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I’ll start today’s blog with three anonymous quotes:
A goal is a dream with a finish line.
Why is it that the finish line always tends to appear just after the point at which we most want to give up? is it the universe’s way of reserving the best for those who can give the most? What I do know, from nature, is that the dawn only appears after the darkest hour.
Success is empty if you arrive at the finish line alone.
In horse racing parlance, my wife and I are approaching the clubhouse turn. Traditionally, the clubhouse turn is the turn closest to the clubhouse and is normally the first turn or curve in the track after the finish line.
Like racehorses near the end of a race, we have begun our sprint to the finish line. For us, the finish line will be the completion of our move into our new home.
Over the last five weeks, our Contractor has repainted the interior of our house, with fresh paint placed on all ceilings, walls, trim, and cabinetry (painting the inside and outside of cabinets and drawers.)
During this same time, the kitchen and bathroom underwent renovation.
Exterior renovations included a new roof, new stucco, and painting of exterior trim work. We opted to remove a failing porch railing and to “wrap” our rough Cypress columns to give our porch an updated and cleaner look.
Our Contractor stated he could complete all necessary renovations in one month. Last week was week five, and renovations in our home are essentially complete. Two weeks of continuous rain delayed the reroofing process. After reroofing the house, stucco renovations and painting quickly followed.
We scheduled Movers to move us on Tuesday, August 13, 2024. Instead, to coincide with our daughter’s move from New Orleans and the beginning of school for our two granddaughters, we decided to move the Friday before. This decision meant we had three days less to pack our belongings.
Things became more overwhelming as my wife and I began to feel the stress of our rapidly approaching deadline. In addition to the move, we were juggling contractor deadlines, delayed building material shipments, installation of utilities, the company choice and installation of Internet access, and the multiple decisions required daily during the moving process.
After being retired for ten years, I felt intimidated by the whole process. I had not planned or implemented complicated projects for the last ten years.
This was the same feeling of intimidation I experienced when I started prepping for the CRPC™ examination.
I realized I could implement the same strategy used for complex dental cases, preparation for my CRPC™ examination, and preparation for any seemingly overwhelming project.
I separated the home renovation and relocation into smaller and more manageable pieces. (This mirrored a patient’s philosophy of being able to eat a whole pie if you eat it a piece at a time.)
Instead of trying to solve all the problems associated with packing, moving, and settling into a new home, I divided the whole process into smaller and more manageable pieces.
Instead of considering everything needed to complete the project, I focused on what items I needed to complete daily. An intimidating project is less daunting when separated into smaller pieces.
For example, instead of picking out color schemes for every interior and exterior space, we focused on the colors needed for the next day’s projects. The contractor didn’t need colors for projects he was doing two weeks later, he needed colors for projects he was tackling in the next few days. A color scheme for one room or space is much less daunting than a color scheme for a whole house.
We ultimately decided that the Movers would move heavy furniture, appliances, beds, and packed items, while we would leave small items and smaller pictures hanging in our previous home until we were ready to place them in our new residence. This accelerated packing as we didn’t need to bubble wrap each picture or wall hanging. Making this simple decision facilitated a more streamlined packing process. Instead of packing and bubble wrapping everything while trying to meet a hard deadline, we broke this project down into smaller and more manageable pieces.
We met with or called the contractor each morning to make decisions required for that day’s work. During these morning meetings, we also determined what decisions would need to be finalized before our next meeting.
Instead of making multiple decisions daily, we only needed to make the decisions required for the next day’s projects.
Does that mean that everything went perfectly and that we had no problems?
Of course not!
There are always unexpected problems with home renovations. The more complicated the project, the more likely there will be unforeseen problems.
For example, when we started the bathroom renovation, the existing tub was a Jacuzzi tub that had a water supply and drain located at the front center section of the tub. In consulting with the contractor we found that changing the tub would require breaking the slab and relocating both the drain and water supply. We also quickly realized that the footprint of the newer tub was much smaller and the area where the existing tub was placed would need to be covered in some manner.
This is where having a great team comes into play. Our, daughter and son-in-law both have degrees in architecture. They suggested that instead of replacing the whole bathroom floor we instead place an accent tile around the new tub and continue the tile into the existing tub’s footprint to fill the space and create a contrasting accent for the bathroom. Using this idea, we no longer had to replace the whole bathroom floor, but instead only fill the area where the existing tub was sitting.
This is how every day progressed. Each new day came with the completion of some projects, and the discovery of new problems. Each day we focused on solving the problems that needed to be solved that day and moving the needle one point closer to completion of this big renovation.
Each day we moved forward, and each decision we made was one less decision we would have to make before moving into our new home.
Our contractor was true to his word and the Wednesday before our Friday move-in the Contractor was doing touchup and punchlist items.
The Movers arrived at our existing home on schedule and by 4:30 p.m. that afternoon our furniture and belongings were in our new home.
Part one of the sprint was essentially complete! Our Home renovation
was completed and our furniture and belongings were moved into our new home.
Part two of the sprint started with the arrival of all our furniture and belongings.
My wife (with the help of our professional Architect family members) had previously measured and pre-planned where each piece of furniture would be placed. Each room in our home was assigned a color and furniture and belongings going into that room were marked with painter’s tape matching that color. The tape could easily be removed after the furniture was placed, and it was unnecessary to tell the movers where each item was going. Using this color system, along with preplanning, meant that Furniture was placed in its proper position as it was moved into the new home and didn’t need to be repositioned after the move. Boxes placed in proper locations only needed to be unpacked.
Our job for the last week and a half has been to make boxes “disappear.” I am breaking down each box as we empty it, and these boxes will be reused by our daughter’s family when they move from New Orleans. After a week and a half, our house is beginning to look like a Home. The kitchen, den, and bedroom are essentially unpacked. Our other living areas are at various states of completion.
Our goal is to be unpacked within another two weeks.
Yes, I agree. This is an overly ambitious goal. Our kids have reminded us that this is a marathon and not a sprint! My wife and I have made the decision that we want to get everything placed as quickly as possible so that we can begin enjoying our new home and neighborhood.
We are now approaching the end of week two, and the majority of our pictures have been placed in new locations, and the drapery and blinds that we have received have been hung. We have been trying to address multiple projects each day, and the majority of our time has been spent replacing all door and window treatments with new blinds, curtains, and shades.
Since I have the skill and knowledge to do these types of home improvement projects, I have been tackling them with intermittent help from my son and son-in-law. It is a slow and tedious project, and the process of properly hanging curtains is not one of my favorite pastimes!
Each day my list gets a little shorter, but it’s still a long list!
Our schedules have been upended, with my wife and I staying up past midnight and eating our evening meal at 10 or 11 PM. We have also been eating more restaurant food so that we can dedicate the time we would have spent in food preparation to unpacking and getting settled into our new home.
We have tried to carve out time each morning and each evening to sit on our porch and enjoy our new surroundings. I don’t want to set a record for settling in a new home at the expense of enjoying our new surroundings.
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Final Thoughts
Tonight we are going to take a break from unpacking and instead enjoy the evening with friends.
Life is funny!
We are already starting to forget the discomfort and aggravation surrounding the purchase, renovation, and relocation to our new home. Minds have a way of suppressing uncomfortable memories and remembering joyful events. We are already looking forward to being unpacked and creating new memories in our new home.
We are awaiting the “Big Ahhhh!” as we approach the end of the chapter of the move into our new home.
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