House Renovation to Create Your Dream Home

I always used to think that moving was the one of the most disruptive events to bring voluntarily into your life. I have since found a more painful and time-consuming pastime RENOVATING. The word itself masks the consequences it truly holds. One has visions of a little painting, possibly changing a light fitting or two and maybe putting in a lovely modern bathroom.

What you actually get is weeks of endless dust, an invasion of people into your home, an exponential increase in tea and coffee consumption, an up-close-and-personal encounter with belongings you neither had awareness nor need of and a huge increase in expenditure, which gives rise to cash flow crises. I have often thought over the past weeks why can't we just live in a shack on the beach, sit on the floor and only use one plate each?

While happy to indulge in slightly hippy fantasies, I fear that in this life I will probably not manage to shed my already numerous material possessions in favour of a carefree breezy existence. The fulfilment gleaned from house renovations is amazing and I am sure that once completed I will be proud to have put such industrious plans into action and seen them through to completion. But the end seems fairly distant at this point!

I have learnt some priceless lessons during this process and can only hope to pass them on to others so that you can benefit vicariously from them. This little list could save you countless problems and much disappointment:

1. Always check out references no matter how honest you believe the individual to be.
2. Do some research on the products you intend to use: i.e. wall coatings, exterior products and best practice methods for applying and installing your chosen finishes. This really helps, as at least you know a bit about what you are talking about and have an idea of what to expect quotes from contractors to be.
3. Get a professional, objective opinion on difficult issues. So often a fresh pair of eyes can see the wood from the trees in half the time that you have spent wrangling with the problem.
4. There is more than one way to skin a cat use a bit of savvy and try to work with people who are prepared to be proactive in solving challenges, as they arise. I have found that resourceful individuals are worth their weight in gold. Use them and their experience to your advantage. Contractors who care about what you want can usually find a way to give it to you or at least get close to the perfect vision you had.
5. Understand that things will go wrong and try not to take the repercussions out on yourself, your partner or other loved ones. Few things are completely terminal and most broken items can be fixed (at a price). Find out about how to clean or repair fittings should damage occur - especially taps and baths. Buffing a bath is a vital piece of knowledge for acrylic baths you can do it yourself with water paper to get scratches out and acetone for stubborn marks, or get a specialist in to do it for you. Check with your supplier before you go ahead with this just in case. Sealer can also be removed from chrome taps with water not turpentine or thinners, as they damage chrome. Just water, a fine green scouring pad and some elbow grease works a treat.

My advice overall is to be wary of the estate agents' plug, follow your logical thought pattern and conclude that if renovating the house wasnt worth it for the people selling the place it most probably wont just fall into place for you. But with persistence, planning and a lot of patience you will see your dreams materialise. Sometimes things come out even better than you expected and sometimes you have to compromise a little or even a lot, but this is all worth it, if you enjoy the journey and accept that the destination is a work in progress.

Laura Dreyer has worked, lived and travelled a fair bit around the world. With a passion for challenges and a love for diverse cultures, she is currently renovating her new home in sunny Cape Town some 5000 miles from her native England. This beautiful city has afforded her the opportunity to begin work with Just the Planet a beautifully designed worldwide luxury travel website exciting stuff.

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