List the rooms you want to change, how big each is, and what you wish for in it. You get the cost of every room from published 2026 price guides, the reserve to hold back, your budget split room by room, the order the trades work in, every wish with the free tool that answers it, and the list for before the builder starts. It is free and needs no sign-up.
Starter Plan · dreamyhomestyle.com/tools/whole-house-renovation-planner/
Your whole-house plan
3 rooms to renovate: $25,600–$56,000plus a 10–15% reserve · 1 kept as it is · your $50,000 is inside the range · start with the bathroom
Room by room
The order of work
Everything you asked for
One palette for the whole house
Before the builder starts
Every room in the free 2D planner
Save your rooms to the free 2D planner: each gets its own link and a QR code for the printed plan, so you can stand in the room with your phone and check every size.
Quick answer: list the rooms you want to change, measure each, and say whether you keep it, refresh it or redo it. The planner prices every room from published 2026 cost guides, adds the reserve to hold back, splits your budget room by room and puts the work in the order the trades follow. Every wish you type comes back with the free tool that answers it, and the plan ends with a checklist for before the builder starts. It is free and works in your browser.
How to use the whole-house renovation planner
- Add each room you want to change: the kind of room, its length and width, and what to do with it. Keep leaves it as it is, Refresh is new paint (and, in a kitchen or a bathroom, the smaller jobs), Redo is a full remodel.
- Tick “A wall here may come down” if you want to open a room up. The plan prices it from a wall that carries nothing to one that needs a beam, and puts a structural engineer first on the list.
- Type your wishes for each room, with a comma between them: “an island, no glass cabinet doors, keep the table”. Each one comes back with the free tool that answers it.
- Enter your budget and the year the home was built. An older home gets a bigger reserve and the lead-paint rule.
- Read the plan: the cost of each room with its planner opened on your numbers, the order of work, every wish, one palette for the house and the list for before the builder starts.
- Save your rooms in the free 2D planner (each gets a link and a QR code), save the Starter Plan as a PDF, or email it to yourself. Copy link keeps the whole plan.
What each room costs, and where the numbers come from
National 2026 figures for materials and labor, read on the publishers’ own pages. They are a budget to plan with, not a quote: prices run higher in big cities, so get three quotes for your own house.
| Room | Refresh | Redo | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchen | paint, refinished cabinets, counters, backsplash, sink and lighting: $5,255–$17,425 added up | $100–$250 a square foot of kitchen | This Old House |
| Bathroom | paint, faucets, toilet, countertop, flooring: about $3,481 | by size: small (40–60 sq ft) $12,695–$14,845, medium (70–90) $15,920–$18,070, large (100–120) $19,166–$21,295, primary $22,370–$24,715 | This Old House |
| Living room (and a dining room, an office or a hall) | fresh paint: $2–$6 a square foot of floor | $10–$60 a square foot | Block Renovation |
| Bedroom | fresh paint: $2–$6 a square foot of floor | $15–$40 a square foot | Block Renovation |
| Laundry room | $2,000–$5,000 | $6,000–$10,000 | Block Renovation |
| A wall that comes down | $500–$2,000 for one that carries nothing; $1,500–$10,000 or more for a load-bearing wall and its beam | Block Renovation | |
| The reserve | about 20% for a home built before 1980, 10–15% for a newer one | Block Renovation | |
Block Renovation gives no separate figure for a dining room, a home office or a hallway, so the planner prices them as the living space they are, at the living room’s rate.
The order of work
The trades follow the same order in every renovation, so nothing finished gets torn open again. These are Block Renovation’s seven phases; the planner keeps the ones your plan needs and names the rooms in each.
- Structural and systems: foundation, framing, roof, electrical service upgrades, major plumbing replacements.
- Rough-in, with the walls open: new wiring, plumbing runs, HVAC ducts, insulation, blocking.
- Drywall and ceilings: drywall hung, mudded and taped; ceiling paint; recessed lighting; crown molding.
- Cabinets and built-ins: kitchen cabinets, vanities, custom carpentry.
- Flooring: new floors go in near the end and stay covered while the rest is finished.
- Tile, countertops, wall paint: backsplash, tile work, the slab, the final wall paint.
- Fixtures and final finishes: faucets, lights, mirrors, hardware, baseboards, the punch list.
Which room first? If you live in the house during the work, finish a bedroom and a bathroom first and live in them, then open the kitchen. Decide the kitchen, living and dining finishes first, because they set the wood, the floor and the trim for every other room. Halls and entries go last: the crews walk through them every day.
