Keeping Your Relationship Strong During a Home Remodel

That old, dreary kitchen is looking pretty shabby these days and the temptation of a home remodel is overwhelming. All you're thinking about is the finished project: granite counter tops, top of the line kitchen cabinets, new appliances, the dream kitchen you've always wanted. But you need to consider how many months you'll be without a working kitchen, the mess, the dust, the frustration from taking so long, orders getting delayed and so on and so on. Add in to the mix, that you and your husband have differing views on what the finished design should be and the road can be a rough one

My husband and I went through a recent home remodel that involved our entire house and took several years to finish mainly because he chose to do a lot of the work himself. We love the finished project but we had our share of disagreements until we started implementing a few important tips that helped us survive our home remodeling project and kept our marriage in tack.

Home Remodel Survival Tip #1: Be flexible. Don't be sold on only your vision of something. I was guilty of this several times and then came to realize that I needed to choose my battles. We finally agreed if we both didn't love something, we'd move on until we found something we both liked. This does take more time but in the end it's an exercise in compromise and keeping to this one rule, eliminates a large amount of disagreements.

Home Remodel Survival Tip #2: Pad the budget. Most remodeling projects are known to go over budget. If you initially pad your budget by 20 to 30%, you will never have the stress of wondering if you have enough money to finish the project. Pad it and forget about it!

Home Remodel Survival Tip #3: Keep it simple. Don't try to keep your life exactly as it was prior to the remodel. Sit down dinners are much harder, doing dishes is near impossible, and the stress of trying to do it all is just too much. I attempted washing pots and pans outside once. It was a pain and totally not worth the dinner I made. We resorted to things that were easy to heat up in the microwave and lived off paper plates and plastic utensils. Grocery stores now offer fresh vegetables in bags that can be steamed in the microwave, pick up a cooked chicken from the deli and grab a bag of lettuce and some veggies to throw in it. In a flash you have an instant dinner your family will love.

Home Remodel Survival Tip #4: Open communication. Always make sure both partners are kept in the loop. If you're talking to the contractor and something arises, make sure you confer with the other spouse so that everyone's ideas and feelings are kept in consideration. If you're concerned about a certain area, don't let it fester. Talk about it openly and voice your concerns. By discussing things as they arise, problems won't blow out of proportion.

Home Remodel Survival Tip #5: Get away from it all. Sometimes you just want to keep plugging away to get the project done. But the weariness of it all can cause a strain on your marriage. Take a break and getaway from it all! In the midst of our remodel, the week after our granite had just been installed, my husband and I took off on an amazing cruise of the Pacific Coast. We had a great time and came back refreshed and ready to finish the project strong.

Remodeling a home and keeping your marriage happy can be tough but it can be done. Keep these tips in mind and you're sure to have success.