They’re disemboweling my house tomorrow. Viscerating it. Ripping the guts out of the poor thing, and giving it a transplant. Men in khaki overalls will be here at breakfast time, and they shall expect empty cupboards and wide open doors. They’ll park a skip bin in front of my house and they’ll tear open my back door onto the frosty deck and they’ll come in with their crowbars and their hammers and they will wreak havoc on my morning.
I am paying them to do this, too.
I am paying them for the privilege of keeping my microwave and kettle and electric fry pan and toaster on a jaunty little table right next to my computer, so I can…well…keep up an endless supply of tea and toast while I write, I guess. I guess that’s a good thing, considering how much tea and toast I make while I write on a normal day (a lot).
I am paying them for the privilege of keeping my plates and bowls on a shelf in the lounge room, even after I’ve told the kids there’s a strict no-food-on-the-new-carpet rule. I’m paying them for the privilege of keeping my glassware under my bed.
I’m also paying them for doors that shut…well, for doors even…and for a stove that does all kinds of lovely things and doesn’t have gunky hard-to-clean bits. I’m paying them for pretty tiles and…oh YES…ventilation!! And shelves and nooks and new power points, and cool drawers that shut softly and places upon places to put things so they don’t clutter up my new and perfect benches.
It’s kinda worth it, really.
But, like with my first pregnancy, even though I knew at the end of that nine month perioi there’d definitely be a baby, and I knew it was coming, I’m still not ready.
How about you? Ever put a kitchen in? Got any top tips for surviving the upheaval? The new carpet ordeal is still fresh in my mind. I don’t want to do this again…can I shut my eyes and pretend it’s not happening? Help!!
Megan Sayer 
Oh I have always wanted to do this. This upheaval is kind of like moving house. You have to keep things out even when they have to be packed away. Sounds like a great adventure, and I don’t think we are ever ready for it, o matter how long we have to plan. When the time comes we still get nervous excited and wonder if we’ve done enough preperation. Afterwards though we wonder what the fuss was all about.
Have fun, I too would like a new kitchen. 🙂
Jennifer it’s exactly like moving house! I’m kind of in denial about this, because getting new carpet is exactly like moving house as well. Surely no-on needs to move house twice in a month…
Not complaining, very grateful, but very, VERY tired!
Ha, twice in a month. Enjoy.
Every time I think about renovating anything, I think about all the cleaning, shifting stuff, chaos during the process and then I put it off again …;)
Hehehe! Oh yes, know how you feel. I’m blessed (or cursed) with an inability to notice detail in things sometimes. I think “yeah, new kitchen. GREAT!” and conveniently forget all the lead-up.
Probably a good thing, right? 🙂
So excited for you Meegs 🙂 I still find it mind boggling that people can renovate a whole room in a couple of weeks. We have been renovating for over 5 years and I still only have 2 bedrooms to show for it. Can’t wait to see your new kitchen. I was thinking about your new kitchen last night as I was gently pushing the tiles back into place on my kitchen wall. I need them to stay there for a bit longer yet!!!
Thanks Son! Yeah, I remember thinking that about other people’s houses – how can it happen that quickly (mostly because mine wasn’t happening AT ALL). And your bedrooms look AY MAAAAYZING, even if they did take howevermany years. Can’t wait until we’ve BOTH got our houses all beautified. That’ll be a day for celebrating!
I totally understand.
Oh Tan, I bet you do! And HOW MANY TIMES have you done it, while I’ve been dreaming of it? You put everyone else’s renos to shame 🙂