Home Renovations During the Holidays

View quoted message

I agree, we decided to put a stop on the reno's till after Christmas but we did finish enough flooring so that the dining room is completed and we can place a tree there for about a week or so before doing more. Less stress after Christmas as we won't have a timeline for it other than sooner than later

View quoted message

Oh for sure, this is the first time that I have ever lived with anybody (other than my parents and sister) and it's my own house (with him too of course). It won't be the last reno - we still plan on doing more after the wedding and then we will be selling it to buy a house in the neighbourhood that we want our kids to grow up in (no houses were what we wanted at the time so one of the wishlist things had to go).

We've got the dining room flooring down so we are taking a breather to put up the tree so that I can be happy for at least a week

Oh the joys of renos - I moved into the hubby’s townhouse on the condition that the basement would be finished (us, two households of stuff, high energy dog and a roommate was way too much for the current two floors). His uncle came down to help and I was told it would easily be done in 2 weeks (which I didn’t fully believe). We are now 16 months in and the basement is actually less functional than it was before cuz it’s mostly finished but has doors, baseboards and various tools stacked everywhere.

It has put out a strain on the relationship, but nothing insurmountable. We are looking at buying a house in the next year and he once again was talking about finishing the basement himself. I straight up told him he was banned from all home renovations until he could prove he was responsible enough by finishing our current basement 😂 unless he wanted to pay for me to go on a tropical vacation for the entire duration of the project.

At the end of the day, it is what it is. Anyone that has done Renos understands. If there is something that is high priority - like your kitchen - strike a deal on a reasonable amount to complete before Xmas. But don’t put extra stress on yourselves.

Oh boy, the stories I could tell about Renos!!

There is no such thing as a quick reno - something always delays it whether it is procrastination, waiting on days off, or trying to figure out how to re-enforce a floor joyce.

My FH bought a small fixer-upper just before we started dating - so he wasn't thinking any girls would move in any time soon lol. It needed a lot of work and before I moved in, I helped reno the bathroom - we're talking total redo, knocked out walls and everything! He's not a carpenter but his dad is - so he knows what it's like to constantly live with renos but does it anyways 🤷🏻‍♀️He wants to finish up renos next year so we get a year in our house before trying to sell. Next house we'll make sure no major renos are needed! The current one had a lot of problems, including a rotting joyce!

It definitely can put a strain on the relationship - we call the bathroom reno our test that we were ready to move in together lol. If we could survive that, we could survive anything! My main piece of advice is to be patient with the renos and see if there's anything you can do to help! I paint since my FH is tired of the project at that time and it relaxes me. Also men are stubborn especially one committed to renos lol.

Renos can DEFINATELY be a strain on the relationship. we have gone through 2 together. well sort of.

the 1st reno was after my basement flooded (we weren't living together yet). most of the work was done/paid for by insurance. so the hardest part was not having my basement space when he would come over. or the amount of ikea furniture I had him put together! haha

2nd one...was tough. we bought a house. and we had his g-mas house to live in so we could gut the bathroom to the studs. so many things were delayed. we were doing a lot of leg work (shopping for supplies, finding people do the work etc). then we did almost all the painting. or some other small project (that we could handle). on top of doing this, we were cleaning out his grandmas house to sell. so it was just tough all around.

I definitely can feel your pain. but like Gina said...no one will care if there is still renos happening. and an older house will never be exact how you want it (I am forever seeing things that need to be fixed). if for the most part you two are fine through this (even though its stressful not having your house ready for Christmas). TAKE IT!!! its a good thing!

View quoted message Yep, my FH is the exact same way! He doesn’t want to hire out because he can do it himself. I had to put my foot down with replacing our windows! I wasn’t about to order a ton of windows and get them put in one by one! Lol. It would have taken months! All weather windows did it in one day and that included the casings. You will have to be the logic when it comes to renovations haha

View quoted message

Wow, it's good to hear that the whole reno that never ends is more common than I thought. I don't know anybody in my family that has ever done a reno (other than my Dad when he built an addition onto his parents house when he was like 20), so I like hearing that there is a light at the end of tunnel even if I can't see it.

Definitely accumulating lost of funny stories! Thanks

View quoted message

Thanks! I for sure used to love watching all of those HGTV shows when I lived at home with my parents (and had cable), so I've got to say - it looks way easier when they do it

Thanks for all the support!! We shall make this evening of inputting flooring fun by adding some liquid help maybe... haha

View quoted message

Right? My Dad telling us that we can make it through anything after a reno like this just made my FH look at me and say "Ya, like another reno on a different house!" lol

And you get it exactly!! He gets home and doesn't want to do much because he was so busy all day doing the same type of stuff - yet he doesn't want to pay somebody else to do it because he can do it himself and it would be silly to pay someone to do that.

It would be fine if we at least had a floor... lol we should be putting in the click laminate today so my Christmas tree will be put up this weekend!! (Fingers crossed!)

God help both of us with having carpenter FH's!!!

We're also renters, so renos are out of the question.

When my maternal grandparents passed away, my mom inherited the duplex she and I grew up in (My grandparents lived upstairs and I grew up downstairs). Since they were mortgage-free, my parents decided to take out a line of credit and remodel the whole house and turn in into a single family home. Though the bulk of the major renos are done, they are still chipping away at the smaller stuff, 10 years later!

We've definitely spent some Christmases in what looked like a wood shop (ie. our living room) with unfinished floors/walls in the kitchen too.

Now we look back and just have different funny stories about those years and how crazy my parents were to still manage to host our family gathering during that time!

Patience is key, for sure

As apartment renters we're not allowed to make major changes to our home, but we've seen our friends do it and it seems very overwhelming.

I'm chiming in to share this tidbit: When I was growing up, my father took on major home projects when he was grieving and/or managing a lot of stress. When my paternal grandfather died, my dad built a huge deck in our backyard. I remember him installing interlocking bricks one year and gables on the upper level another. Ever the patient spouse, my mother kept us kids out of his way when he was going through it, threw us into the mix when he needed to impart fatherly wisdom, and supported him during each reno. I can only hope that when we as a couple decide to renovate (for any reason), we can work as well together during the process.

Hang in there! You've got this! Have fun with it and make it an adventure! If you have time, watch HGTV to get tips for how the couple work together (though, I realize that sometimes drama makes for good tv ).

My FH is a carpenter as well. We bought a fixer upper. 7 years later and there’s still so much to do!!!! Haha. I’m sure that’s not what you want to hear. Lol. They always say a carpenters house is the worst, and it’s true! Everything he does is completed to about 90%. Then the rest just sits there lol. We remodeled our entire basement 2 years ago. New walls, floor, ceiling etc. And the baseboards still aren’t finished. Their almost finished. Lol. I think for carpenters it’s the fact that if their renovating their home, it’s just like being at work. And the last thing they want to do on the down time is what they do Monday to Friday. It has absolutely tested our relationship. And I will never do this again. Lol. We want to build a home in 2 years, so he better get this one done so we can sell it. Lol. If it makes you feel any better, we’ve always hosted Christmas, even when it was in the middle of renovations. No one cares, it’s what happens with older homes. Just remember it will get done eventually. Hopefully lol