Renovation confessions — So. Much. Stress.

Truthfully, this renovation is one of my biggest dreams coming true. And I do love it. But also ~ ohmygod it is also some of the worst stress I've ever experienced at the exact same time.

As I scroll through Instagram daily and see the big design bloggers that I follow doing this project or that... seemingly always in a state of utter design bliss, I can't help but feel like I'm failing. Failing at blogging because I also have a very busy full time job and sometimes often don't get the 'right' number of posts up every week... failing at my project because I'm stressed and am not laughing with glee through every moment... what am I doing wrong?!

You guys, in my head I know I'm not doing anything wrong... but I can't help but have those moments of self doubt as my house literally is torn down and rebuilt while I live through it ~ literally. And that's the part of all this that I want to talk about today.We've been living with literally no kitchen ~ well, our fridge and stove are still here, but no cabinets and no sink anymore ~ for a week now. And hallelujah our new cabinets are scheduled to arrive in the morning {!!!}. So in real life, no matter how I'm feeling about it, going only one week without a kitchen is pretty darn good.

But one thing I wasn't expecting is how much physical stress I would experience as we move further down this renovation.When we first decided to make this project real and do a 'slow flip', living through a renovation and then selling, I thought ~I've got this.I've literally been dreaming about this forever. And my experience is in Architecture and Interior Design, so we didn't have to hire a designer, and I knew what to expect as far as process and timeline. But the truth is that even those of us who should be able to do this with our eyes closed don't get through it without our own fair share of anxiety. No matter who you are or how laid back you are, renovations are stressful. Your home, whether it's a gorgeous and worth of a magazine cover or filled with brown overstuffed furniture, is that one place that gives us our ultimate sense of security... so energetically, when that's being disrupted, the entire rest of your space is thrown off a bit. No matter how much you plan, there are delays and unexpected issues that come up. If you can't take those in stride, the stress will only be worse.

There is no such thing as a 'perfect' renovation. Expecting anyone to perform without making a mistake, or expecting everything to run smoothly with no unexpected issues or delays is completely unrealistic. As far as renovations go, you plan as much as possible and try to think of every surprise you might encounter, and then get ready for the things you inevitably didn't expect. That's how it goes. Every. Time. Timelines? They are estimates! Plan for the worst, and then be happily surprised if and when things happen faster. Without a doubt we jumped into the biggest part of our renovation first, which was inevitable because of the scope of our project... and it just happened to start during the busiest, most demanding time of year at my job. So as I am working 12+ hour days seven days a week, I'm also managing our renovation which is stress I didn't anticipate. And as we navigate this first project together, we are learning about what we would be willing to live through again, or what we want to adjust next time to have a less stressful experience, and potentially a quicker turnaround on some things, even if it costs more money.

This time we moved in as soon as the floors were done, and it's been two and a half months of partially demo'ed/no kitchen... and because the contractors had to work around our stuff, things like installing trim and some other work took longer than it needed to. Next time around, we think we'll probably spend a little extra money to stay in a short-term rental or Airbnb for a month so that we can get big projects like flooring and kitchen renovation completed before we move in. Also, things like selecting and ordering cabinets won't take nearly as long the next time around because once you've suffered through the learning curve of figuring outsourcing for things once, you're good for the next time; phew there for sure. Knowing that our cabinets are coming tomorrow has me feeling a bit calmer this week, and although the past few weeks have felt like an eternity of nothing happening, in no time we are going to be seeing massive transformation which I am so excited about!!

Can't wait to share every second when things start to happen tomorrow. Of course, I'll have more posts about everything, but if you want live updates and 'real' action, check out my Instagram account and stories too!