How much do you love/hate remodeling?

I appreciate the effects of others (who have taste) rearranging a space, but I rarely bother to do it myself, and tend to avoid helping out if I can. ;-)

We have been renovating our house for 10 years. There are only two rooms we haven’t completely remodelled. New kitchen, bathroom, laundry, the three car garage is now a rumpus room, bedroom and ensuite, the other bathroom has been completely ripped out and renovated. The carpets were ripped out when we moved in. We now have timber floors throughout. It could have been done a lot quicker but when we have the time (and we don’t have much) we don’t have the money and when we have the money… we don’t have time.

I don’t much like the process, I love the outcome though. I really love our house now. It is absolutely our house. It looks nothing like it did when we bought it. We have also done major work on the garden, put in a big driveway, borders, the list is endless. I am lucky my husband is very practical and capable – just a little on the slow side when it comes to completing things :-)

I enjoy the initial phase and the finished product. Once my energy begins to wane, my initial enthusiasm seems beyond ludicrous. The outcome usually makes it worthwhile though

We just completed a major remodel and I was initially excited. After the third complete spring cleaning of my house in less than two weeks to remove the sheetrock duct from my walls, I was frustrated to the point of tears. I was so sick of contractors being in my house I was ready to scream. It feels really nice having the work completed. I loved the dream and planning part, but I have to have things organized and clean. I really tried to control my frustrations, but the projects started snowballing and it got out of hand.

The only part I like is the removal of “stuff.” I like taking out floors, carpet and drywall. I don’t even mind hauling in materials or the removal of debris. Painting isn’t bad either But please don’t ask me to do the detail planning at the beginning, or actually putting up anything. (Like drywall or baseboards or whatever.) Once it’s all up, I don’t mind arranging the room. So, I guess I like the beginning and the end. :~)

I love it. What I hate about it, if anything, is that feeling when you get up in the morning, look around at the debris, take a deep breath, and face what needs to be done that day. It can be daunting, and I find it’s almost more exhausting just to plan a day of that kind of work than to actually do it. I would guess this is because there’s actually an immediate physical reward to the activity (in terms of making progress and sometimes in terms of a workout), but not really to the planning.

And LOL at your topics.

I remodeled a bathroom in a house. I will never willingly undergo that again. It was a nightmare. the contractor would answer our phone. He would hang around and sniff appreciatively while I was cooking dinner and say that smells good.

I had to force him to fisnish putting in the flooring and painting the room.

5½ years ago, a remodeling project was forced onto us: a pipe above the kitchen ceiling burst, then our fireplace collapsed.
We have, of course, got everything patched and painted, but we then agreed to redo the entire kitchen and living room. Once we ran out of money, my wife wanted to borrow to finish, while I insisted we wait for the money to come.
Had we borrowed, we wouldn’t have been able to buy the second house, but the project is not done. We still to recarpet, refloor, and recabinet. All that old stuff is still in place, but it is ugly as sin.
We agreed not to have guests till we are done. Maybe 5 more years.

I have done it so many times I guess I love it. Especially when I can teach my boys how to do these various steps of a project. Yes it is a mess and seemingly a lot of work but in the end you do save a ton of money or at least put the saved money into better fixtures, cabinets, appliances etc. The best part is when my wife pitches in and can be a tremendous “motivator” when she wants the project finished already!

I enjoy the planning and the outcome, but the actual process of going to the home store, demolishing, installing, etc., is so exhausting and time consuming. I like watching TV shows where they do it all within a half hour, and you get to see the reveal, cleaned up, new furniture, and happy couple oooohing and aaaahing over the finished product!

In fifteen years we remodeled our house twice.

When we first bought it, we gutted and replaced the kitchen, tore up the wall-to-wall carpet and refinished the hardwood floors (that were underneath), widened a doorway, and added French doors in a few places. My friend Dave and I did all of the work ourselves. It went beautifully. I was 25 at the time.

Years later, we ripped off the roof and added a second floor and walk up attic. I designed it, but we hired a contractor to do the work. It was scheduled to take three months. A month into it, my contractor started going though a nasty divorce that upended his life and, consequently, our renovation. In the end, we lived out of one bedroom and a bathroom for close to a year and went $40K over budget. I was 31 at the time. Came out great though.

I have a third renovation planned for “someday”.

I do it for a living and that is what makes me really like it. Doing it for myself is nowhere near as fun. Feels too much like working for free which really feels like a revolting situation at best.

I’ve been working on major improvements to my house since I bought it in December of 2010. It gets exhausting for sure, but my god it looks so much better. I enjoy the creative outlet, and there are few other projects in life where the fruits of your labors can be experienced so directly as when you get to live in it and see it everyday. Many of the projects are winding down now, so I’m going to enjoy things as they are for a bit, but I’m also saving up money to do a full kitchen remodel when I can afford it in a few years.

I love and hate it. I enjoy the planning, most of the doing (especially if power tools are involved… RAWR!), and the finished product (if I ever get around to it, that is). But, it always takes longer and costs more than I expect it to. This is why I have so many unfinished projects around here! And it takes a tremendous physical toll on me because of the fibro. For every one day of physical work of any kind, I’m laid up for three days to recover. It can take me weeks just to get one room painted.

The trick in a successful remodel project in all instances has to do with patience.. Do it in a hurry or on a time schedule and it will inevitably become burdensome.