Lessons from a Remodel, Part I

We tore out the carpet on Leap Year Day! We are now into the 5th month of remodeling and the results are to love!

But it didn't start with the physical labor of tearing out carpeting, removing a wall, or ripping tile from a shower stall.

It began with a dream!

We had a dream of bringing the best out in our home of 20 years. We'd raised two daughters, numerous cats and a bigger-than-life gregarious golden retriever inside these four walls. Evidence of wear and tear was everywhere.

I suggested moving. My husband adamantly responded, "NO!" He did not want to say 'good bye' to our magnificent views of Puget Sound, Mount Baker, and the Everett waterfront. He loved the greenbelt behind our home. He enjoyed his media room that he had labored over. He was firmly entrenched in this house!

The only way to win--REMODEL! Arggggghhhhh!

But we needed to go way beyond simply replacing tired carpet and scratched up molding. We had discovered some serious flaws in our home's design. We identified that the wall between the living room and family kitchen area created a barrier when entertaining. We discovered floors at different levels did not produce an easy flow for guests. We remembered parties where 30 people were clustered shoulder to shoulder in the kitchen and no one would venture into the living room! I remembered standing at the stove top recessed in the back of the kitchen with my back to the view, the company, the family, and the ever hungry, bottomless-pit, "I-think-I'll-help-myself-to-what's-on-the-table" dog.

Our home was ripe for change.

But tearing out walls, removing pantries that created barriers to conversation, and reconciling floor levels is not done quickly or without a lot of dreaming, imagining, thinking, discussing, and visioneering.

Since what we wanted to achieve was a larger space for community--hence a Great Room--we needed a lot of help envisioning how this would look. We invested months in preplanning, rethinking, trying to imagine what we could do and how it would look.

We borrowed remodeling and decorating books from the library. We purchased magazines like Home and Kitchen and Bath Remodeling. We bought books. We scanned hundreds and hundreds of pictures to see what looked like it would work in our home.

But none of these pictures matched our dreams or looked like our home!

How did we bridge the gap from what we had to what we wanted?

Does your new consultant ever feel this way? She has an idea of what she wants to achieve with her business, but the gap between reality and her dream seems like an unconquerable chasm! She can't even imagine where to begin. She can't really picture the results she wants to achieve.

Plus, she has to deal with all the fears of making a mistake, being a failure, looking stupid in front of her friends, wasting time and money, and totally blowing it.

Not only is she second-guessing whether she can be profitable or not--but she doesn't really have a clear picture of what she hopes to achieve with her new business! Somewhere there is a hazy response--"I want to stay home with my children." Or "I want to put away money for retirement." Or "I want to be able to purchase a home for our family." Or "I want to pay off credit cards." But none of it really seems real. How does she do this?

Stay tuned for Part II--Lessons from a Remodel!