From Chaos to Calm: How Families Can Make the Home Renovation Process Less Stressful

Whether it's your roof that needs mending or you have an abundance of little jobs that need sorting, the fact is that any home renovation process can be time-consuming, costly, and undoubtedly stressful. Factor into the equation you being a parent who has to look after a partner, your children, and the household itself can feel like a tumultuous challenge that can threaten to upend the entire family dynamic! Put simply, home renovations can be challenging! 

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But, of course, with proper strategies and planning, you can make the process far less stressful and potentially even enjoyable for your family! So, let's show you exactly what you and your family can do to tackle the home renovation process in an easy and effective manner:

Organizing and Prioritizing  

If there is one issue most of us have, it's that we dive into the home renovation process thinking we can achieve so much in so little time. This is particularly true when it comes to contractors. So, whether you are in the process of fixing your roof and are looking for the top roofing companies or there's some painting and decorating that needs doing, the biggest thing that can make a huge difference is a detailed project plan that also prioritizes tasks.  

Understand What’s Actually Important

If you are undertaking a massive renovation from the roof of the home all the way to the front door, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being organized and prioritizing projects based on their value, impact, and urgency. One of the best ways to look at these factors is what's called the Eisenhower decision matrix. Many business people prioritize their tasks based on urgency and importance, and if you use this decision matrix to look at whether a project is:  

• Important and urgent  
• Important and not urgent  
• Not important and urgent  
• Not important and not urgent  

You will see what you can do with each task, and you can have a far clearer understanding of what needs doing. You also should look at the different contractors and how they work. It can be chaotic if you plan on having a number of contractors at your home on a single day.

The 33% Rule 

There may be a part of you that thinks getting it all done out of the way can make things far easier, but you've got to look at the kids' needs, the house, and if you can actually deal with this. There’s absolutely nothing wrong in saying that you just need to organize a roofing contractor to come out in one day because they will tell you it takes two days. When a contractor tells you it takes X number of days, it's always worth adding an extra 33% onto it just to minimize your levels of stress!

Preserving Family Harmony  

Well-being is an almighty conversation to have, particularly for the sake of everybody's sense of sanity. If you can, try and get a lot of the contracting work done when the children are in school because this means they are out of the way. However, if this is not possible, it's essential to focus on some of the following methods:  

Maintaining Routines  

If there's one thing we should remember is key for our children's well-being, whether you're renovating or not, it's that family routines need to be as consistent as humanly possible. Stability can make a huge difference in their lives, particularly as you may have noticed that your children can feel a lot more stressed out when there's tumultuous change. A commonly used example is when a child is starting school or when they are making the change from a toddler bed to a child bed.  

Consistency is key, so if you can stick to those regular mealtimes, bedtimes, bath times, etc., this can provide that core amongst the chaos. If you can, do your best to continue with family traditions and activities, even if you need to make a few little changes to them, because this overall sense of consistency isn't just great for them, but it will keep you focused.  

Communicating Openly  

Sometimes things don't go according to plan, particularly in renovations. No matter how young your children are, encouraging open communication about any challenges or frustrations can make a huge difference to how you all progress as a family unit. 

It can be very easy for us to try and protect our children by not discussing things, but if there's one major mistake a family can make, it's that they do not discuss things that can actually demystify the worry, particularly when it comes to children.  

They're not necessarily able to understand something in the way that you or I do. We've gone through that process of learning to understand how something works, and a little bit of empathy with our children can go a long way here. Always remember that any milestones should be celebrated, whether you're in the process of renovating your kitchen or you are making little changes to your child's bedroom. 

Every little hurdle we jump over is worth celebrating, and we can show our kids the benefits of doing up their bedroom or a new kitchen, particularly if you are renovating an older house to bring it up to date.  

Managing Everyone's Expectations  

Discussing the potential challenges before the renovation begins is crucial, and it's that open communication again. Helping our children understand that short-term discomfort can lead to long-term gain can manage anxiety. But we also need to be realistic, particularly in terms of timelines. This is why that extra 33% is an excellent number to bear in mind, whether it is in terms of budget or time scales.  

Ensuring You Manage Your Stress Levels  

You may very well be working harder to manage your children's stress levels, but are you looking after yourself? Home renovations can be one of the most stressful things we ever undergo, and therefore, if we recognize before everything starts that there will be stress, we can be prepared to deal with hurdles as we go, meaning that we're able to take things as they come, so bear in mind some of the following simple yet very effective approaches:  

Prioritizing Self-Care  

It's all about healthy habits. If you can't sleep at night because you're thinking about some aspect of the work that you don't think you communicated well enough, then have a backup plan for those middle-of-the-night murmurs in your mind. If we can't sleep because of stress, rather than trying to force ourselves back to sleep, move to another room as you can disassociate the feelings of stress with your bed, which is what many sleep experts recommend.  

Also, think about a nice calming hobby for the middle of the night and during any time you feel stressed. If you feel overwhelmed, don't hesitate to ask for help. For so many of us, the reason we feel stress is because we don't have control over the situation, and when we are placing everything in the hands of contractors, we need to claw back some sense of control. Whether this involves a to-do list of things that you can tick off during this time so you can feel that sense of accomplishment or as a way to distract yourself, this can work wonders.  

Creating a Sanctuary for Yourself  

If you are having work done in pretty much every room, you've got to figure out how to designate yourself a quiet space away so you can keep the stress out of sight and out of mind. Think about what you can do at home as well. 

For example, if you're looking for moments of peace and you can't help but feel reminded of all of the chaos, shutting yourself off in terms of your senses can help. Noise-canceling headphones, binaural beats, white noise machines, and so many sensory tactics can help here.  

Maintaining Perspective  

It's very hard to deal with it when we're in the middle of the renovation process, but remember that all of this chaos is temporary, and celebrating the small victories and progress along the way, rather than waiting until the very end, gives us a better sense of achievement. Those small victories are critical for your sanity and your family!  

Being Practical  

If you do feel overwhelmed, think about some of the following:  

• Maintaining work-life balance, particularly if you are working from home, so you can set up a quiet workspace away from the renovation.  
• Being flexible with your work hours to accommodate renovation schedules.  
• Implementing a daily cleaning routine to help manage dust and debris, particularly if the contractors aren't good at cleaning up.  
• Investing in air purifiers to improve the air quality inside and some plastic sheeting and tape to seal off renovation areas to minimize dust.  
• Planning meals that can be prepared with limited kitchen access as well as temporary kitchen appliances like an air fryer or planning more meals out during the intense renovation phases.  

There's a whole heap of stress that can come into our lives when we're working on our home, but there are many ways to make the home renovation process less overwhelming!  

This is a contributed post.

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