Home renovations: making progress

Last time I posted about renovations, I had only a vague idea of what was going to happen. I'm happy to report that some progress has been made.

I met with the interior designer a few times, got initial design plans, found a contractor I like, and have a set of construction plans. Oh, and in the meantime had new shingles put on the roof (it's gorgeous now) and ordered new windows for our front room, bathroom, and the three bedrooms.

Yesterday, we had some trades come through to get an idea of the scope of their work. We want ballpark numbers for a quote. Because now we know what we want to do, but we don't know how much of that we can afford. Once quotes come in, we'll be able to prioritize much better.

But let me tell you, things sure add up quickly. Talking with the painter, I'm like no, don't paint the bathroom. I have a "don't poke the bear" attitude about the bathroom. Meaning - if we leave it alone, it is much less likely that we will find something wrong with it that we'll need to fix. Because I don't want to focus my energy there. It's a perfectly functional bathroom. Don't poke the damn bear!

But oh, if you want a quiet fan in there, then the ceiling will need to be patched. So then it'll need to be painted. And well, if you're painting the ceiling, might as well do the walls. Ah, but before we can do the walls, these blemishes in the wall will need to be fixed. I point out that there is pink tile behind the toilet. Well, then we'll just remove the toilet and fix the wall behind it and...

Um, dudes - THIS IS THE ONLY TOILET IN THE HOUSE!!! You can't take away my one functioning toilet for 3 days!!!

The same thing with painting the exterior. Sure, the siding looks ok, but oh, those cracks in the paint will come back. You sure you don't want to replace the siding?

YES! I am sure! There are so many items higher on the priority list!!! Kitchen island, people!!! Focus on the prize!

So yeah, you can see how this renovation thing can turn into a whole cascade of "one more thing"s.

In the meantime, I'm sort of dreading the beginning of next week, when the big-ass tally is going to come in. Take a deep breath. A really big one.