Planning for Life During Your Home Renovation
There’s no doubt about it—making design choices for your home renovation project can be time-consuming and overwhelming! If you haven’t yet, take advantage of the tools we’ve shared to help reduce your stress and bring ease back into your renovation plans.
A great place to start is our very first blog post about planning your home renovation. Grab the Ultimate Home Renovation Checklist and make sure you have checked all the boxes ahead of your home project start date. The more work you do upfront in the planning phase, the less work you will have to do in the renovating phase. Our ultimate goal is to help you find more joy and less stress during your renovation!
Today, we are taking a deep dive into an important planning step that deserves thought and attention ahead of the hammers swinging. In a perfect world, your daily life would effortlessly go on pause so you could focus solely on your renovation project. In reality, you’ll be juggling both your renovation AND the curve balls that life throws your way. This post breaks down my top tips for planning for life during your home renovation.
Will you stay or will you go?
The first question to address is: where will you live while the work is being done? The answer to this question will most likely be dependent on the scale of your project and your total budget. If we are talking about a whole house remodel, you will need to move out for the duration of the project. If this is a smaller project, such as a kitchen or a bathroom, chances are you are considering living in your home during the project.
The moving-out scenario
Picture the scene. Your contractor explains that he thinks your project will last nine months. You find a fabulous rental and sign a nine-month lease. The day your rental begins, your contractor explains that he has a delay on another project and won’t be able to start for another three months.
You will need to decide if:
A) You will talk to your rental landlord about extending the lease.
B) You will move back into the house before it is finished.
C) You will crash with family and friends for a few months.
The ideal outcome is that your landlord allows you to extend the lease. But now you are stuck with an additional three months of rent that you didn’t expect to pay. My advice to you is to plan for inconvenience. If you anticipate that there will be project delays, you can plan and budget accordingly.
The best case scenario is finding a flexible lease situation where you have the option to go month-to-month after the lease term is complete. Budget for an extra month—or several, depending on the scale of your project.
Living at home during your renovation
I have some stress-reducing recommendations if you are planning a small-scale renovation and have decided to live at home during the project.
Establish your house rules
Before your project begins, there’s an important conversation to be had with your contractor and their teams. Set your expectations for the job site with a list of house rules.
Not sure where to start? For example, these rules could include:
Acceptable work hours.
The level of tidying up you expect at the end of each day.
Keeping music at a respectable sound level.
Excuse the dust!
Renovating is a dirty business! However, there are certain times during a project when the dust and dirt can feel overwhelming. I have a few recommendations to help make dusty situations a little more manageable.
Talk to your contractor about creating barriers between the areas of work and the rest of the house. Zipper walls can be put up to keep the dust at bay while still allowing people to pass through easily. Another tip is to cover your furniture. If you are renovating your kitchen and the adjacent living room is filled with upholstered furniture, it could get dusty (even with a zipper wall in place). I recommend covering the furniture during the dirtiest parts of the job.
At the end of the project, plan to have your upholstery, rugs, and drapes professionally cleaned to remove all remnants of dust and dirt. In some cases, it might be ideal to move your furniture into another room or a moving pod until the work is complete. Talk to your contractor about the best solution based on the scale and scope of your product.
Navigating your daily routine
Before your project begins, think about how your daily routine will be impacted by the work. For example, if you work from home, how will the project noise level affect you? It might be a good idea to scope out some local coffee shops or a pay-as-you-go workspace for the noisiest project moments.
If you have kiddos, watching the project activity can provide hours of entertainment. It can also be dangerous for little ones to get in the way of an active job site. Check-in with your contractor each morning and get a sense of what will happen during that day's work. Have some back pocket activity ideas ready if you need to vacate the house.
Nap time can be challenging during an active project. When my daughter was one, we lived through a rather large renovation project. Naps were often on the go or in a dark room with relaxing music playing in an attempt to muffle the hammering at the other end of the house.
Mealtimes can also be difficult, especially if you are completing a kitchen renovation! Talk to your contractor about setting up a temporary kitchen somewhere in the house. If you are completing the work in the warmer months, take advantage of your BBQ and eating outdoors.
Budget for treats
The reality is that even the best-planned projects will still have tough days. I recommend budgeting a little extra for some treats to help alleviate renovation woes and give you a break from the dust. My favorite splurges during renovation projects include a weekend getaway, a spa day, and a weekly takeout meal.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Plan on!
If you’ve got a renovation coming up—well, it’s going to get messy! However, planning for life during your home renovation can be a great way to sidestep some of the stress that comes along with your project. You deserve to feel joy at every stage of your renovation, and I hope these tips make that joy easier to come by!
