3 Essential Tips to Stay Sane During a Renovation
Have you ever felt super excited while planning your design or renovation project? And then demolition starts, and things start to get increasingly stressful. Products are delayed, workers don’t show up when they say they will, decisions need to be made, dust is EVERYWHERE, and money flies out of your account at an alarming speed. At times you want to fire (or strangle) your contractor, your designer, the window treatment guy, and your curious neighbor peeking through the door.
I am here to tell you that, even though your renovation process may feel like a roller coaster ride, it’s worth it. The result of this effort will ultimately enhance your life, bring joy, and increase your property value for years to come.
I would like to share 3 essential tips (plus a bonus tip) to help you stay relatively sane throughout your renovation.
Tip #1: Focus on Your WHY
Why is (or was) this project important to you? Return to the reason you embarked on this journey in the first place. Perhaps you are looking to refresh your home after a major life transition or your kids got married and you want to welcome an expanding family. Keep this beautiful, personal, reason at the forefront of your mind.
During stressful times, our mind wants to fixate on details, because that is something we believe we can control — the missing faucet, the extra can of paint, the regueton music playing in the background. Whenever you find yourself aggravated and fixating on every detail, recognize what’s going on, take a breath, and remind yourself of the big picture…your amazing WHY.
Tip #2: Consider Yourself Part of the Team
Even though you are the homeowner and client, YOU are a crucial (actually the most important) member of the team. At times your home might not feel like your home, with contractors and tradespeople invading your space and speaking in jargon. However, the truth is everyone involved wants to do a good job, and essentially make you happy.
Ask questions, make decisions together, have regular meetings, bring coffee and chat. Keep the communication flowing and clear, just as you would with your colleagues at work. Seeing yourself as a team member, will help resolve problems more quickly, decrease any potential tensions, and increase positivity on the job site .
Tip #3: Hire a Project Manager
You may have jumped into this project with a great deal of oomph, and eager to take on the project management yourself. Perhaps you saw this as an opportunity to cut some cost. But the reality of ordering products, tracking deliveries, coordinating trades, scheduling every last detail, reviewing drawings, overseeing the work being done, is WAY more than you were expecting. That’s OK, and that’s why you should hire a project manager, no matter how small your job or what stage of the game you are in.
Having someone in charge of managing your project doesn’t mean you are not part of the team, it simply shifts your role from manager to decision maker. Ask your designer, architect or contractor if they offer this service and if they are willing to take on this role. Believe me, any additional fee will be well worth it, and you will be able to breathe again.
Bonus Tip: Be Extra Kind to Yourself ❤️️
Our homes are an extension of ourselves. There are few things more personal than the spaces we live in. When a crew of strangers arrives to demolish, poke through, make a mess and reconstruct our familiar habitat, this experience can be disruptive and shocking, to say the least. Even though we willingly hired this crew...for this exact purpose!
As a homeowner myself, who has lived through a few renovations in my own home, plus worked on several renovation projects, my honest advice is to take good care of yourself during this journey. Eat well, get plenty of sleep, practice yoga or exercise, laugh, cry, pray, meditate, and if necessary go away for a while. Most importantly, remember home is where the heart is. Before you know it, you will be enjoying that very design you envisioned during the planning phase, in real life.
Book a discovery call with me today to chat about your renovation and project management needs. I’m here to help!