What To Do When Your House Gets You Down.

Hiccups.

You know the worst thing about hiccups?  You never just get them once. 

Well we have had a case of the house renovation hiccups.

Hiccup #1

 We thought we would try to quickly paint the ceiling using our new paint sprayer.  We neglected to back roll after we sprayed because we thought it looked really good and had covered well.  But once the paint dried and with the light coming through the windows you could see some serious paint lines.  

 The Peanut Butter (aka- for curing the hiccups): We repainted the ceilings using rollers... and a little bit of elbow grease. 

Hiccup #2

Our kitchen knobs are the right color - an oil rubbed bronze.  But the hinges somehow got ordered in brushed nickle.
The Peanut Butter: Hinges are going to be changed as soon as the ORB hinges come in.

Hiccup #3

This little cabinet door in our kitchen holds spices and is located next to the stove.  It actually pulls out and is a drawer.  However, the knob shape and placement make it seems like it would open out like any other cabinet door.
The Peanut Butter: The door actually had a scratch on it from the manufacturer so we are going to replace the door face as well as change the knob to a bin pull to coordinate with the other drawers in the kitchen.  

Hiccup #4

After hanging new drywall and priming everything, we noticed the walls were really rough.  And there was a visible texture difference once the wall was painted.
The Peanut Butter: We have to do a "quick" light sanding of all the walls.  To do this, we are using medium sand paper on a pole sander.  But I actually don't use the pole because I like to be able to have more control and feel my way over the wall to find the rough spots. 

 Hiccup #5

Before our bathroom vanity was installed completely, this upper cabinet that sits between our sinks was just sitting in the corner of our living room.  I saw it and thought, "oh what a sad little outcast of a cabinet."  Then I realized, that "sad little outcast of a cabinet" was going to be installed in my bathroom! Hmmm.. that was not what I had envisioned.   What I was envisioning looked more like this.
The Peanut Butter: Michael and I took that picture home and played with a couple of different options of what to do with it.  In the end we decided that we would replace the upper part of the cabinet with one door. We also decided to have the door face incorporate the shake panel so that it tied in more with the lower part of our vanity, which the flat panels did not seem to be accomplishing.  Also, now that the cabinet is properly installed and has crown molding on the top, it doesn't look so much like an outcast!

Hiccup #6

Look at our door! We just installed that this last week! I simply a-door it! ;-) (Couldn't resist).  So where is the hiccup? Well I circled it to help highlight the issue.  Those are wires for our lights.  What you can't really tell from that angle, and what we didn't realize until after the door was installed and we held my lights up next to the door, was that the wires were about a foot too low.  Shoot! 
The Peanut Butter: Unfortunately, this would have been a much easier fix had we not just installed the door.  But Saint Steve strikes again and he fixed the problem for us, cutting through the house wrap and foam board that we had just installed to raise the wires up.   



So with these little issues, it is easy to feel discouraged at times.  Each issue individually is not too big of a deal.  But when you add them all up together, it can really get you down! Especially, if it adds up to more money and more work (see hiccups 1, 4, 5, & 6).

So what do you do when your reno morale is sinking fast? 

1. Write a Blog:  I love writing this blog! It helps me to organize my thoughts, gain perspective, and vent, when need be.  It also helps me to be on the look out for things that are funny and memories I don't want to forget - and it will help me to not forget them! And I love hearing your words of encouragement! It means so much to me that you are coming along with us on this journey.  I sometimes feel like we have a big cheering section rooting us on toward the win.
2. Take a break:  Most of the time, we don't mind the house work because it is exciting and we feel accomplished when we get a job done, but other times it feels never ending.  Our trip to North Carolina was a great reprieve from all the house work.  At the time of planning that trip, I had some hesitation about leaving, feeling like our money and time were being taken away from the house, would it be worth it? Yes!! It was worth it! 
3. Make the work fun:  Fun = people. We have been so blessed to have had so many offers to help with the house.  From family to friends, you have all been so generous, expressing your heart to come alongside of us and share in this journey.  We only wish we had more to do so we could have more people help us.  (Did I really just say that?) On Saturday we put this into practice.  Our friend Cory was helping Michael in the basement (more on that in another post) and our friend Beth came to visit from Lafayette and helped me re-paint the ceilings. 
   

   

   Having a good time... and painting too

4. Add perspective to your situation.  Perspective can be added in two ways.  One way, that we really enjoy, is to bring people over to see the house.  We love showing our friends and family what we have been working on.  Having fresh eyes and fresh reactions to the progress helps us re-experience our house and re-appreciate the journey we have been on.  Another way we keep our perspective is to remind ourselves that this is all temporary.  Temporary in a sense that there will come a day when we look back fondly on the time we had renovating, and temporary in the sense that we can't take it with us.  No matter how perfect my kitchen is, I can't take it with me.  No matter how beautifully comfortable our home is, we can't take it with us.  Our home will, hopefully, be functional in helping us care for and entertain our family and others.  This house, the stuff that is in it, it's just stuff.  And that is where I'd like to keep my perspective, that in my life, the important things are relationships: with God, my husband, and others. 

 We have had an exciting week! The whole back side of the house has been sided and the rest of it should be done this week! Will there be pictures next time I post?! I guess you'll just have to stop by and see!

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