What I Do When I’m Fed Up Of Renovating

As I write this we’re living in our renovation project, Alpine. We started our extension ten months ago, ripped out the old kitchen eight months ago and I woke up recently feeling totally fed up with renovation life. If you’ve not lived in a renovation before that typically includes spending a lot of time cleaning up dust, moving things from one place to the next, having fewer possessions around and less space and most difficult at the moment, no kitchen, so very inventive and questionable cooking! 

I absolutely love renovating, I’ve done this before and I know it’s not forever. I’m also incredibly grateful to live here, and despite being very unfinished, I have a lot of appreciation for our home, but recently the frustration hit me so I spent a day doing all the things I do when I’m not loving it. I’ve noted them down so you have some ideas for those overwhelming days. 

Visualisation 

My morning routine always includes visualisation, but I spent a longer period of time creating a picture of a day in August 2024, a year on with a finished extension. If you want to understand more about visualisation, have a read of this blog.

Exploration

Whilst our home doesn’t allow me to easily do the things I enjoy to do indoors, it does offer a great location to many of my favourite things; walking, eating beach bakes, swimming in the sea, sunbathing by a pool, paddle boarding and non-alcoholic mojitos! So I togged up in my waterproofs and went for a long walk along the coastal path and picked up a pasty for lunch from the beach bakery. 

Cleaning 

Of course there’s a lot of scrubbing and hoovering to do when renovating but I rolled up my sleeves, put on a ‘Housework Hits’ playlist and cleaned the windows. Old and new (even though the remaining old ones will be replaced within the next month). I swept and hoovered up the extension and got rid of some rubbish. It’s known that a tidy house helps with a tidy mind, and in the case of renovating a few hours tidying can make a huge difference to mood. 

Tick off Small Jobs

In every project there are some small ‘I’ll do it later’ jobs, maybe jobs that take a few minutes but don’t really need to be done. In my case this was taking off stickers and plastic packaging from the windows, so I pulled that off and felt the satisfaction! 

Appreciation

After a few hours cleaning, I was physically itching from the dust, so I had a hot shower and enjoyed part of our home that is finished. For three months we didn’t have a shower and used the gym facilities every day, looking back that seems bonkers, but certainly adds to the appreciation I have now. 

Retail Therapy 

Avoiding premature purchases takes a lot of willpower, and something I talk about often with clients, however a little treat here and there of something you adore, something aesthetically flexible or useful won’t hurt. You may even see something that sparks a creative session designing or something you can’t stop thinking about after, which will confirm what you should be looking for.  On my ‘arrrgh renovating is hard’ day I popped out for some interior browsing and picked up a candle which I’ll save for a symbolic ‘yes we did it’ lighting in the completed kitchen. 

Enjoy Something Finished

We currently have a temporary, neutrally decorated, lounge furnished with one of my favourite pieces of furniture, a lamp, a couple of chairs, the bookcase and some accessories. Admittedly we also have the TV on the sideboard, but I’m so glad we have this room to retreat to and close the door on renovating. To end the day I poured a nice drink of Trip, turned on the lamp, lit a candle and read, coloured (yes I’m a big fan of mindful colouring) and we watched an episode of a box set. 

After a packed day with lots of mind clearing and organising I felt in a much better mood about renovating. Going through a huge home project is demanding on time, energy, financial investment and is stressful to manage, however when the project is organised, efficient and your vision is clear the process is satisfying and so rewarding. If you’re renovating as you read, everything is temporary, keep moving forwards and enjoy! If you get stuck, drop me a message or see if one of my services can get you unstuck!