House in Progress Diary

Living in it while working on it

I've been dragging around for a few days, my bottom lip quivering and hanging all the way down to the floor (pushing around dust balls...WAY yucky). I finally decided, "Stop! Enough!" That's when I turned to the experts.

Image via SatireWire (but it LOOKS like it could have been taken in our basement. Unfortunately.)

ToolBeltBabe and the Kilted One are on their THIRD...(yes, that's right people, THIRD! 3! Trois! ) house renovation and I find their story downright inspirational.

Because, isn't that what this is all about? Passing the torch? Providing support for the next poor fools enlightened people who love old houses and decide they want to do this?

Ahem. Where was I?

So, TBB (ToolBeltBabe) was kind enough to share some "Do It Yourself IF YOU DARE" tips for living IN the house that you are also tearing APART. Because, honestly, her photos look durn good for a house that's being lived in AND renovated. (Go look at the pics at the bottom of March's entries. Yes. Go now.)

Here is what she wrote to me (she is SO incredibly wise):
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Living in it? Suuuuuuuuucks...

Yeah, we're rolling that big ol' rock up the hill, and catching it as it comes crashing back down, and then rolling it back up.

To be honest, no doubt the digital camera hides a multitude of sins. But I guess, too, living in the middle of a renovation is an art form unto itself. After two completed renovations, and now hot and heavy in the middle of the third and largest project we've undertaken, I think we've got it down to an art form. Now, typing this, I'm not sure that's something to be proud of...

But Zen, it ain't! I swear, it's a combo of a few things.

First, you'll notice that we have almost nothing that isn't essential in any of the rooms. No knick-knacks, minimal art, and most importantly, NO rugs or window treatments! Ye gods, the dry cleaning bills would kill us.

Second, slipcovers are our friends. Just about every upholstered piece of furniture in the house has slipcovers, all in machine washable fabrics, that we can pull off and toss in the washer when it gets so bad that we plop down in them and a cloud of dust rises to rival PigPen in the Peanuts comics.

And most importantly, we have our one Savior-- our cleaning service. We have an industrial cleaning service that comes in once a month just to do Surfaces. Floors, bathrooms, kitchen, the faces of appliances-- anything and everything that could be damaged and scratched by gritty renovation dust, and anything that needs to be sanitized regularly.

We rely on Clorox cleaning wipes (probably a case a month) to keep up with the maintainance between cleaning service visits. It's not pretty, to be sure, but we wrote the wipes as a line item in our budget, and they keep the house presentable (and us sane!)

Oh, and as a last tip, if you don't have one already, get the biggest, BAAADEST Shopvac you can find. Even the most expensive ones are cheaper than drugs (even with a prescription plan) and they will keep you soooo much saner! We bought a great one about ten years ago, and I'm just about to start, ummm... convincing the Kilted One we need a new one-- suction's dying, and it's time.

So we have JoeyWithaCousinintheNailBusiness, and you have UncleCarlwhoDiscoveredLiquidNails**?

Our sympathies, truly, but misery loves company!
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Yes, yes it does! And TBB's note gave me a good laugh, some great ideas and kicked my bottom lip off of the floor and right back onto my face where it belongs.

Actually, Misery Loves Company and Do It Yourself IF YOU DARE will be new situation comedies about renovating old houses coming out this Fall. Check your local cable channel for show times.

** Uncle Carl wanted to make sure that HIS re-muddles around the house stayed PUT! We've had to tear out a few Uncle Carl creations. He LOVED the LONGEST NAILS HE COULD FIND. PLUS liquid nails. Fasteners were his thing. Quality materials? Not so much. The back porch is made of cardboard (no lie). We can still see the items printed on the subfloor. Thank you, Uncle Carl.

Posted by jeanne on April 18, 2004 at 9:16 PM (2)