Deep Breaths! Handling Your House Renovation

There isn’t much that’s more disruptive to family life than making changes to your home. Even if you’re painting a bedroom, you know that there’s a lot that you have to do with moving furniture and covering things up with dust sheets and making new sleeping arrangements for your family members. So what happens when you’re facing a home renovation that’s a much bigger deal than simple decorations? Here are some tips to help you get through…

Make Other Plans

It’s crucially important to make sure that you make plenty of plans about how exactly you’re going to get through your renovation. Don’t try to wing it – ask your neighbours if you can use their shower if your water gets switched off, and if you’re having your kitchen redone, make sure that you stock up on flyers for local restaurants so you can order dinner in. You might also consider investing in a mini fridge for anything that you want to keep cold. If your bathroom’s going to be out of action for a while, you could consider getting a temporary membership at your local gym so you can go in for a shower. You might even catch the fitness bug while you’re in there!

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Keep In Contact With Your Contractors

Make sure that you hire the best general contractor for your family. You need to get someone who you feel that you can talk to and who will be honest with you about how long the work will take and how much it will cost – and how much impact it will have on you and your family. Ask your friends for recommendations, and when you get a contractor, make sure that you ask them all the questions that you need to so that you know exactly what’s going to be happening in your home.

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Prepare Your Kids

We all know that there are a lot of kids out there who don’t react particularly well to change or to differences in their normal daily routine – so if you think your children might be a little thrown out by your home renovations then it’s important to make sure you consider their feelings. Ensure that they have their normal nutritious dinners with plenty of fruit and vegetables, and make sure that their bedtimes are about the same as usual – it might be exciting that their house is different from usual but there’ll be a lot of cranky faces first thing in the morning if they don’t get enough sleep! Talk to them about the way they’re feeling about the changes in their lives so they don’t feel uncertain or worried.

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Protect Your Belongings

We all know that if your house is in a state of uproar thanks to renovations, your possessions can go missing, get damaged, or end up coated in a thin (or thick) layer of dust. Make sure that you put away anything that’s particularly valuable or sentimental to you – pack them away carefully in boxes complete with plenty of bubble wrap and scrunched up paper so they don’t get damaged.