Renovation Update: 2024 into 2025
To recap: in spring 2024, we interviewed five design/build firms; we signed with one in June and, over the next six months, created a whole-house renovation plan and then tried to scale it down to fit our budget. By Thanksgiving, though, Jon and I realized that we were not on the same page with the firm we’d chosen, and we ended our working relationship with them in mid-December…
November Searches, Saves, and Sources
I’m not publishing a full meal plan this week - Jon’s mum’s here and it’s Thanksgiving, so we’ve got a lot going on that will replace (at least sort of) standard dinners.
But I can’t help myself from at least sketching it out:
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Anyway! I thought that instead I might start a new monthly series to share my searches, saves, and sources. These round-ups won’t be long because we’re not buying much as we continue to save up for our renovation, but I’d like to see how they do. So… shall we?
A Vow for After the Renovation
… Even before we decide, though, I am making a vow to myself: I will not shortchange the un-renovated parts of the house post-Phase 1, while we wait for Phase 2, like I have for the last five and a half years.
There’s a lot we’ve been tolerating about how we’ve decorated our house since we moved in. We knew we’d be making big changes eventually so, while I wanted to like anything we spent money on, I coasted on “oh, well, we’ll level up after the renovation” for far too long - and on too many silly things.
Our Weekday Default
The other week, I mentioned that having a “default” routine helps me avoid burnout. We often have to make small tweaks to that routine - and sometimes, like next week when Jon will be out of town and I’ll have to stay in the office late at least a few nights, big ones - but it means we’re not starting from scratch with the logistics every time we plan our steps for the day ahead.
So let’s look at the morning and evening defaults through the week:
Drawing Up Whole-House Plans
Let’s just pick up where we left off, shall we! Or, actually, let’s back up just a bit:
The one thing all five of the design/build firms we talked to about our renovation goals agreed on was that, with our savings plus the amount of money we were willing to borrow, we couldn’t afford to do everything we wanted. Maybe that sum would have worked pre-pandemic, they each said sadly, but costs haven’t come down since mid-2020’s meteoric rise.
Our kitchen is falling apart, though, and there are a few other pieces we really can’t wait to do to improve our home. So the firm we hired - which will henceforth be known as The Firm - suggested...