Renovations are going on and my life is resembling nothing of itself since this started. I have never been more out of schedule with exercise, reading, eating, living, wanting to be alone more, or further off budget with our eating plans.
Everything is covered in a film of drywall and I have been writing SOS messages in the dust on my furniture.
I am told that this will be almost all done on Friday. Minor things will need to be done the week following, but we will have a few little things happening this week… like… floors.
I am so thankful the crew is running on time and under our budget. My continuous rants about not having a single dollar extra to pay them must have worked.
I am grateful to friends who let us crash their houses all day and all evening, family who helped us survive the weekends by letting us stay there, and my husband who must be questioning my sanity every day when he comes home to me this last week.
I don’t know how people survive this longer than two weeks. Despite my posts planned on, “how to survive a renovation,” the only advice I can offer is, “Expect the unexpected and go with the flow.”
I am officially the crazy lady in her pajamas drinking dusty coffee and talking about how tight money is all of the time.
At least I wear my pajamas with chic boots to avoid touching the plywood flooring.
We welcome our old life back soon!
Love picturing the jammies with boots!
Aw, you have such a great attitude about it all and I know you know it will all be worth it. We had some work done on our house back in IN and I remember feeling a little odd with these strange men around all the time, but they were great guys and did a really good job. Those were some MESSY days though…
Can’t wait to see the final results! (I’m sure you can’t either
)
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In 2007, we wrapped a six month renovation that was only supposed to take three. Though our contractor and his crew were an awesome
bunch of guys, I was glad to not have people walking through my house all day. As someone who works from home and is a sahm, it was a
really difficult time for us. And oh! The dust and noise. I love the end result but I’d probably never do it again.
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I know, I know, believe me, I KNOW! But, hang in there because it will all be worth it, and like the pain of childbirth, it will quickly fade once it is over
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I feel your pain – this past summer,we encountered a completely unexpected (read: well hidden by the previous owner!) construction project in our 45 year old house (tract housing = not up to code at this point and our first home!) This project, which involved a main support beam to my house being completely rotted, my concrete front porch(5 tons of it!) needing to be ripped out and replaced completely – and did I mention the LACK of exterior wall between said concrete porch and garage, which is where all of the water was coming from,nearly put me over the edge. Our construction guy(who both my husband and I wanted to marry after all was said and done) found more damage, managed to slice his hand open and have to go the ER while a 8×10 foot hole was exposed on the outside of my house, and oh, more damage! What made it all the better was that my husband and I are teachers, it was summer, and we didn’t have paychecks coming in, so it drained our savings account, I had more panic attacks that I can count and my construction guy turned into my shrink a few days….and the dust…..oh, the dust! All is well now, I have a beautiful front porch, a solid wall in my garage, and a GREAT construction guy who didn’t go penny over the price he quoted me on speed dial. The nightmare of that experience is just a dim memory now, and spring is coming so I will be able to decorate that beautiful porch soon! Long story short, hold on – its almost over and you will love it so much, the bother from it will quickly be a distant memory!
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We renovated our kitchen, doing all the work ourselves. We discovered that even though we stuck to our schedule, our supplies didn’t feel that same need. We reached points where we couldn’t do anything else until the cabinets arrived or the counter top was delivered or whatever. It was a challenge living that way for what seemed like forever, and it was only my husband and I. I can’t imagine how challenging renovations must be with little ones around. I’ll pray for you. . . and your contractors.
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It will all be worth it in the end.
I can’t wait to see the final results!
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Drywall dust is just awful. You only would be crazy if it weren’t unnerving you. When we tear up our master bath any day now, I’ll be telling myself to hang in there and visualize the end result.
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Love jammies and boots! I wear those often and my home isn’t under renovation. LOL Any kind of home construction makes life crazy. Good luck and hang in there!
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Oh, I feel your pain with the dust!
I have just about finished a project where I skim coated (using the drywall taping mud) an entire room to cover up an awful texture job. Of course, my technique is less than perfect so there was a ton of sanding. My job today is to vacuum everything in the closets.
But, hey, what you’re getting sounds much better. Good luck with it all!
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I agree 100%. When we did some updates, it lasted 3 weeks and I discovered that I am just not a renovation girl. At all. I have to give props to people who live through home renovations… they must have a really cool “safe place” in their minds that helps them ignore the chaos. Btw, I loved the flower picture behind your daughter… do you recall where you got it? Good luck with the last few days of h-e-double hockey stix!
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Oh I so relate – we did a major addition a few years ago and much of the work was done when I was pregnant and then the final push was right when I came home with a newborn – talk about stress! Fortunately, our contracters were wonderful and our youngest was very easygoing. I also tried to escape to our local lake many many days just to avoid the noise, dust and everything else! It will be done and you’ll soon forget how painful it was – sort of like childbirth haha
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I just echo what everyone else has said…Having gone through two major interior renovations with contractors in my home (basement finished when my oldest was a baby; first floor entirely ripped up to install hardwood floors when I was six months pregnant with number three in the stifling heat of a Georgia summer), I can totally relate! The end result and the enhanced functionality of your home will be totally worth it, though, I promise!
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Oh, I just love reading all of these remodeling stories. I love how everyone makes it the equivalent of birthing a child and the fading memory of the pain
I can’t wait to forget this- ha!!
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Hugs, hugs, and more HUGS! We haven’t done remodeling, but 2 summers ago we decided to do our backyard. It was nothing but dirt, or in New Mexico’s case – sand. The house was such a mess all the time. We did a lot of the work ourselves (just hired for the flagstone patio and sprinklers) so we were a mess every day from working out there. Took us 2 months to finish between trees, plants, hauling rock and laying sod. But we were so glad we had done it in the end.
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We’re going to be starting our own 3 month reno/construction deal in the spring and although I’m excited about the end product, I’m DREADING the upheaval!
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Just want to say that I too can relate. We renovated our entire house when I was 8 months pregnant. It was terrible LOL. It WAS worth it though so there is a silver lining. Hang in there! : )
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I will cross my fingers that your renovation is over (and perfect!) as quickly as possible. p.s. love the BlissDom swag bag in the background
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Cute post! It’s hard to let control go! It will all be worth it when it’s finished! Can’t wait to see pics!
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