New & Improved
For over 10 years, my wife and I talked about installing hardwood floors to replace the original early ’90s carpets and kitchen vinyl, and about replacing the builder-grade cabinets that were literally crumbling near the floor. Those talks always evolved into: “Should we expand with an addition?” “Do we really need a dining room?” “Whoa–How much?!” Agreeing on what it should all look like and deciding to commit the money were challenges that always stopped us in our tracks.
Until this year. We finally settled upon a general plan and a far more general budget, set up a home equity loan, and invited contractors in for estimates. With a contract signed and details sorted, in October a dumpster landed in the driveway and work was under way.
I’m not going to claim to be an expert on home remodeling, but there is one very important thing that I learned: We shouldn’t have waited.
Driving to work one morning I realized how much brighter I was feeling with work on the house underway. Wood, paint, a little (well, a lot) of expense–It all seems pretty straight-forward. Now the house looks nicer, the kitchen is much more user-friendly…just what we were after. But I have to admit that the benefits have been much more than what shows on the drawings and invoices. We’re all actually happier in the space. Not a “let’s show off what we’ve got” type of happy–more of a contentment. In fact, except for the grandparents, we haven’t had anyone in since the work was done. We’re just….happier. More comfortable in a fresher house.
I just wish we had done this years ago.
