5 (preventable) reasons DIY home reno projects fall behind schedule: Week 4 of the One Room Challenge

4.24.2019

5 (preventable) reasons DIY home reno projects fall behind schedule: Week 4 of the One Room Challenge

This week's One Room Challenge update is a little different... I do have some progress to share with you, but mostly I want to talk about why DIY home improvement projects like this one can fall WAY behind schedule--and how you can prevent it!

I'm working with my "clients"/good friends Matt and Gabriela on this project at their home. I'm the designer and consultant, and I've been going over at least once/weekend to help with labor like laying tile, but they're doing most of the work themselves (and have a contractor replacing a window). Matt and Gabriela are new homeowners and doing awesome projects around their house--they completely overhauled their yard last year and saved thousands by spending all their weekends tilling and demoing for a while!--but they're new to interior projects and have been nervous about this project.

If you haven't been following, here are the previous posts about this project, including where we're starting and more about the scope. It's a big project! 

• Week 1: Before and inspiration
• Week 2: Demo! and brass vs. black fixtures
• Week 3: How to lay big hexagon tile tutorial

And there are a lot of steps, scheduling, planning, and hard work that are going into it. And to be honest... we are making progress, but more slowly than I'd planned--we are several weeks behind the schedule I initially put together, which had us finishing a week early and not working much on weekdays. 

It's common for projects to have small delays and unexpected surprises. But, there are ways to avoid those changes affecting your overall schedule. With my friends/clients' permission (and contributions to these tips based on their experience this project!), I'm sharing 5 preventable reasons that DIY home reno projects fall behind schedule, and how you can avoid them on your project!

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Removing carpet on stairs and transforming our upstairs hallway! Spring break projects

3.29.2019

Removing carpet on stairs and transforming our upstairs hallway! Spring break projects

It is safe to say we had a very productive spring break! Basically, we mapped out our year early this year and figured out that because of Jason's school schedule and a few small trips we have planned, we had a little time spring break and then a couple of longer chunks in the summer to do house projects. And we had quite a few on the project list!


For our spring break project, there were a lot of things that we thought about but we decided one manageable chunk (that would definitely feel satisfying to get done) was removing the carpet on our stairs upstairs. It’s the only carpet left in the house, it’s probably 40+ years old, and it was really gross! Of course, before we did that, it made sense to paint the walls. So we had to commit to a couple of labor-intensive tasks.

We also want to add a handrail to that stairwell and improve the posts so it’s safer for the baby to be upstairs. This was also pretty much the last large expanse of wall that needed fresh white paint after we painted almost the entire house Sherwin Wiliams Alabaster before we moved in. I do not enjoy edge painting around all of our wood trim, but it had to be done!

We recruited family to watch the baby a couple times so we could have a couple really productive days, and we fit in plaster patching; painting walls and ceiling; removing carpet, padding, tack strips, and staples; and cleanup in basically a long weekend. (We also had fun with a trip to the children’s museum and some quiet mornings over the break!)

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