I know I should be all about telling you how awesome renovating is, but I have to be honest, there are days when it’s just horrible. I have come up with this handy guide of 101 things better than renovating to get you through 🙂
- Gardening
- Doing the washing
- Patting the dog
- Going on holiday
- Having your nails done
- Watching the grass grow
- Taking a nap
- Going for a walk
- Giving your kids a hug
- Reading a book
- Doing the dishes
- Playing with the kids
- Sticking pins in your eye **Not recommended, but guaranteed to be more fun than renovating some days 🙂
- Having a coffee with a friend
- Playing a board game
- Sending emails
- Drinking a bottle of wine, or 2 **Especially helpful while renovating!
- Writing a list
- Shopping for new swimmers
- Taking a holiday
- Crafting with kids
- Polishing your shoes
- Watching paint dry
- Running a marathon
- Watching a football game **Goodness, getting desperate here!
- Learning a language
- Skipping around the block
- Grocery shopping
- Cleaning your teenagers wardrobe
- Cuddling the cat
- Ironing
- Making school lunches
- Washing windows
- Paying the bills
- Working
- Spending time with those relatives you don’t really like
- Reading a magazine
- Cooking dinner
- Filing
- Scrapbooking
- Paperwork
- Trimming the hedges
- Cutting the kids fingernails
- Giving yourself a pedicure
- Reading the local newspaper
- Wrapping Christmas presents
- Working in the school tuckshop
- Cleaning the gutters
- Scratching your head
- Having a cup of tea
- Watching a cricket game **Woah, that’s getting to the next level!
- Putting away the Christmas Decorations
- Polishing the Silver
- Catching up with your friends for a drink
- Going out to dinner
- Sorting through your Winter woolies
- Getting the nits out of your kids hair!
- Washing the dog
- Baking
- Catching up with relatives you do like
- Going out for breakfast
- Reading a good book from the library
- Fishing
- Wine
- Wine
- Beer
- Beer **You are going to need all of this to get through!
- Dinner date
- Massage
- Hair cut
- Washing the car
- Sleeping
- Reading a blog
- Writing a letter
- Watching Netflix
- Sipping cocktails by the pool
- Snorkling
- Covering school books **Even though this is one of my most hated jobs, this will still be better than renovating will be on some days
- Browsing Pinterest
- Hearding cats **Just checking in to see if your still reading 🙂
- Walking through a bindi patch
- Weeding
- Cocktails
- Cleaning the bathroom that belongs to 3 teenage boys
- Washing the house
- Listening to your favourite playlist
- Attending bootcamp
- Cleaning the airconditioners
- Lunch date
- Making a video
- Coffee with friends
- Baking a cake
- Doing your BAS or Tax
- Sharpening your knives
- Changing the sheets
- Watching kids tv
- Reading a newspaper
- Going involved in an online debate sharing a conflicting view point
- Cleaning the cat litter tray
- Watching renovation shows
- Pretty well anything!
There will be some days when you are renovating that will be the worst days you’ll remember. Fortunately these will be few and far between and by the end of the process you will be so happy with the outcome, that those difficult days will be distant memory. In the meantime, when those difficult days do come up, try selecting a few things from the list, if nothing else you’ll be sure to be thinking about something else.
Have you renovated before? What did you find most challenging?
Nicole xxx
loving this list Nic!
I loved writing it! xx
What a list! I think I’ll go for the beer/wine/cocktail combo with a side of patting the dog!
I could have picked that a mile off! xx
Strewth! You did well…I hear you about renovating. However, I have only lived through small scale..our kitchen completely re-done by hub. It took about 3 months and I learned to live with it. Then as we were also going to be selling the house with the NEW kitchen as a feature, I didn’t really get to benefit from it. As potential home owners again a part of me wants brand new where hub can add things like wardrobe fitouts etc rather than live through painting, repairing, replacing and all that. We are in our late 60s now and whilst he has awesome skills..it IS tiring work! Lovely to comment here again Nic. Have a great Christmas…and a restful one if possible. Denyse #teamIBOT
Renovating a kitchen is hard core Denyse, well done to both you and your hubby! It is very exhausting! Thank you for dropping by Denyse, have a wonderful Christmas and new year xx
Hahaha! Yes. I like renovating other peoples homes, not my own!
Yes, YES!!!
Haha I never want to renovate! I just don’t have enough interest in it to do a good job. i’m not sure I’d choose cricket over renovating though…
That’s just a testament to how much I hate renovating! Well my house anyway 🙂
I don’t know… scrapbooking is a big call to be better than renovating. LOL
I agree! xx
101, yep, that about sums it up, lol! Great list! I have never renovated my own house, but I lived with a mother who had renovation in her genes (thanks Grandmother who renovated her house on the weekly while my Mum was growing up) and I never knew if I would come back to everything torn apart or not whenever I went away. I once came home, through the downstairs door, and looked up through a giant hole in the roof, which was actually the floor of my bedroom, in to my bedroom! Needless to say I left a note for Mum telling her to give me a call when she had put everything back to together and I would come home then, lol! She’d decided it was time to get rid of the step that ran the length of my room thanks to where the old garage door used to sit when downstairs was still a garage. After pulling up the boards and things she told my Grandfather (who was helping) to only step on the beams, as the gyprock that made up the downstairs ceiling wouldn’t support his weight, and of course Grandpa forgot and fell through! Thankfully he managed to stop himself falling all the way through, but he had to stay there dangling until my Mum came back from getting stuff for lunch down the street. So living with that has made me a little wary of renovating my own house. It’s why I think I’d rather do a knock-down/rebuild and live somewhere else all together while it’s happening!
Have a fabulous Christmas, Nicole, and thank you for being part of IBOT this year xx
That is the best story Kylie! Thank you for hosting Kylie, may your Christmas break be a relaxing one xx
Our house building and renovation chat would get quite animated after a much needed bottle of wine 🙂 Great list!
Very true Renee! xx
We always buy houses that need renovation! _ but never buy them intentionally to renovate. The position, or location etc just seems better than the newer or renovated homes. I have done 4 kitchens, 6 bathrooms , 2 large add on, a swimming pool, 3 landscaping jobs. Gosh Im a bit surprised at how much I have done or overseen. We are moving interstate in the New Year and despite the fact Id love to buy a renovated home , sydney house prices will mean more reno. Im actually over it too and anything on the 101 list looks good.
I agree Angela, buying a home that needs renovating often means more ticks in the important boxes like location, etc. What a wealth of experience you have! Kitchens are hard core, the most difficult to live through I think. Best of luck with your move next year, I could very easily live in Sydney. Such a great City. xx
Lol.. noticed wine in there a few times x😂
Perhaps if I were to drink more wine during renovating, I wouldn’t dislike it so much xx 🙂