch stubborn black marks from backpacks and shoes.
For custom storage that’s easier to keep clean, we recommend a smooth Level 5 finish inside open cubbies. A durable urethane enamel adds a tough, washable surface that can handle everyday cleaning while keeping the space looking fresh.
Once your mudroom is built to handle physical wear and tear, it should also be able to accommodate your tech and other household tools.
Your mudroom can serve as the landing zone for the devices you carry every day. It’s highly recommended to add built-in charging drawers or lockers with recessed USB outlets. You can keep laptops, tablets, headphones, smartwatches, and even power banks charged and ready before you head out.
This helps solve several daily headaches at once:
If your family's weekends revolve around youth sports leagues or taking the dogs around neighborhood trails, you may need more than just standard shelving. Custom cabinetry can handle the job better, which allows you to tailor compartments based on your family's specific routines, so even awkwardly shaped items are easier to put away and find again.
Here are a few examples:
Mudroom floors and wall surfaces get the most activity. Whether you are coming in from the garage, the backyard, or a rainy walk with your dog, these areas receive accidental scratches and heavy loads. Choosing durable, low-maintenance materials helps keep your mudroom clean, beautiful, and secure.
To balance durability with a high-end look, we suggest focusing on heavy-duty finishes that clean up easily.
Here are the top high-performance surface materials to consider for your mudroom project:
Once you have selected highly durable materials, it’s time to focus on blending your custom mudroom storage into your home's overall design.
At Simply Home, we want your built-in storage to connect beautifully to the spaces around your home.
Investing in custom mudroom storage can transform the way your home functions every day.
When shoes, bags, charging devices, pet essentials, and outdoor gear all have a designated place, everyday routines can become simpler and more organized. Instead of searching for missing items or navigating clutter, you can spend less time managing your belongings and more time enjoying your home and your life outside.
At Simply Home, we understand that every household has its own routines, storage needs, and lifestyle. That is why we design custom mudrooms that are as beautiful as they are practical, while managing every step of your renovation from concept to completion.
Ready to create a mudroom that works for your lifestyle?
Connect with our team today to schedule an initial consultation!
Let’s build a space that works as hard as you do.
Undertaking a renovation project can be both exciting and overwhelming. From envisioning the final result to ensuring everything falls into place, one crucial aspect that can significantly impact the success of your project is selecting the right materials. The choices you make will not only affect the aesthetics but also the functionality, durability, and overall satisfaction of your newly renovated space. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the key considerations and tips for choosing the perfect materials for your renovation project.
Before diving into material selection, it is essential to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve with your renovation. Consider the style, ambiance, and purpose of the space. Are you aiming for a contemporary look, a rustic feel, or a timeless design? Understanding your goals will help you narrow down your material choices and make more informed decisions.
Durability is a crucial factor, especially for high-traffic areas or elements exposed to external elements like moisture and sunlight. Consider the lifespan of the materials and how well they withstand wear and tear. Opt for durable materials like hardwood floors, ceramic tiles, or stone countertops, ensuring that your investment stands the test of time.
Renovation costs can quickly escalate if you don't plan your budget carefully. Research the materials that align with your budget constraints while not compromising on quality. Sometimes, it's worth spending a bit more on materials that are durable and low-maintenance, as they can save you money on repairs and replacements in the long run.
In today's environmentally conscious world, sustainability is a top priority for many homeowners. Look for eco-friendly materials made from recycled or renewable sources. Additionally, consider the energy efficiency of certain materials, as they can contribute to a greener and more sustainable home.
If your renovation involves updating part of your home while retaining some existing elements, ensure that the new materials harmonize with the old ones. The goal is to create a seamless transition between the renovated areas and the original space, allowing for a cohesive and aesthetically pleasing result.
Consulting with a professional designer or contractor can be invaluable when choosing materials. They can offer insights into the best materials for your specific project, taking into account your preferences, lifestyle, and budget. Professionals can also help you avoid common pitfalls and guide you towards the most suitable choices.
Never underestimate the power of seeing and feeling the materials firsthand. Request samples from suppliers and compare them in your space to get a sense of how they look and feel under different lighting conditions. Visualizing the materials in your renovation project will help you make confident decisions.
Selecting the right materials for your renovation project is a crucial step that requires thoughtful consideration. By defining your project goals, prioritizing durability and sustainability, budgeting wisely, and seeking professional advice, you can create a space that not only looks beautiful but also functions flawlessly for years to come. Remember, a well-chosen material palette can elevate the entire renovation experience and bring your dream space to life.
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