Reno Therapy: Lessons We've Learned As First Time Homeowners
Now that I have finally been able to catch my breath after starting the kitchen renovation back in January, I finally have time to process everything... all the highs & lows, all the pivots, and all of the lessons.
P.S. Did you know June is National Homeownership Month? How fitting because the past couple of months have been a crash course in homeownership, especially when it comes to dealing with the kitchen renovation.
As first time homeowners, this was our first major renovation. The laundry renovation was, what I now call, a starter renovation by comparison. We went into the kitchen renovation with our eyes wide open and still found ourselves blindsided by so many aspects of the kitchen renovation. For what it's worth, though, I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason & there's always a lesson to be learned.
Have A Support System
My husband and I would not have gotten through this rollercoaster of a renovation without one another — that's undeniable — but more importantly, I would not have gotten through it without my support system of friends. From working on the project with Rashida Banks, as she also does her kitchen renovation, to venting to best friends every time something would go wrong... even just sharing the challenges and the wins via IG and having all of you follow along.
Every change, every decision, every delay, every completion... all of it needs to be shared with someone — preferably multiple someones — so that you're not spinning your wheels all by yourself and you can stay grounded, no matter what comes.
Allow For Other Creative Outlets
Admittedly, I probably would've never considered this if the renovation went as planned and wrapped up "on time" — the original timeline was 4 weeks, not 4 months! — but I am so glad I gave myself space to pursue other design projects around the house. While the kitchen was at a standstill, I was able to complete the pantry revamp (that I am very excited to share soon) and completely design our bonus bedroom.
I was able to release all of my pent up creative energy into projects that didn't have anything to do with the kitchen... distracting me from the frustrations that came with not getting my way in the kitchen, lol.
Spend Time or Spend Money
I am not a DIYer. I am more than happy to hire out help. On the other hand, my husband is very handy and loves tackling home improvement projects throughout the house if time permits. We have found a decent balance between what to do ourselves and what to hire out — spending time versus spending money. In the kitchen, we did both. For the first leg of the renovation — the vast majority of the renovation — we hired a contractor. He handled all of the demo, the cabinet installation, flooring, appliances, and painting. For the countertops, we worked with a separate fabricator.
Everything after that, we did ourselves — backsplash and shelving. Having our contractor return would've saved us a ton of time, versus doing it ourselves, but it would've also cost us an, almost, additional $3K (maybe more)... and that's assuming he would've been available on a timeline that fit our project. We went into this renovation eyes wide open to both possibilities — we didn't want this to be a full DIY renovation but we were also okay with getting our hands dirty.
Trust The Process
From the very start I had a plan & I saw it so clearly in my mind's eye, that I couldn't even have imagined it going any other way. Boy was I wrong! But with every complication, a new opportunity presented itself... an opportunity for more exploration that resulted, often, in something I loved even more! None of the design pivots felt like I was "settling", instead, it felt like things were happening exactly the way they were meant to be. Even though the circumstances weren't always ideal, I didn't resist.
Being agile and trusting the process allowed the design to evolve in a way that I am truly happy with.
Pace Yourself
In hindsight, I had way too many balls in the air — juggling everything from the renovation to creating content to homeschooling... and everything in between. The kitchen wasn't the only project we had going on — although it was the only renovation. All of the other lessons definitely contribute to my knowing what to do differently next time, but pacing myself is top of the list. The overwhelm of the renovation mostly stemmed from everything colliding into one another and not having the mental bandwidth to deal with all of it.
The entire homemaking process, sans renovation, is already a lot. Taking even one thing off my plate would've been a total game changer, allowing me to slow down & make space for prioritizing.
If I had to do it all over again, there are quite a few things I most definitely would've done differently.
As a content creator, I was fortunate enough to have some amazing brand partners to move things along, as it relates specifically to the kitchen design, but the overall project was riddled with challenges. I can only imagine the exponential difference it would've made had we been doing this all on our own and, conversely, the impact of creating content focused on this project.
Despite my robust planning months before we started, truth is, you don't know what you don't know...
we didn't know how many items would end up being back ordered
we didn't know how busy or not our contractor would be with other projects
we didn't know exactly how long it would take our counters to be fabricated
we didn't know we would have to replace all the kitchen flooring
we didn't know how many #oldhouseproblems we'd encounter along the way
So yes, there's quite a bit I would've done differently AND yet, I know it had to happen this way so that we could learn and be better prepared for next time.
What I Would've Done Differently
If I knew then what I know now, I would've made different choices, especially as it relates to the timeline...
We kicked off the project once the cabinets arrived, assuming that the cabinets would pose the greatest delay — oh how wrong we were! The countertops ended up being the biggest delay during the renovation, so in hindsight, we would've had our contractor begin once the fabricator gave us a confirmed install date... not just an estimate.
Items that were ordered & shipped retail, we assumed would arrive during the course of the renovation. Some did... a lot didn't. For the next major project, I won't start ANYTHING until everything is physically here and in my possession.
Lastly, as a content creator, the renovation involved a number of brand partnerships. Some of these campaigns and partnerships were still in negotiation once the renovation began. After weeks of juggling delays and deliverables, it's not something I would do again. It would've been easier to have all the details finalized & contracts signed, before any work commences.
What do all of these situations have in common? They're all things I wouldn't have known needed changing until experiencing them first hand.
What's Next?
Now that all the heavy lifting of the renovation is complete and everything that's left is organizing, styling, and revealing it to all of you, here's *what to expect...
all about our new BOXI by Semihandmade cabinets
all about our new solid surface Formica countertops
an appliance tour — old and new
styling our new kitchen cafe
installing our backsplash tile from The Tile Shop
our must have kitchen essentials
all about our kitchen & pantry organization
all about our Kraus plumbing upgrades
styling our open shelves
With so many changes, it wouldn't be fair to pack it all into one blog post or one video or a bunch of IG stories, so here's to all things kitchen all month long... you're welcome!
*Note: these will be a combination of blog posts, IG content, and YouTube videos.
