5 Tips for Surviving Home Projects

I have been married for nearly six years; during that time, we have endured and survived a home remodel along with various other projects in and around our home. We married young, and my husband already owned a house – an old two bedroom house which was home to five bachelors before we got married … five stinky bachelors who thought hanging flannel sheets with close to a million nails was the same as hanging wallpaper; bachelors who, for three years, never once cleaned the bathtub and thought it was awesome to make rows of pennies above every doorway. I don’t think my husband (or his roommates, for that matter) had noticed the pink trim; he DEFINITELY had no clue the bathroom didn’t have an electrical outlet, that is, until I was getting ready for work one day and had to run an extension cord from the garage to the bathroom just to blow dry my hair.

This is what I, newly married at age 21, walked into – and that’s when my loving husband took on the roll of a handy man!

It has been an adventure, that’s for sure. At times, these home projects have been fun while other times, they have been completely frustrating. (Can any of you relate to this?) Through it all, I have learned a few valuable lessons:

1. Roll with it.

It is no fun for anyone when you have a bad attitude about the conditions you are working with. Learn to lighten up! We once took a window out of our kitchen and replaced it with a sliding glass door – sounds awesome, right?! Except there was a four foot drop from the door to the ground and that door provided our only access to the backyard … so I would gently toss one boy out and then had to scoot myself down while holding my baby. I’m certain that the six houses which can see right into our backyard had a good laugh at my expense every day for about three months.

2. Accept that sometimes it sucks.

Sometimes the weatherman will be completely wrong when he says zero percent chance of rain right before your husband will have just taken the shingles off your roof. When the thunderstorm arrives – and you know it will – you’ll be holding buckets in the attic while he frantically tries to throw a tarp over your house in the pouring rain. Or maybe you will be in a fight with your husband and run to your room to slam the door, only to realize the doors were removed to be painted the week before. Maybe your son will learn to crawl on plywood or unfinished (nasty) hardwood.

Sometimes, it just sucks.

3. Everything (usually) takes longer than you thought, so be resourceful.

My husband actually banned me from saying the words, “so, how many more coats of mud do you think this will take?”

When we built our back deck, we actually covered our outdoor water spigot. My husband planned on moving it but as summer continued, I got desperate – so one day, I propped the kitchen window up and used the kitchen sprayer to fill the pool for the win!

We decided to turn our garage into a dining room and toy room, but in the process, my husband was working and also went back to school. The dining room walls were drywall boards for a LONG time, so I improvised and used them as a big chalkboard:

While my husband was remodeling our ONE and ONLY bathroom, I got real resourceful: one day, I packed up the kids and dropped them off at the YMCA child watch. On the form that asked, “Where will you be?”, I humbly wrote “taking a shower!”

4. Get involved and involve your kids.

After my husband had gutted our bathroom, my son walked in and said “dad, why do you keep making the house destroyed?”

Interestingly, he had taken no notice that the toilet, sink, and walls were gone – he was just concerned with where he should put his toothbrush. Kids are pretty good at overlooking chaos but do not want to be overlooked themselves – so find some jobs they can be involved in and let them “work” with you.

My husband and I have had some of our best late night talks after putting the kids to bed, me sitting on a step stool while he was sanding the walls. Of course, I typically do a lot of “hold this, move that, push here” – but we make the most of it and have a lot of fun!

5. Be safe.

We have had our share of close calls when it comes to safety in our home. Home remodeling can lead to big messes and messes can make for unsafe conditions. Kids, especially, have a way of making many situations dangerous; for instance, we have already had one 911 call for a swallowed screw. Scariest moments of my life! Everything came out just fine, but I now have images of how to administer the  Heimlich Maneuver hanging throughout our house.

(And now I will disqualify myself as Mom of the Year …)

We will never forget this moment for the rest of our lives. We  had literally taken the outlet cover off to paint the wall ten minutes before my son – ironically, pretending to be a firefighter – nearly started a fire of his own. Thankfully, he was okay and the house was, too!

Here’s to surviving the inches of drywall dust, the discomfort of asking to use your neighbor’s toilet, and the nightmares about nail guns that come with making your house a home; turning a stinky old house into a place of comfort that functions well for your family. Look on the bright side – when it’s all said and done, your baby will be able to sleep through the night with an air compressor turning on (and off …) outside their bedroom and you will (finally!) learn how to communicate with your spouse without slamming the doors. For the win! 😉