They’re he-e-re! Now that my wife’s father is retired, mom and dad-in-law will be splitting time between our home and their retirement property in the U.S. It will be wonderful for our daughter to have Gramma and Grampa hanging out with us for several months at a time, and frankly, I am not as horrified as you might expect, having the in-laws sharing our house. However, the pressure is on to get on with the renovations.
Double the adult and canine population
In addition to myself, my wife and our daughter and 40 pound black lab mix, we now have 2 additional adults and one 70 pound shepherd mix. Suddenly, our house, which is half under renovation, is reduced by half once again. With the second floor and basement uninhabitable, we are all sharing the main floor and the family room addition. My wife and I share the master bedroom, Gramma has a single bed set up in the living room, sharing the space with our child, who has been using it as her bedroom since we moved in. Grampa, poor Grampa, is stuck on the sofa in the family room. And we all share one tiny bathroom.
Not as bad as you think
It could be worse. It would be worse if I did not get along with my wife’s family. But as things stand right now, I just feel bad that the living arrangements aren’t any better than they are.
In-law suite in the basement
Future plans call for the basement to be set up as an in-law suite, complete with bathroom, family room and sleeping area, along with a small snack bar (fridge, microwave, cabinets, but no stove).
Bedroom and guest room upstairs
When completed, the second floor will have a large bedroom for our daughter and her menagerie of stuffed animals, and a small guest room (where we will likely live while the other renovations continue on the main floor).
Main bathroom renovation
The main floor bathroom will be larger, better laid out, with more storage space. It will be a far cry from the cramped five by five bathroom we currently have.
Financial Crunch
With any renovation, there are two forces at work: time and money. When money is in abundance, hiring contractors to do the work is a realistic option. Work can get done faster. DIY projects, while they may save some money, tend to take longer.
Right now, we are back to being a single income family. Money is in short supply. We are trying to crawl out of debt (line of credit for other renovations). I am tired of carrying a debt load and watching money evaporate every month for interest payments. While we have enough credit available to us to update the hydronic heating, which has to be done before anything else, I simply don’t want to be stuck with the huge monthly payments. I want to knock our current debts down to a manageable level before we do any more high cost renovations.
Renovations in limbo
I had a time frame in mind for the completion of certain projects. However, everything is up in the air while we only have one income rolling in.
Baby steps
I have enough small projects to keep me busy for a while without breaking the bank. Over the next couple of months, I can repair the floor in the ensuite bathroom (patch where the sunken whirlpool tub was installed), finish gutting the basement and clean everything up, patch the floors upstairs, prime, paint and finish the wiring. By the time these things are finished, we might be in a better position to advance to the next major phase of the renovations: update the heating system. I am hoping for that to be done in the spring or early summer….