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This Renovation Life

Work in Progress!

When you bite off more than you can comfortably chew, the best bet is probably to chew slowly. Things around here are definitely on a slow chew. Here's everything broken down area by area into nice littleish bite-sized pieces, so you can see what we're up to and where. (And so we can kid ourselves there's not that much to fix. Gulp.)

Jim obviously has his own thoughts on the order we should be hammering things in. He's likes to focus on individual jobs like addressing a damp wall... or propping up a ceiling joist. But he's not stuck in our bomb-site most of the day with a toddler and dog, pulling his hair out at the lack of facilities like, um, an oven. Or actual bathroom sinks to brush our teeth in. Nor is he writing this. So this here is my order. By priority. From a works-from-home-mum's perspective. The stuff that absolutely has to be tackled verrry soon, before someone (me) loses their cool.  

There, see? A bit of DIY should do the trick! Yeah, and the flipping rest.

It's actually the DIY element that makes this such a whopper of a job. If we were hiring in tradesman, a lot of what we're doing with this old house is remedial stuff. We've got some exciting additions to make around the place but we're not exactly pushing the Grand Designs boundaries. But there is a grandness to what we're trying to remedy / renovate / rebuild for our family here. It's in the graft Jim puts in, and the new lease of life we're giving to this beautiful period house, and the trust the kids have that they'll soon have an absolutely kicking family home to enjoy. This renovation is a family gig. Something we're all influencing (and surviving) together. 

 

Which is why the jobs listed above probably don't seem to be in the most common-sensicle order, but we're having to factor in family life and that's as mighty an influence as the other big-hitters, like budget and time. It's also the reason that you'll never stop by and see just one thing being worked on at a time. Oh no. We like to flit. And then remember we left another job half-finished somewhere. Then flit a bit more.

Jim's mother is convinced this flitting is going to kill him. That he's going to fall off a ladder or something dashing from one job to the next. There is a fair to good chance. You can find out more about insuring your husband here. Only joking. (Not joking)

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