Four Ways To Keep Your Sanity During Home Renovations
How do you keep your sanity during home renovations? In most cases, you don’t.
We’ve all seen TV shows with home renovations that go from dingy to fabulous in a span of 30 minutes.
We sometimes see the homeowner bemoan the extra expenses and how they don’t have a home to live in while their kitchen is being gutted.
In the end, everybody is all smiles during the big unveil.
However, the reality is that sometimes you are doing the work yourself in every spare moment you have, while at the same time balancing a day job and kids.
Is it possible do to a stress-free home DIY or renovation? Yes… let me share with you how we survived ours.
How To Keep Your Sanity During Home Renovations: Our Experience
We’ve gone through numerous upgrades and renovations on our home in the one year we’ve been living here.
One big upgrade was to the tiny’ “builder special” deck which was falling apart and not to code.
We rebuilt it with a new frame, composite board and solid aluminum railings. Not to mention, we made it functional, with space for a table and chairs.
Throughout the process, we have learned a few things about DIY home renovations and how to run them smoothly.
There’ll be days you are super tired and want to just walk away from everything. And there are days where you’re extremely satisfied when a project is completed.
Let’s get to the tips on on how to keep your sanity during home renovations.
1. Keep Plans And Expectations Realistic
You are not superhuman. You don’t have a TV show which can edit three-plus days of work into 30 minutes.
Break up parts of the project over the span of a few days – even a few months. You’ll avoid making mistakes, burnout and potential spats with your reno partner/friends/hubby or wife.
2. Take A Siesta
One of the smartest home DIY tips I can share: take a nap break. Being tired and working results in mistakes, and crabbiness.
Working on rebuilding our deck we noticed that the sun would hit the backyard at around noon. Waking up early and getting started at 7 a.m., we’d work through until about noon on weekends, and then take afternoon siestas.
It would help recharge our energy levels so that we could do a bit more work in the cooler evening if we wished to do so.
Take a nap. Make yourself a drink (keep it to one if it’s alcoholic). Watch a bit of TV or read a book. It’s break time, not work time. The dishes can be washed at another time.
3. Don’t Worry About the Dust, Dirt And Other Crap
Home renovations are not for everybody. Anybody who has obsessive compulsive tendencies to clean up every piece of dust should take a vacation during home renovations and leave the work and clean up to somebody else.
Chances are, if you are taking your time to do your work, the tools will be taking up space in one room alongside the building materials.
Don’t worry about cleaning these up or putting them away each day. You’ll drive yourself ragged if you spend time doing so.
And if you really hate dusty renovations, perhaps all you need is just updating your home decor (on a budget) to make it look a bit refreshed. That’s the least you can do!
4. Treat Yourself To A Meal Out
This is one of the easiest ways to keep your sanity during home renovations. We aren’t talking about a fine dining establishment!
A casual family restaurant will provide you with a good meal on those days when you are too tired to cook at home.
It’s also a great time for you and your partner/spouse to reconnect on home renovation plans and issues… or on other topics to take your mind off of what you still need to accomplish.
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So The Next Time The Renovation Bug Hits…
Even the experts recommend you learn how to balance the renovation and your life.
The next time you’ve got a rainy day or a snowy day and you’re dreaming up a renovation, think about how you can keep your sanity. Planning and timing play a role.
Put yourself into the right mindset and plan the renovation out, giving yourself enough time to do it right. And keep your sanity!
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QUESTION: What are your tips on how to keep your sanity during home renovations? We’d love to hear your stories, good or bad about your DIY disasters or successes.
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OMG!
I can’t. Home Renos Drive me CRAZY. Even the simplest things. It’s the mess and the chaos in the small area in my condo.
Great tips though. I’ll try to keep them in mind during the next round of renos.
There’s a lot we could do around here … painting, new cupboards, get rid of carpet/put in hardwood flooring, etc. It just sounds like a lot of work. Ha!
I don’t think I could live at home during any major renovations. I can’t stand the house being a mess at all, so wouldn’t do well with that part of it all!
It’s certainly the not glamorous part of any big overhaul. I hear you!