SmooveDeac
Well-known member
Congrats on getting to the end of the renovation. Would you share a brief account of what you had done and any lessons learned?
We did everything. Bought a turn of the century row home and had to gut it, basically - it’s a new house in the shell of the old house. And doubled the square footage by extending a bedroom over the kitchen, and then put the main bedroom and en suite on the third floor. That all got done in 2017-18.
This time around we cleaned up some of the work that had been rushed previously; painted/repainted most everything; finished a deck outside the 3rd floor bedroom; completed some shelving in the kitchen; finished the roof; added a back patio and parking pad; put up fencing and a gate in the back, and added tile to the second bathroom and kitchen. It was a lot. But it’s great.
I say make sure you have a good contractor, and make sure you communicate well with them. My wife was the point person for both of ours, and that was great - she always had a handle on what was happening. I also think, if you’re in a position to go away for a few weeks or months and knock several things out, do it. We were out of our house for ten months, so we essentially had to move twice, which sucked, but the alternative was living through renovations with an infant. Hard pass.