Moving on…

For the past three years and in particular the last nine months, it’s felt like we have been trapped in a cycle of renovations. Nights and weekends, countless trips to the home improvement store, cleaning around construction materials and somehow fitting in pieces and parcels of life here and there. Renovations have been the tinted glasses by which we have experienced just about everything (except for maybe the trip to Antigua). And while we still have at least one super hard push this week to go, I know we’re both over it. For anyone out there thinking about doing a whole-house renovation and living in the house at the same time: think cautiously. I want to say “don’t do it,” because it’s really not my place to tell anyone anything but I am obviously not recommending it, although the outcome will be the house of my dreams.

From a financial perspective, these renovations were the way to go. The house had been fairly dated and the layout wasn’t conducive to modern living. There were also some structural needs we had to address and wrapping renovations around them worked well. Further, the things that needed to be done – kitchens, baths and floors – would have prevented a sale had we needed to. Finally, we did everything out of cash and did huge swaths of work ourselves, avoiding hard money costs and lending our own sweat equity into the final product. But now that we’re close to the end? Again, we are just over it.

So now I want to focus on moving on. Just as I started my microbusiness to get rid of the stress of my previous job, it’s time to move on from living in a renovation zone. So, for a few minutes, indulge me. I’m going to envision what our new post-reno life is going to feel like. First, I need to somewhat ground my vision in the tiniest bit of reality: even after this weekend, we are not done. BUT, we have both agreed that post-this weekend, we will work only one day per weekend on the remaining renovations. The nights and other day of the weekend? All ours to be humans and that’s what I intend to focus on. So, here goes… .

• No reno living spaces: the first big post-renovation vision I have is to re-assemble my living spaces without renovation materials. It’s not just the dining room filled with floorboards, although it’s the most obvious space. Instead, there are also three stacks of long white trim boards sitting behind the church pew in the dining room and two doors in the TV room nook where the treadmill is. The white boards go downstairs; the doors get installed. And my eye will not be able to look and see a single nail, screw, door handle, board or other such renovation supply anywhere in my downstairs.
• Evenings are free: with the warm weather just about upon us, it’s time for free and relaxing evenings. I’m talking dinner on the deck, campfire with a glass of wine or bourbon, walks in the sunshine, cooking together, star gazing, being pet parents and mentoring our two littlest kitties to be outside… . You get the picture: normal people stuff.
• Weekend adventures, together and separately: I love my weekend adventures! Darryl and I like to hike and get outdoors and we are going to get me a bike so that we can do family bike trips on this one trail in the national forest that we all like. Individually, Darryl also enjoys his own long bike rides and runs and I love to do mini-adventures with my sisters such as picking cherries, blueberries, strawberries and blackberries. My sisters and I also have our “old gray mares” day on the lake when we load up a picnic lunch and cold drinks and take the boat out into the middle of Chautauqua Lake and sunbathe and play in the water. It’s just a relaxing afternoon.
• A calm and quiet house: of everything I look forward to this is the biggest. I function the best when things are calm and quiet. I’m just too excitable. Having days, weeks and months on-end when the house is clean, calm and everything in its place will be soul-soothing. I used to be one of those people that loved a project and I would get bored, particularly in winter, if I went too long without one. Having had a three-year project, it’s killed that urge. I’m good now. I don’t need any more stinking projects. (I actually can’t even watch HGTV now. It gives me renovation PTSD.)

And those are the big ones. There’s probably additional benefits that I haven’t thought of yet but I will greet them happily when they occur.

Most of all, this whole adventure has taught me valuable lessons I will take forward. First, Darryl and I work well together and that’s good to know. The past three years could have been filled with incredible tension and I can see how renovations can really damage a relationship. Thankfully, we’ve had fun when we could and we managed the stressful times as a team.

Second, there is truly too much of a good thing. I think we got a bit sucked in when doing this project. Both the HGTV influence and the “could haves” took over. Sometimes, good enough is good enough. It’s not just a trade-off in terms of money but in terms of time spent. You can make more money, you can’t re-earn those hours and days. So, I’ll think more carefully in the future before dragging out the prybars and the demo saw again. Is it good enough? And is what we will be gaining worth the lost time in our lives?

And finally, I’ve learned that home is home, even when there are floorboards in the dining room. We have come a long way since I was cleaning around a chop saw beside our back door, but in some ways not a lot has changed in terms of reno materials scattered about. Still, it’s home. Whether in Version 1 (the pre-reno version) or Version 2 (the reno version), this is home. This is where I fell in love with my husband, where we adopted our furry ones, where we have now held countless Thanksgivings and a few pretty fabulous Christmases. What I hope today is that once the renovation materials are put away, this house invokes the same calm, comfy, relaxed and livable warmth that it had before we started. I think we’re good here and I’m super happy about that.

Had I known three years ago what the next three years would be like, I’m actually pretty sure I would still have done a renovation but I think I would have made different choices, such as carpet vs. hardwood upstairs and simply painting the trim upstairs instead of doing the crown moldings everywhere. Yet, we’re here now and it is absolutely gorgeous. More importantly, we can slow down and enjoy it.

Yes, it’s definitely time to move on.