First House RenovationFirst House Renovation

September 1, 2018by cheree2

After a year of hurdles, sleepless nights and a couple of meltdowns (me), Paul and I had finally bought our first house together.  Our happiness plus sheer relief of knowing that we had a permanent roof over our heads was indescribable.  We were also buoyed by the fact that everyone kept telling us what a great purchase we had made and how the house had so much potential.  And they are right, in some regards.  On a good day, we have cascading all day sun and a sea view that goes for miles.

On a bad day, we have the rain dripping in through the roof and bone-chilling southerlies whistling in through the windows.  Sometimes if it’s really cold I can hear the rats thumping around our ceiling like small children taking refuge from the bush.

Since we had been renting the property for 3 years we thought we knew every nook and cranny of this house.  I am cringing as I type this because it’s so cliché, but you know it’s not until you peel back the layers that the reality finally hits home.  This renovation was going to be a financial and emotional test of endurance!

As some of you may know, I am used to taking old furniture that is destined for the landfill and giving them a new lease on life.  However, I have never had to turn around a whole house.  Talk about overwhelming!

While I am confident that Paul will be able to rebuild our house to her former glory, I am struggling with how to figure out the design and style of this house.  I have no formal training and I have only designed a small apartment bathroom before, so my confidence levels are not hitting the roof.

Before I even skip off the block; I can see I already have 3 design dilemmas:

1. My house is Art Deco of the 1948 era while my style is definitely traditional with strong flavours of French Farmhouse.

2. We spent everything we had on purchasing the house, so we practically have a zero budget.

3. My partner prefers modern design.

However, after making Paul watch copious amounts of Fixer Upper on HGTV (channel 17), dedicated all day house programmes and dazzling him with my design mood boards, he is slowly learning that traditional doesn’t equate to doilies and dust collectors.

Source: HGTV

Our vision for our house is constantly evolving.  I can’t wait to show you where we are heading off to in the next post from our Home Journal.

P.S I would love to hear from anyone that is going through their own home renovation while living on site or from anyone who has design dilemmas with their loved one.

cheree

2 comments

  • Phyl

    September 3, 2018 at 10:07 am

    Enjoyed the blog. Looks like an interesting but challenging project.

    • cheree

      September 3, 2018 at 10:31 am

      Thanks for the great feedback. Hopefully, there will be more giggles than tears over the next year.

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