Here's my proposed home renovation plan, even though some seasoned homeowners laughed when I proposed it: in the first year of living here, I want to renovate (pretty much) everything I want to renovate. The corollary, of course, is that if it isn't fixed, I'll live with it.
I've got two motivations here: I don't want to move away in ten years and still hate my bathroom walls. I have a friend who is spending this coming week replacing the linoleum in his kitchen that he has hated for 25 years, so that he can rent out his house. That means he's finally fixing something that he hated, but he won't get to enjoy the results, and he had to put up with ugly linoleum for two and a half decades. Also, I don't want to spend every day of the next decade working on this house. I'm enjoying the painting and I don't mind the electrical repairs, but at some point I'd like to get back to all my other hobbies.
There are a couple of caveats. (1) I expect that repairs and upkeep will keep happening. Houses occasionally need new water heaters and repainted windowsills and the house doesn't care whether or not I feel like doing that. (2) I don't expect to change how I use the house. Right now, I only plan to live here for about ten years. If you stay anywhere for decades, your life changes and you naturally remodel the playroom into a teenager hangout or put in a wheelchair ramp.
Now that I've made this public, we can all check back in five years. If I'm still replacing walls or laying down new carpet, you have my permission to laugh at my foolishly optimistic plan.
4 comments:
I like this very pragmatic approach.
5 year plans and ten year plans - sounds like a politicain talking - and you've put your intentions in writing!
Planning is good. Without it people tend to make incremental decisions that frequently lead to unintended consequences. On the other hand life happens and all plans have to be adjusted. I like to say believe in planning not plans. Planning is dynamic and implies being able to change. A plan is rigid and most long-term plans become dated by changing events after a few years.
It always struck me as very sad when someone lives with something they hate about their home. Sometimes you don't have the time or money to make changes, but paint is so affordable! I hate having all white walls - we have had many homes that started out that way. So I have made sure in most of homes that they are painted a brighter color.
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