Three worked examples
A kitchen redo, the wall to the living room opened, a bathroom redone, a bedroom kept; $50,000, built 1985. The 12′ × 10′ kitchen is $12,000–$30,000, the living room’s paint and the wall $900–$11,200 (the wall alone $500–$10,000 until an engineer says what it carries), the 8′ × 5′ bathroom $12,695–$14,845. Together $25,600–$56,000, and with a 10–15% reserve $28,195–$64,445: the $50,000 sits inside the range. The plan starts with the bathroom, so you have one to use while the kitchen is open.
A 1972 house, every room refreshed, no walls moved. Five rooms come to $9,600–$23,700, most of it the kitchen’s refresh ($5,255–$17,425). The home is older than 1980, so the reserve is 20%, and older than 1978, so anyone paid to sand or scrape its paint must be EPA lead-safe certified. With no walls opened, the work is only three phases: cabinets, then tile and paint, then fixtures.
Two bathrooms and the laundry room redone; $40,000, built 2004. The 72 sq ft bathroom is a medium one, $15,920–$18,070; the 40 sq ft one $12,695–$14,845; the laundry room $6,000–$10,000. Together $34,600–$42,900, with the reserve $38,115–$49,315. The $40,000 is inside the range: hold back about $5,200 and the rest splits about $15,250, $12,350 and $7,200.
Common whole-house renovation mistakes
- Pricing the kitchen and forgetting the rest. Paint, a wall and a bathroom add up fast. List every room, even the ones you keep.
- No reserve. Opened walls hide rot, old wiring and leaks. Hold back 10–15%, or about 20% in a home built before 1980.
- Taking a wall down before anyone has looked. A load-bearing wall can still go, with a beam, but only after a structural engineer checks it and a permit is pulled.
- Finishing in the wrong order. A floor laid before the drywall, or paint before the cabinets, gets damaged and redone.
- Deciding room by room. Pick the kitchen, living and dining finishes first and let every other room follow, or the house ends up in three styles.
More detail on one room: the kitchen renovation planner and the bathroom renovation planner draw a measured plan, the kitchen and bathroom remodel cost calculators price one job at a time, and the interior painting cost calculator prices the paint.
See every room to scale: the free 2D room planner opens each room you save here, in feet or centimeters, to furnish, resize and share.
Open the 2D plannerRead next
- A real whole-home plan, before and after, room by room
- What makes open concept living rooms so appealing
- Bathroom remodel ideas that deliver big impact without a big budget
- Simple and cheap kitchen makeover ideas
- Bedroom makeovers before and after you can copy this weekend
- Sherwin-Williams whole house colors that flow from room to room
Whole-house renovation questions
How much does a whole house remodel cost?
It is the sum of its rooms. In 2026, a kitchen runs $100–$250 a square foot, a bathroom $12,695–$24,715 by its size, a living room $10–$60 a square foot and a bedroom $15–$40, plus a reserve of 10–20%. Add your rooms in the planner above and it adds them up.
How do I plan a whole house renovation?
List every room and what you want in it, price each one, add a reserve, then put the work in order: structure and systems, rough-in, drywall, cabinets, flooring, tile and paint, fixtures. The planner does all of it from your rooms and gives you the list to take to an engineer and three contractors.
What should a home renovation plan include?
Each room’s size and scope, a budget per room with a reserve, the order of work, every wish written down, one palette for the house, and the questions for the engineer and the contractors before work starts. The Starter Plan PDF here has all of them.
Is there a home renovation checklist?
Yes: the plan ends with one made from your rooms. It names the walls a structural engineer must check, the lead-paint rule for a home built before 1978, the permits, what to measure again, and what to ask each contractor.
What order should a whole home renovation go in?
Structural work and systems first, then rough-in plumbing, wiring and ducts with the walls open, then drywall, cabinets, flooring, tile and paint, and fixtures last. If you live in the house, finish a bedroom and a bathroom first and live in them while the kitchen is open.
Where do I start with house renovation ideas?
With the rooms that set the style: the kitchen, the living room and the dining room. Their wood, floor and trim decide what every other room follows. Type your ideas for each room into the planner and each comes back with the free tool that sizes or prices it.
Should I renovate the whole house at once?
Doing it at once costs less in total: the walls are opened once and the trades come once. Doing it in stages costs more but lets you live in the house; then do a bedroom and a bathroom first and the kitchen next. The order of work is the same either way.