My Approach

 

In retrospect, the question that I seem to get the most is “How did you know where to begin?”  The truth is that I had no experience whatsoever with restoration or renovation.  We found a house that we could barely afford, and fell in love the minute we walked through the front door.  After closing, and move-in day, reality began to set in.  I knew I had many, many years of hard work ahead.  I also knew there would be a rather painful learning curve.

In my case, I had a collection of classic 80’s arcade machines that I had restored with friends.  These gave me an excuse to build a Man Cave type arcade room in the basement.  Here I could learn how to frame, and do sheetrock (and make all the mistakes while learning).  So I did just that.  I brought over a friend with experience and we went to work.  The room came out great and gave me a boost of confidence.

While it’s true that I had no experience, the truth is that I am very good at envisioning the final product.  As a professional Project Manager I also bring a skill set where I am able to break the overwhelming into bite sized pieces that are more manageable.  I made lots of lists.  At one point I bought Dry Erase wallpaper and covered the wall going down the basement stairs.  And in no time it was covered with dozens of lists – but it kept me focused.

Lastly, and I know this sounds a little strange, but I spent my lunchtimes at the local Home Depot.  I just walked up and down aisles and looked at all the products that were available for pretty much everything.  Over time this made me aware of solutions before the problems arose.  Sounding a little obsessive? Yes, I suppose I was.  I was in it for the long haul and wanted to gain advantage at any point possible.

So we come full circle, back to the big question “How did you know where to begin?”  Well, the arcade was a warm up, but just like going into the ring for a Title Bout I decided to use a psycological approach designed for the long haul. I would go for the biggest, most grueling project first and work my way through the house based on level of difficulty, hard to easy.  I know what you are thinking, “Are you nuts??” The reason I chose this approach was that I knew I would probably get tired and overwhelmed along the way.  I wanted to bake-in the thought that the next project would always be easier than what I was working on currently.  And those feelings of frustration and times that wanted to walk away definitely did come.  And having the worst behind me always gave me the strength to take on the next thing.

I can’t say that this approach will work for everyone and by no means am I a Psychologist.  But it served me very well and got me to the finish line.