Living With It
If I had a pound for every time someone said “Rome wasn’t built in a day” the renovation pot would have some interest. If you’ve embarked on a #renovation you’re going to have to get used to agreeing with those people. In fact, there’s quite an adjustment from leaving a comfortable home when you move into your new ‘project’. I’m writing on the assumption your project is a building that stands with walls, windows, and a roof. If you’re moving into a renovation without that, then I take my hat off to you and personally I would consider staying with family, renting or buying a caravan.
Anyway, the day I got the keys to the Chestnut bungalow I couldn’t bring myself to stay the night as I thought I might get tetanus or typhoid from the radiator in the bathroom (there’d been some significant back splash from the toilet for many years prior). I’ll share in this short and sweet blog my tips for coping with that transition.
Moving into a renovation doesn’t have the same impact as moving into a beautifully designed home and plonking in your furniture then ordering a takeaway. In my opinion it’s better, because you’re fully immersed into the disaster zone, often back in time several centuries, and great things happen when we feel uncomfortable. In those moments of frustration that the door bangs onto the bed and the bathroom needs a lamp to have a bath you’ll have some of your best bursts of creativity. Or at the very least you’ll identify your pain points to share with your architect and designer. You might have a mindset of regret and want to push on with haste to get to ‘finished’ but I encourage you to take your time, get to know as much as you can about your house before you begin to make changes, then the decisions you make will fill you with joy rather than curiosity if you made the right improvements. Here’s some tips on how to slow down and live with it.
1) Clean every single inch. Not only will you know it’s free from other people’s dirt but in doing so you’ll find the plug sockets, spots of damp and problems. Most things can clean up pretty well (we can thank Mrs Hinch for that) but if it can’t and it’s grim you might have to rip it out. In the case of the tetanus radiator, I paid £70 for a replacement, and it took a plumber an hour to switch it. Plug ins, reed diffusers and candles will be a big help in tackling smells.
2) Carpets can be one of the worst offenders; they hold onto smells, dead skin and are a perfect home for dust mites, bed bugs and carpet beetles, which creep me out (I hope you’re not eating). Book someone in to clean them or hire a rug doctor and do it yourself, the colour of the water is strangely satisfying. If they’re past cleaning or capable of triggering a migraine (what were those 70’s patterns?), then consider taking them up and having bare floorboards and cheap rugs. Just hold fire if you’re going to make use of my next tip.
3) Painting some rooms can make a huge difference to how you feel in your new home. Colours conjure emotions and if the walls are painted in colours that press the wrong buttons it might be worth spending a few days with some cheap paint to tart things up, you can pick up a 7.5L tub of paint for £30. It might not be your end game colour palette, but it could make a significant improvement to your main rooms that you want to be able to relax in. At Chestnut I had to cover the pine cladding and the pine fire surround, and we’ve just painted at Alpine to evict the smoke-stained walls, time and money well spent. Tile paint is also a good rescue for shocking tiles in a kitchen or bathroom. If you’re going to paint, leave those carpets down until you’ve done to keep your floorboards looking lovely (hopefully).
4) It could be a long time before your renovation begins; if you need to work with an architect, secure planning permission and find a builder it’s likely to be at least a year before you get cracking and that’s if you start the plans as soon as you’re in. Therefore, it might be worth giving some time and attention to fix up a key room you can escape to, your sanctuary from the f-ugly bits, maybe the lounge or your bedroom. At Chestnut this was my saviour. Once plans were drawn up I identified two rooms that would be unaffected by the major work (the second and third bedrooms), so I go to business ripping these out, plastered, painted, all new woodwork, windows, and carpets. Within a month I had a beautiful bedroom and a snug; a saving grace during the second phase. It also set the tone for the design and quality of the rest of the project.
5) Finally, don’t wait for ‘finished’. Do the things you enjoy, cook lovely meals, bake the cake and if it gets too much there’s usually a garden that needs clearing! Unpack your boxes, have your beautiful things around you, if you need to buy anything, choose items that are versatile. For example, if you need furniture select pieces that can work in several rooms; if you need storage in your lounge choose a unit that wouldn’t look out of place in a future bedroom or hallway. If you have things around you that you love you will find a way to see past the things you don’t.
Coming up in my next blogs I’ll walk you through writing your design brief, working with architects, questions to ask prospective builders and ways to get more value out of your budget. I hope you’re enjoying this ‘chapter’ of the blog and if you’re currently in the midst of planning or starting a renovation I’m here to answer questions and share more tips of survival, 13 months without a kitchen on our last project taught me a lot! Please get in touch or drop questions below, it would be lovely to hear from you.
