How to Mentally Survive a House Renovation
If you are looking to do your own home renovations, Sarah the author behind Dream of Home has some amazing tips for mentally surviving the upheaval of home renovations.
Renovating a house has probably been one of the most stressful experiences of my whole life. But I was lucky enough to not live there whilst the work was going on.
Me and my fiance did everything ourselves. This means the renovation took six months, and we were there every day. During the week, we spent evenings doing work, and then we were there all day on a Saturday and a Sunday. Doing it this way is a good way of saving money instead of hiring people to do small jobs such as painting.
But the situation is still stressful even when you get people in to do the work. It costs a lot of money and you need to make sure they’re doing it right/the way you want it.
I’ve learnt a lot over this house renovation period, and so I wanted to share some tips on how to survive house renovation stress when your house looks like this:
Hint: that’s not our house, thank goodness.
Keep on top of the cleaning.
This sounds silly when your house is a building site (literally), but I found the stress just melted away when I got the hoover out and sucked up as much dust as possible. I cleaned the rooms that weren’t being renovated. I swept up the bare floorboards and even wiped down the window sills. These small jobs make you feel so much better, even though it’ll get dusty again tomorrow. This sort of cleaning is especially important when you’re living there, as you risk the dust spreading into rooms that you aren’t planning on refurbing. For the most significant mess created by tearing out old bits of the house, it might be worth considering renting a dumpster in order to dispose of waste materials easily, you might wonder to yourself, what can go in a construction roll off? And the answer is just about anything, which can be a massive aid when trying to keep the renovation space clear, it also prevents the rest of the house from becoming an overfill area for mess created by the project.
Make sure you always have a clean kettle, mugs and tea/coffee
I would have gone crazy without having these small essentials. Taking a break from building work with a cup of tea is an absolute requirement. It breaks up your time doing whatever you’re doing: stripping wallpaper, painting, or cleaning. It also gives you a chance to discuss what you’re going to be doing next, or what jobs are priority.
Planning
One of the biggest things that can get you through the more challenging days with your home renovation project is planning. You can make some plans for the interior design and the features that you want to enjoy. Consider the pattern of the wallpaper you wish to have or the colour of the paint you will buy for your dreamy white kitchen.
Dream about your window space, and all of the ways that you can dress it to make an impact. Being able to look to the future, and all of the things you can enjoy can make a big difference in those days you wish you hadn’t started the project. Don’t forget to plan your budget too to give you an idea of what you will spend.
Treat yourself to lunch outside the house
You should use any excuse to get out of the house. We ended up going for lunch at the local garden centre covered in dust with paint on our faces. But it’s nice to get out of the house, have a bit of time to sit down and eat, and there’s no washing up to do (not that we had any plates or cutlery, or even a working fridge in the house). You need a change of scenery and some fresh air every now and then to make you feel good.
Try not to make everything about “the house”.
It was like having a child: every conversation we had was about what we’d done that week on the house, what we were doing next, what we could do in a couple of months, when the electrician was coming over, what paint colours or style did we want. After a while, project managing becomes your whole life. On Valentine’s Day this year, I banned any talk of the house when we went out for a meal. It took us a few minutes of silence to find something else to talk about (what did we discuss before “the house”?!).
Always remember your goal.
At the end of it all, you’ll have a beautiful house that is everything you imagined. We were able to choose everything, down to our sockets and door hinges. It was so worth it, and has hopefully added some value to the house. Though there are still small jobs that need doing, we can relax in this house for 5 or 6 years and enjoy it.
You can follow my house renovation journey at www.dreamofhome.co.uk.
About the author
Sarah is a recent graduate based in the UK with a degree in English Literature. She started her blog as a way of logging the renovation on her first house, as something to look back on in the future. But she started to write about books, lifestyle, and interior design too. She’s hoping to get a cat to complete the house.
I have seven cats and not a single one has done anything to help complete the renovation on our house! 😂 Well, there was that time Witch stripped some wallpaper. In a bedroom I’d just decorated!!! 🙈
We are in the middle of a bathroom reno. I appreciate the tips, especially remembering the end product will be worth the aggravation. The cleaning and organizing at the end of the day has helped me. I also found that if I could start the day thinking of even one minor thing to get accomplished I felt better, like cleaning all the faceplates that I plan on reusing. Seems silly but it helps me cope with the paid labor not coming as promised. It will be beautiful when it gets done.
Home renovation is always stressful and it takes a lot of effort to get it done. Thanks for sharing these useful tips. I will always keep these tips in mind in future.
