Today I muse about the stress of Remodels....
“Working the plan” can take A LOT of patience…especially on a massive remodel.
It always gets worse before it gets better…in this post I talked about the calm AFTER the storm. Right now I am in the middle of the storm.
The good news is most of the demo is done on the new house and now, little by little, we are putting it back together. Out with the old and in with the new.
In the next few weeks a new walk in shower will be built. New hardwood flooring will go down, new transom windows will be installed. New paint, tops, tile, front door.
It all takes time and a lot of patience. Most of all it takes “working the plan” and clinging to the vision of what will be.
That’s hard to do when the house looks like a bomb went off . Or a sub doesn’t show up when they say they will. Or materials you painstakingly selected have been discontinued. Or the new window in your laundry room is obstructed by a vent pipe smack dab in the middle of the cutout! (All snags I encountered last week!)
It doesn’t matter if you are painting a dresser or remodeling a room or even an entire house. There will be snags…the unexpected will pop up…something will not go as planned.
All part of the process but these hiccups can really stress you out…and stress causes a physiological reaction that hinders your ability to think clearly and make sound decisions.
Last week I expressed a little “impatience” with the plumber who was clearly working his tail off, even though it wasn’t at the pace I personally expected. The next morning I apologized for being so short. While I thought things should have been happening at a faster pace, he didn’t deserve my “grouchiness.”
Prime example of how stress can cause you to say and do things that are NOT COOL.
Stress is not an excuse for bad behavior. While it may explain why you behave the way you do, it is not an EXCUSE for behaving like a jerk.
Remind yourself repeatedly “this too shall pass,” take a deep breath and remember that diamonds are created as a result of tremendous pressure and time.
All that being said, I highly over estimated what I could get done this week…and the most pressing “projects” I need to tackle inside the house entail paint, which is not something I can do while they are repairing sheetrock.
I decided to tackle something I thought I might enjoy…organizing this “shop” so I can move all my tools out of my garage this weekend.
It has good bare bones so for the time being I don’t plan a major overhaul. Just going to work with what is there and make a few additions. I have no doubt I will eventually “gut” it. Just the way I roll!
I need my tools at the new house more than I will need them at this one. I have so many things I want to build for the new house in the next few weeks, I decided it would be good to have this space relatively organized and all my tools handy.
Besides, it is good to “declutter” spaces when your house is on the market. Closets and shelving may seem obvious but a cluttered garage (even though it makes sense to me) may be a tad off-putting to potential buyers as well.
I’m off to take another bite of the elephant!
