The Best Laid Plans . . .
About 10 years ago now, when my husband and I were still adventurous, we decided to buy a “fixer upper” (otherwise known as “all we could afford in a decent Washington DC neighborhood”). We had fantastical ideas of home remodeling and even paid an architect to draw up plans so we could build an addition.
This was 10 years ago, and we still haven’t gotten a thing done. When we first bought the house, we were totally convinced that we could take on all the home renovations ourselves, but then we got busy. We’ve been busy for 10 years!
Since we’ve been busy, though, we have been able to stash away a bit of money, but because we were still under the illusion that we would be able to get all of the home remodeling completed ourselves, we’ve had many other ideas for the money we’ve saved–a trip to Hawaii or Spain, or, maybe . . . could we even dream . . . being able to retire!
As our DC neighborhood has continued to rise in value, though, we are starting to get a bit embarrassed about the condition of our house. The trim and siding outside need to be repaired and painted, not to mention the horrid seventies kitchen cabinets or the pink toilet! We are thinking that hiring a DC-area General Contractor may be the answer.
We have also considered that we could serve as the General Contractor and hire all of the subcontractors ourselves. While this has the potential to save money, I also think it would take up way too much time. Plus, it’s been hard enough just interviewing builders in Washington, DC! My husband does know a bit about construction, though, and he has one or two connections in the DC-area home building business, so we’ll see.
I’m not sure how I feel about the whole “General Contractor” thing, obviously, but I do know I want this house fixed. I want this house fixed, like, yesterday! We have bathroom remodeling (Remember the pink toilet? Well, it has a matching pink tub and sink.) and kitchen remodeling to do, and there is some great trim work in the dining room and wainscoting in the kitchen that we’ll definitely keep, but these and, pretty much, the rest of the house need to be painted.
If we can swing it, building the addition would be wonderful, too. The boys are getting to the age where they would really benefit from having their own rooms. Who am I kidding? I’d really be the one to benefit from their having their own rooms. They fight over privacy, constantly, and if we build an addition, each could have his own private space in the house. I think that would solve a lot.
Oh, well, so we won’t get to Hawaii, and we may be working until we’re 80, but if we put the money toward the home remodeling, we’ll finally have a fabulous house (that also fits all of us) in which to relax . . . when we aren’t busy, of course!