Glad you found them useful, and I hope they’ll come in handy one day!
I think I’d be the same with cleaning, by just doing a little bit you feel more in control x
Hi Rhian,
100%, cleaning really helped me. I need to feel in control, so it focused my mind on something other than the dirt and mess.
It’s always good to take a break with a cup of coffe outside of the house, because if you’re not so focused on the renovation, you can see the bigger picture. And it’s also easier to find solutions for any issues that might occur on the road this way. As long as you don’t forget why you’re doing it and how it will turn out in the end, everything will be ok 🙂
Exactly, it will all be okay! I used to love going outside and having a tea break in the dust-free garden. It gave you time away to think about what you needed to do.
we live in a council house, and have had to live through renovations on a couple of occasions it was horrendous, the dust was the worst thing, no matter how hard we tried dirt keeps turning up weeks later
Hi Fiona,
It does keep turning up doesn’t it. Even after a month I still hoover twice a week, and the skirting boards keep getting filthy, but I still don’t know where the dust is coming from! It’s definitely getting better though.
Thanks for commenting.
I am currently renovating my house and it can get very stressful and overwhelming! You have some really great tips to be able to try and find ways to just deal! Especially keeping the end goal in mind. Sometimes it is hard to see with the house being torn apart, literally, but it will come together sooner or later! Thanks for the great tips and for sharing!
Hi Alayna,
Thanks for reading! Glad you found the tips helpful.
I always said that moving house was horrifically stressful… maybe renovation gives moving a run for its money!
Hi Sandy,
I thought moving house was the most fun part! Being able to put things where I wanted them, and experimenting with room layouts. Packing was not fun, but I didn’t mind unpacking at all.
I’ve not experienced a house renovation, but can imagine it’s super stressful! The result at the end must be such a wonderful reward 🙂
Hi Ashleigh, it really is! I completely understand how people get the house renovation bug.
These are great tips for mentally surviving your house renovation. It is so important to clean up the mess each day so it doesn’t get overwhelming. Remembering the goal of your dream home will help you get through some rough days. Thanks for sharing the tips.
Hi Rebecca,
Thanks for reading and I’m glad you like them.
My house is needing lots of work but mentally it drives me nuts just thinking about . I need two bedrooms the staircase and the kitchen refurbishing . I suffer from an anxiety disorder so take ages to get motivated. Then there’s the physical strength – ouch! Think I’ll need lots of breaks and eating out would be a great idea! Thanks for your tips I’ll need them.
Hi Sandra, I also suffer with anxiety, so finding something that keeps you calm is always a great bonus!
Good luck with your house renovation. Try not to think of everything that needs doing, but break it down into small tasks, or even by room.
These are really fab tips! I do have to admit I do miss the new home stage a little bit though!
Hi Rachelanne,
Thanks, glad you liked them!
Good reading as we are just starting our renovation……….we are only at the wallpaper stripping stage at the moment. I can also relate to not having a fridge, we ended up buying a temporary one after two weeks and have a microwave combi oven, but they are our only means of food preparation other than the kettle and toaster.
Wow, so you’re living there and doing the renovations?
Good luck with it all! Kettle and mugs are clearly a priority.
Having renovated a house previously I totally agree with all of these tips. As you say it can be very stressful x
Glad you liked the tips, thanks for reading!
These are really great tips! We are rather new homeowners (about a year) and although we didn’t do the work ourselves we had our floors redone and the stress was a lot more than I anticipated. Just the change to our living pattern made things really tense. we still have a few more projects in mind (a few DIY) and I will definitely keep these tips in mind when we tackle them.
Hi Tiffany,
Even doing one room, you have to pack everything up and move it into a different room, so then you have one messy room, but also a few other cluttered rooms too! It escalates very quickly. Glad you liked the tips.
Oh it is tough but it is well worth it in the end! Just keep smiling throughout all the upheavals.
Thanks, Anthea! It is completely worth it, and I’d do it all again.
From what I’ve seen you have both done an amazing job. I love a minimalistic look too as it’s always much cleaner and tidier looking to me. I think you gain so much satisfaction on successfully completing D.I.Y. jobs and you learn skills as you go. I always prefer to go that way…cost permitting. x
Hi Jo,
Thank you. Yes there’s definitely more satisfaction. People come over and I’m proud of the house and what we achieved. There’s still a lot more to do, but now that we’re moved in, we can gradually do it over the years, at a much slower and calmer pace.
