I’m always amazed by the number of people who have remodeled their homes in the past couple of years. I’m usually on the “I’ve remodeled several times already and am still not sure what I’m doing right” list. I think it’s because we tend to be more mindful of the things we need to do and the things we aren’t sure whether or not we need to do.
It’s an interesting thought actually. I always get the feeling that people who have been through a remodeling experience are more careful with the things they need to do, and are more willing to make sure they are doing the right thing, versus the people who have only remodeled their homes.
Its more common for homeowners to be more focused on all the things they need to do and less on all the ways they are not sure if they need to do it. It is a common misconception that most people who remodel are doing it because they are lazy or because they just don’t want to do it. Its like saying that the majority of people who watch TV are lazy. It is more about the way we view the world, and how we process information.
If we want to see the world through our own eyes, we don’t need to stay up all night remodeling. We can stay up all night, but that doesn’t mean we need to remodel. It just means we need to consider all the ways we are not going to be able to be involved in this project.
In our experience, we have most often seen people remodeling their house for a number of reasons: they either hate how they have the house and they dont want to do it, or they want to remodel, but they don’t want to do it for the right reasons or they think they will take forever, or they are lazy and they dont want to do it.
Some of these reasons are perfectly valid. For instance, I have an older house that I am remodeling. I’ve been remodeling it since I was a teenager. The thing is, I am not going to be remodeling it for the right reasons. All of my reasons are bad.
First off, the house is a mess. The bathroom sink is a mess. The kitchen sink has a huge pile of dishes on it. The kitchen needs new cabinets and countertops. The walls are so badly painted that it is almost impossible to tell if you are in the kitchen or the dining room or the living room. The whole place is stained. It is not a pretty picture.
What I love about the remodeling process is the total lack of pretense. The entire process is not about the house being a “good” house, as if the house had any good personality. It is about how bad the house needs to be to make it a good house. How bad it needs to be to keep the house from falling apart.
The only time I have seen a house that was in better repair than the one that was destroyed is when the entire house was being remodeled at the same time.
I’ve owned houses that were remodeled and then had to rebuild them. I’ve also had houses that needed repairs, but were not remodeled. And in both situations, the house was not in good repair.