I love a good before and after. Don’t you? It feels amazing to just tap or swipe to see all the hard work condensed into like 2 seconds. That feeling is what I’d love to have toward the remodel of my little cottage house in Old Town. But it is basically the opposite.
I am literally the most procrastinating DIYer I know and I work best off of deadlines. One time, I threw a Valentine’s party and was painting the entire living room of my rental the night before. I had to air out the fumes the whole day of the party so my guests didn’t go home with a headache.
I bought my little fixer-upper cottage about 9 years ago and thought, ‘Easy peasy. Nothing a little paint and spackle can’t fix. It’s only around 1000sqft. How hard can it be?’ But I quickly realized that I wouldn’t be able to make any rando deadlines since it is not as simple as just DIY with paint and decor. There are some larger needs going on like a game of expensive chess and I’ve been on hold to make them happen. Here is a list (in order) of the MANY reasons why the #MStreetMakeover has been semi-permanently stuck on pause:
-Saving up enough money
-Time/energy to DIY after my 9-5
-Busy/Serving in evenings/Traveling
-Fear of starting and opening up a ‘money pit’
-Overwhelm at the mountain of things needing attention
-No space to move stuff around since it is so small; needing a storage unit
-Storage unit doubling in price; move to a new one (and then again)
-Refinancing to get the remodel money once I had a scope of work
-Pandemic Pricing: lumber up 3x, other supplies jacked up
-Supply Chain Issues
-Needing to move final boxes & furniture to a storage unit but my shoulder was injured for 2.5 years
-TX Icepocalypse Power Grid Collapse of 2021 and repairs needed: new drain line, HVAC system, and sewer line…all busted during the freeze
-Inflation after the Pandemic
-Unemployment
As you can see, it’s been a doozy and I have almost given up many times. But I’m not a quitter and I have vision. So many things on that list have been major roadblocks and I’ve overcome almost all of them, praise the Lord. I’m working toward starting (finally!) and will update as I am able. Just prepare yourself that we may be looking at another 10 years before I finish!
For the BEFOREs, I’m posting the listing pics of move-in day 9 years ago in 2014 because my personal ‘before’ pics have been collecting dust and it’ll take me a hot second to hunt them down!
