Renovating My House

I started to renovate my house shortly after my separation. First, I emptied everything off the second floor and moved my bed into the family room downstairs. Then I ripped up all the carpet and painted all the doors, ceilings, and walls. New lighting fixtures and door handles made a huge difference. I used a quarter inch plywood to build up the subfloor on top of which I installed vinyl plank flooring.

Covid had just started so before I cocooned myself in my house I bought the baseboards that I needed to install.

Projects like this have a way of coming to life all by themselves. Once I was back in the bedroom upstairs, it was time to renovate the downstairs.

When the weather was nice I worked on the yard, replacing a dying tree and planting a vegetable garden. The deck had seen better days so I had it rebuilt and then when a storm knocked the fence over I had a new one built as well. As soon as I could afford it, I replaced my roof.

I’m not finished yet – I still have some trim to paint and transitions to stain and I’d like to paint the front door and the garage door as well as the cement under the brick around the house. While I’m doing that, I’m also going to focus on emptying out the rest of the basement and holding a garage sale to get rid of what’s in the garage.

People who knew my house before and see it now have commented that it looks completely different, not the same house at all. And it isn’t because it has my sweat and tears and heart in it.

Now that it’s finished, it’s time to leave it behind and move forward in my life. I don’t know where and I don’t know when, although it should be soon. One thing I do know for sure though, I am not going to buy a house that needs any renovations.