Thanks for giving us a heads up. These little things that you shared is very helpful to avoid stress while renovating your home. Love the tips!
Hi Angela, thank you!
They really are only little things, but they make the whole process much easier.
These are good tips for what sounds like a stressful situation. I hope that one day I have my own home to renovate!
Glad you liked them, Elizabeth! Thanks for reading.
These are great tips! I am planning on renovating our home soon. These will come in handy.
Hi Lisa,
Glad they might be able to help you out, and good luck with the renovation!
We just went through a major renovation that took months and made us appreciate functioning with less space. I commend those who do it themselves. I would never….
Hi Elizabeth. Next time we are planning on building a house ourselves, but obviously we’d get people in. We were there everyday after work until 8pm, and then from a weekend, 10am-4pm ish. We did that for six months. It was tough, and would have been much easier to get workmen in who could do the jobs whilst we were at work, but we’ve saved about £3k doing it ourselves.
When my house was under construction, my kids were 3 and 1 so we had to move out….It was definitely not easy!
Wow, Matt, that was brave! At least moving out was an option, as for some people it isn’t. Especially with the amount of money it costs to renovate in the first place, some can’t afford to temporarily move.
My parents did a house renovation when I was about 12. I remember we moved into my Granny’s house for about two weeks during the worst of it.
These are good tips as renovating can be stressful! Thank God for coffee!! Xx-Doran @HauteBeatyGuide
Yep, coffee and tea (and maybe the occasional glass of wine too). The days when I brought something nice for lunch always helped too.
I don’t think I could I have a episodes when anything new happens with the house or needs mending ?
Why are there always things that need mending?! Even in our house, where everything is brand new, we’re still fixing things. It doesn’t stop.
I’ve been through this and I felt really exhausted then.. I wish I had seen these tips earlier. Great tips, gonna use it the next time.
Glad you liked them! They won’t work for everyone, but they really helped me, so I wanted to share.
Having been through this a couple of times before, I’m too old to go through it again! Think I’d rather move house x
I’ve heard a lot of people say that: as they get older, they can’t be bothered any more. I think I’d agree. I’d do it once more to make my ‘forever home’ as people are calling it nowadays. Then after that, probably never again.
That are some great tips! I have to renovate next year and I’m already afraid!!! I will definitely remember the tip with the clean mug 🙂
Hi Stefani,
Good luck with it, but don’t be afraid! Just take it a day at a time, rather than thinking of the project as a whole. Tea definitely saved me throughout the renovation.
I am LITERALLY sending this article to my husband right now! We are discussing what to do with our house renovations and I am ADAMANT about not living on-site while we renovate… this just sealed the deal! You are a wise woman 🙂
Hi Caitlin,
Ha! No arguments over it though! If you have the option to live elsewhere during the worst of the renovation then do, anything for an easy life really.
Good luck with the renovations!
Renovating house is not an easy task…It requires a lot of patience to deal with the dirt and mess…
Hi Ankita, Yep definitely patience. It’s so easy to get short-tempered when things aren’t going right, and it normally gets taken out on the Mr. and vice versa.
Renovations stress me out so much. I am an obsessive cleaner and it is freaking me out. There never seems to be an end to the dirt and mess… =(
Hi Gloria, I know, cleaning really helped me, but sometimes you’d finish cleaning and then half a day later all the dust is back, and there are tools everywhere, and ladders lying around. It’s tough, but imagine the mess it would be if you didn’t clean it at all!
Theses are some great tips! I’ve never done a home renovation before, but sometime in the next 5 years I want to completely redo my kitchen. I know it will be a struggle when the time comes!
Hi Lisa, it’s something everyone should do! It was a great experience, and I love our house. The whole thing is a learning curve, but I’d definitely do it again with future houses.
It does seem fun when you start. The mess can def. wreak havoc on your mind though after it’s going.
Hi Rosey,
Yes, three days after we got the keys, we’d hired a skip and chucked the old kitchen out. It was fun to start with, but after six weeks of dust (where does it all come from?!), we had started to get a bit stressed.
Great tips. We’ve been there and it’s stressful
Thanks, Ashleigh, glad you liked them.
Very useful tips and entertaining to read
Glad you liked it, Lorraine!
A house renovation can take over your life. However, your tips are perfect! Been there and can attest that those tips will save you a lot of grief.
Thanks, Cindy! I know everyone is different, and copes in different ways. Some people might find that none of these work, but they were my lifesavers!
