Renovating just like having a baby
Susannah Hardy says people forget the bad bits about renovating after it’s completed.
Idon’t know what it’s like for other people, but for me, first-time renovating was like giving birth. I’ve done both and the similarities are uncanny, especially when doing it on a tight budget. Daunting, draining and nothing like I imagined. Halfway through, you wonder what on earth you were thinking, but you just have to push through. And, when it’s all over, you wouldn’t have it any other way.
The trouble is you really don’t know what lies ahead. During that initial period of newborn chaos, I found myself constantly saying, ‘‘Why didn’t anyone ever tell me that?’’ During our renovation, a few years later, I was saying the same thing. Like having babies, people forget the bad bits. They’re so relieved to be on the other side – and enjoying their new second storey – that the stress of the previous 10 months simply disappears.
But like starting a family, renovating seems like the next step to making your life complete. Or, rather making more necessary space. You excitedly plan ahead but, like having a baby, there’s no book or class that can really prepare you. I was quite shocked when my first baby didn’t sleep during the day like the baby books said she would. And, even more shocked to discover that controlled crying didn’t actually work. The feeling was similar when we started renovating, only to discover that all the electrics needed redoing, the entire roof needed retiling and the foundations of the house lay on some sort of riverbank. Why didn’t anyone