The Psychological Side to Renovation: Managing the Chaos
In addition to normal stress such as needing to earn a living and take care of family members, renovation can add its own unique form of stress. It happens through the mess that gets made, through financial worries, through delays, and through inconvenience.
The best choice is to try to prevent stress. One way to do this is to be sure you hire dependable people. It is far better to pay someone considerably more money than to be left high and dry with a half-done project and an unusable kitchen. Get references from anyone you hire and check them out with the Better Business Bureau or any other local group that has a similar purpose. Get the contract in writing; you can even ask them to put a cap on cost overruns without your permission and have that stipulation written in the contract.
Another way to prevent stress is to create a workable situation for you and your family during the renovation. You might be able to house sit someone else’s place for a time so that the worst of the renovation can be done without you having to live in it. If you are doing the kitchen, think through how you can continue to prepare food while the kitchen is unavailable. Can you move the fridge to another room? Can you manage with a microwave and paper plates for the length of time necessary?
It would seem that since more mess is going to be made the next day that it is useless to do much in the way of cleanup. But since mess can actually affect your emotions negatively, running the vacuum and doing a minimal amount of dusting, along with putting away tools can help you enjoy yourself in the renovation environment. Try to keep the mess contained in one room rather than letting it take over the entire house.
A newly renovated house is convenient and beautiful. Getting there can be stressful, but with careful planning you can reduce the stress level so you can get your dream house.