What You Can Still Remodel Before the Holidays in Fort Worth

In August, Stanton & Co.’s Timing Your Fort Worth Remodel to Be Complete Before the Holidays post explained when to start if you wanted a remodel finished before the holidays. That window has moved. It is now mid-October, Thanksgiving is about six weeks away, and Christmas is about ten. At this point, a full kitchen remodel will not realistically be finished before Thanksgiving guests arrive.

The good news is that a smaller project can still make a real difference. Guests notice the kitchen, the guest bathroom, the floors under their feet, and the walls around them, and each of those can be refreshed on a much shorter timeline than a full remodel. Stanton & Co. can still replace kitchen countertops and a backsplash, replace the countertops in a guest bathroom, install new flooring, or paint. We would rather tell you now what fits than promise something the calendar cannot support.

Where the Calendar Stands

Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, November 26, and Christmas Day is Friday, December 25. Most of the lead time on any project comes before construction begins, with material selection, ordering, and scheduling all taking place first. That is why the most useful step this week is an in-home consultation, which allows us to confirm what fits your date and get your selections moving.

Replace the Kitchen Countertops and Backsplash

New countertops and a new backsplash can change the look of a kitchen dramatically while leaving your cabinets and layout in place. That keeps the scope far smaller than a full remodel, and it concentrates the work on the surfaces guests see and use most.

• Choose the material first: countertop material drives both the budget and the schedule. In the Fort Worth market, granite and quartz run $75 to $125 per square foot installed, and quartzite and marble run $125 to $200. Our Granite, Quartz, Quartzite, or Marble: Choosing the Right Countertop for Your Fort Worth Remodel post compares all four.
• Make selections quickly: our August post noted that material lead times for cabinetry and countertops run 2 to 6 weeks, so the speed of your material decision largely determines whether your countertops arrive in time.
• Decide on the backsplash at the same time: tile must bond for at least 24 hours before it is grouted, according to Custom Building Products, a tile-setting materials manufacturer, which also recommends sealing grout 48 to 72 hours after it is applied. A full slab backsplash, which our countertop post notes eliminates the grout lines, also removes the grouting and sealing steps from the schedule.

For a broader picture of how kitchen projects are priced in the Fort Worth area, see our How Much Does a Kitchen Remodel Cost in the Fort Worth, Texas Area? guide.

See more examples of our work in our Kitchen Remodeling Gallery.

Replace the Countertops in a Guest Bathroom

If you are hosting overnight guests, the guest bathroom may be the room they use most. Replacing the countertop leaves the layout and plumbing where they are, and it is a much smaller scope than a bathroom remodel.

• Keep the layout and plumbing in place: a countertop replacement is in the same spirit as the cosmetic refresh described in our How Much Does a Bathroom Remodel Cost in the Fort Worth, Texas Area? guide, which keeps the bathroom’s layout and plumbing exactly where it is.
• Match the material to the room: according to the same guide, quartz and granite run about $55 to $100 per square foot installed, and a guest bathroom countertop requires far less material than a kitchen.
• Mind the calendar: our August post suggested starting a full bathroom remodel by mid-October to finish before Christmas. A countertop-only project is a far smaller scope, which is why it remains realistic for the holidays.

See more examples of our work in our Bathroom Remodeling Gallery.

Install New Flooring

Flooring is one of the fastest ways to change how a whole room feels, and guests walk across it more than any other surface. The key is to choose a material and schedule the installation early.

• Start early for Thanksgiving: our August timeline suggested starting new flooring by early-to-mid October for Thanksgiving, and by early November for Christmas. The window for Thanksgiving is closing quickly.
• Choose in-stock materials when time is short: installation takes anywhere from a single day for a small room to about a week for a full main living area, and in-stock products such as LVP move faster than special-order natural stone. Our Choosing the Right Flooring for Your Fort Worth Area Remodel guide compares the options, and our Is LVP Flooring a Good Choice for North Texas Homes? post explains why LVP is such a common choice in North Texas.
• Account for acclimation: according to our flooring guide, LVP needs 48 hours to acclimate before installation, engineered hardwood needs 48 to 72 hours, and solid hardwood needs 3 to 7 days. Site-finished solid hardwood also requires vacating the home during finishing, which makes it harder to fit into a tight holiday schedule. Our Engineered vs. Solid Hardwood: Which Is Right for Your Fort Worth Home? post covers the differences.
• Consider carpet for bedrooms: carpet is immediately livable after installation, with no drying or cure time.
• Prioritize the rooms guests see: start with the entry, the main living area, the hallway, and the guest room.

Refresh the Walls With Paint

Paint is usually the quickest of these four projects.

• Schedule it early enough to ventilate: the Environmental Protection Agency recommends keeping windows open, as weather permits, for about 2 to 3 days after painting to avoid exposure to paint vapors. Plan to finish painting well before guests arrive.
• Keep young children and sensitive guests out of freshly painted rooms: the Environmental Protection Agency advises keeping young children and people with breathing problems out of freshly painted rooms, and notes that water-based paints emit fewer chemicals and lower levels of vapors than oil-based paints.
• Coordinate with other work: if you are also replacing countertops or flooring, we will schedule the projects to minimize the possibility of one trade damaging another’s finished work.

A Quick Reference: What Fits Before the Holidays

Every project depends on the materials you choose and the schedule at the time of your consultation, so treat this as a starting point rather than a guarantee.

• Paint for Thanksgiving: schedule your consultation this week, since paint has the shortest lead time of the four projects.
• Guest bathroom countertops for Thanksgiving: possible if you choose your material this week. For Christmas, the timeline is comfortable.
• New flooring for Thanksgiving: start by early-to-mid October, which means this week. For Christmas, start by early November.
• Kitchen countertops and backsplash for Christmas: start now, since material lead times and fabrication drive the schedule. For Thanksgiving, the schedule will depend on the material you choose.
• A full kitchen remodel or addition: begin the design process now, with completion planned for after the holidays.

What to Do This Week

The single most useful step is to schedule your in-home consultation. Finalizing your material choices early is what allows a project to begin on schedule. Before work begins, our What to Expect When You’re Remodeling: A Homeowner’s Complete Preparation Guide explains how to prepare your home and household, including what living in your home during a remodel is like. If you would also like to look at the rest of the house before guests arrive, our Your Fall Home Maintenance Checklist for the Fort Worth Area covers routine seasonal maintenance.

Ready to Start Planning?

Whether you are ready to update your kitchen countertops, a guest bathroom, your floors, or your walls before the holidays, Stanton & Co. is here to help. To schedule a free in-home consultation and estimate, call 817.731.5855 ext. 1 or reach us through our Contact Form at www.stantonandcompany.net/contact. You can also visit our Design Center at 4824 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth to see material samples in person. For a sneak peek, check out Stanton & Company Showroom | Fort Worth Design Center.

Stanton & Company provides full-service residential remodeling, custom cabinetry, countertops, flooring, and design services to homeowners throughout the Dallas–Fort Worth area, including Fort Worth, Benbrook, Aledo, Willow Park, Hudson Oaks, Weatherford, Brock, Keller, the Mid-Cities (Euless, Bedford, Hurst), North Richland Hills, Southlake, Colleyville, Argyle, Arlington, Pantego, Mansfield, Kennedale, Burleson, and Crowley. Visit our Design Center on Camp Bowie Blvd. or call 817.731.5855 ext. 1 to schedule a consultation.