These are great tips. We only have 1 or 2 big reno projects that we want to do, so hopefully I won’t blow my top, lol.
My partner wants us to build our next house from scratch! It would be amazing, but I think I would have a full on breakdown. Small renovations are definitely manageable.
I can totally understand how a renovation can completely freak you out as I have seen many and your tips really work in that case
I don’t know how these people on Grand Designs don’t have mental breakdowns! It always helps if you can get people in to do the jobs, but we did everything ourselves which makes it much more stressful. It did save us quite a bit of money though.
My parents renovated our house when we were teenagers and it was so stressful for everyone! They’re re-doing their kitchen again now so I’m going to share these tips with them.
Yes please do! They definitely helped me, especially keeping on top of the cleaning.
Home renovations are always so stressful. We just went thru a kitchen reno and it was so hard to keep on top of the dust and mess. Being mentally prepared for it is a big part of any renovation.
Hi Claudia,
Yes, I wasn’t prepared for the mess and dust it would create, so next time I’ll be expecting it, which might make me calmer. Like I said, keeping on top of the dust and clutter did make everything a little bit easier.
A renovation, large or small can certainly become stressful, these are great tips to remember the next time we start a project in our home.
Hi Lisa,
Glad I could help a little bit!
First of all, the fact that you have a house is a great problem to have. My husband and I have been wanting to purchase a home, but it’s expensive in the Southbay where we live (So Cal). I like the idea of staying on top of cleaning, to me that helps with my mental sanity. Clutter always makes things worse! 🙂
Hi Sonyo,
Definitely, cleaning helped bring me back down to earth a little bit. We’re definitely lucky that we could afford a house at such a young age (though it did need a lot of work doing), but the Northern prices definitely helped.
Great tips! We have never had a big renovation before. We are looking into buying a house soon and know there will most likely be something like this involved.
Don’t let me put you off the idea! I would do it again, though next time we would have to live in it as a building site. Although it cost a lot, we’re hoping that we can make that back, and more, when we sell the house in a few years’ time.
I need to keep this in mind if I ever have a house to renovate. Which I am sure I will since I have a precise idea of what i want as a house ahah
I definitely think renovating is the way to get the house you always envisioned. Otherwise you’ll never feel like it’s truly ‘yours’.
Thanks for the amazing tips! I agreed with you renovations can make you go crazy 😛
Absolutely. It’s more stressful than I ever thought it would be, but the end results are worth it.
Having been through this myself, I agree with all of your tips. Also: there is no shame in eating out!
Eating out was always a treat we definitely looked forward to! It was tempting to do it more often, but obviously it can get expensive very quickly.
These are some really great tips! Home renovation definitely is not as wasy or glamorous as the TV shows make it out to be. I’m excited for you to have your dream home!
Thanks Shannon, me too! We’re finally getting there, but the carpet in our bedroom is still green and about 20 years old.
My favorite tip in your list is #2. I can imagine a tea party in the middle of the house renovation chaos! Seriously, a short tea break will give you time to assess your renovation plans. It will help you stay calm amid the pressure of buying the necessary materials and keeping up with your time table. Thanks for sharing!
We actually did! In the garden on the odd occasion, too, just to get out of the dusty house environment.
I’m also doing some renovation now and I’m starting to go a little crazy, too many things to do and not enough time
I know that feeling well! Make a list, work out a time plan, and you’ll feel better.
Will come in handy when I have my kitchen sorted
I m just focusing on the end result
Hi Margaret,
Yes keep in mind how it will look when it’s finished. That really helped me.
We are dealing with some minor renovations at our home and yes it is stressful. Our friends did a full home renovation and were stressed out!
Hi Ashley,
The results are so worth it, but it can be a bit of a nightmare getting to that stage. And don’t get me started on the dust! It was even settling in our embossed wallpaper – how does that happen?!
I need to keep this in mind when we renovate the house. We plan to eventually do this in parts so we don’t go completely crazy. But we’ll be hiring people because neither of us knows what we’re doing.
Hi Amber,
Neither of us had a clue. Jay’s an engineer which helped with some things, i.e. he wasn’t afraid to use multiple power tools.
I was the painter and wallpaper-remover, so not a huge help really!
My house was always under construction when I was a kid so I got used to living with renovations. Someday my current house will be totally put together, right?
It was my first time renovating, but as I said in the post, we were so lucky that we didn’t have to live there during the worst of it.
I don’t think ours will ever be finished: there’s always something to do!