My lack of posts recently has been due to our renovations draining every last drop of energy from me, particularly in the last few months. I took a very unscientific survey of everyone I know who has done a renovation and almost everyone hyperventilated when I asked how it went. Or more importantly, how it finished.

Because if you can’t physically do every single task yourself, or your tradespeople are not closely related to you, you have to deal with tradespeople. I’m throwing some big stereotypes out here, but unfortunately a lot of tradies are difficult, unreliable, dishonest, lazy and walk off the job when it’s 90% complete leaving you tearing your hair out and them with their profit margin.

Alright alright alright I don’t want to bash the tradies, our plumber was a super lovely guy, as was our chippie, who did some beautiful work. In the past I’ve had some nice tradies do a good job, on time and for the quoted price. But then there are those who threaten to trespass on your property to remove the pavers they laid because they think you haven’t paid them when in fact their bookkeeping is lousy. Or a renderer who took 8 weeks to tell me finally that he wasn’t going to give me a quote, after me daily chasing him with urgency. And he drove a Ferrari. Man am I in the wrong business!

So the pain in renovating comes from dealing with some tradies. And the bigger the job, the more tradies you have and the more complicated it gets to co-ordinate it all. Which is what the builder should do, but again, he is another tradie himself, fraught with all of the same issues. Then there is pain in the time it takes and the tens of thousands of dollars you fork over every week, for what seems like an eternity. And don’t forget to double the time and cost estimates – always a good benchmark to start with lowering your expectations.

Gosh, hardly seems worth it!… but then there is the pleasure. Seeing your rundown, dark and old-fashioned house being transformed into your vision. Seeing the walls come down, the light come in and the spaces widen and open up. Experiencing the excitement when all of those bathroom fittings you picked months ago while trying to visualise how they look together finally get installed and you realise you are going to use a shower for the first time anyone has ever used it. Enjoying the slightly offbeat blue colour you picked for the walls look magnificent and better than you could have hoped for. And finally, when the floors are laid, the lights installed and the dust all cleared away, realising what you’ve achieved and cherishing this beautiful space that is inviting and warm.

There is no renovation without pleasure and pain. I almost feel like I couldn’t go through it again, but know I most certainly will. And the next renovation will be even better due to the hard lessons learned. Just not for another 10 years!