To Move or not to move?

Is staying in the house while renovating a good idea or would it be better to move out?

Obviously in some cases there is no choice. On one side the renovation could be so extensive that you are forced to move out and on the other the budget might be so stretched that having to pay rent elsewhere is too difficult and there is no options for staying rent free with family or friends for a long period.

Building cubbies in kids bedroom as distraction

So what to do if you do have the choice? I got to thinking about this after reading an article earlier this week on Domain about a family that did stay in the house. The comments that followed were very interesting.

I then got asked by a neighbour on Friday about our decision to stay, especially when we have two young kids. In our case we have no parents here in Melbourne to stay with as some of my friends have done and we decided that the amount of rent we would have to pay to be in the neighbourhood and out of the house for at least six months was just a little too much.

And well it has been an experience and the week coming up is probably going to be one of the hardest. Thus far:

• We went without a shower in the house for nine weeks (we thought it would be three) while we converted the family bathroom to an ensuite.
• During this period hubby and I slept on a sofa bed in the lounge and the hallway between the bedrooms was out of bounds for the kids, which ended up meaning my daughter slept in the lounge with me (she got scared) and hubby slept in the bedroom with my son, not ideal.
• We now are living in the front of the house while we do our back extension, so all our furniture is squashed into two bedrooms, a lounge and the hall.
• The kitchen is being covered with plastic almost every day now, just a bit annoying.
  
• The mess is amazing inside the house and the mud outside and pile of builders waste in the back garden has made it out of bounds for the kids.
• And at times the tension is very high, the builders have heard me yell (well more to the point loose it) and seen me in my slippers and PJs at 7am.

Getting out as much as possible

The past week has been even harder with the plasterer here working not only in the back area but in the kids current bedroom and the weather has been freezing and wet so going to the park is not an option. This week the plasterer is sanding and ripping down and replacing old cornice in the kitchen so we have now been told to move everything out of the kitchen which we were just covering. (I think takeaway or visits to friends might be in order).

So as you can imagine the part of the house we are living in is getting more and more cluttered and I keep tripping over stuff. I hate clutter!

But by the end of this week things should improve dramatically, well that's what I keep telling myself.

And though it has been a nightmare at times I am glad I am here in my own house and seeing it all unfold around me. Would I do it again? Not sure ask me in another couple of months when it is all over.

So back to miving things around again. Hope you are having a good weekend.

A change back

A number of posts ago I mentioned that we were initially, with our build going to do the ensuite before Christmas and the back extension after so it was easier to live in the house. I then went on to say there was a change as thought the whole build could happen before Christmas, well this is not the case and so we are back to plan A.

One thing I have learnt from this is make sure you get your builder to explain time lines in detail and you understand them. There has been a misunderstanding in our case and so we have been busy packing up the house and getting organised. At least I have only packed things I don't need on a day to day basis!

Living in the house - the staged plan

As mentioned in previous posts we plan on living in our house while we renovate and extend. If it was just my husband and I this wouldn't be too much of an issue. We are happy to use a portaloo or shower for a while and move from room to room at a quick rate as different parts of the house are worked on. But with two kids under five, one a very active toddler this becomes a little more difficult and we have realised has to be planned out a lot more.

With this in mind we have decided on a two stage process. Step one to convert the main bathroom into an en suite, requiring us to move out of our bedroom into the lounge for a couple of weeks. Then a few months later step two, once we have moved back into our bedroom we will be able to use the lounge for all our living as the back walls get knocked out. Plus at this stage we loose currently our only toilet, hence the need to have one operating in the front of the house before this happens.

The other plan we have just realised we need to put in place (through a recent bathroom store expedition with two kids in tow) is a babysitting one, for when we need to pack up parts of the house or go hunting for fixtures.