"If we ever do this again, I am hiring someone to do it for us!"
That was the declaration my wife heard the other day. It was uttered near the end of a 16 month, yet unfinished project to complete my garage. We decided to finish the walls. I say "yet unfinished" because it is yet unfinished (profound, I know). I still have to finish painting and put everything back.
The story actually begins three years ago. At the time we were searching for a home to purchase. We had been living in an apartment for some time. "Some time" is a standard of measure used by apartment dwellers to rate their tolerance for their neighbors. Other units of measure include but are not limited to, "Oh look, new neighbors," "Where is the apartment manager's phone number," "Really, 3 am?" and "Where is my NRA membership form?"
We had spent hours pouring over pictures of available homes on the internet and had found one we wanted to see in person. Being the kind, thoughtful people we are, we felt bad dragging our Real Estate Agent 45 minutes to look at just one house so we added a couple others to the list even though there was only one we thought had a chance. The house we were interested in turned out to be horrible, the second house we added to help justify the trip wasn't much better. The last house...the house we eventually bought...we almost didn't look at because it wasn't photographed with a real estate camera.
I know, many of you are wondering, "What is a real estate camera?" Its a camera that has a peculiar ability to photograph tiny, dark, ugly rooms in such a way as to make them appear spacious, well-lit and beautiful when posted online. It can take a neglected front yard that is 20 feet deep with a 45 degree slope and make it look like the flat, well manicured outfield at Turner Field in Atlanta.
We were absolutely blown away when we walked in the front door of the house. It was amazing! We fell in love with it. It had a great yard, lots of space and enough things that we could change and upgrade to really get us excited. HGTV had turned us into crazy people that thought it really was as easy as they made it look. Surely good-looking people with crews of people and a camera crew were already on their way to help us make our home ownership dreams come true, and pay for it!
Over the next few weeks we stalked our new home. We would drive by, sometimes multiple times a day and just look at it. Sometimes late at night. By the time we finally closed the deal I'm sure some of the neighbors had alerted authorities of unusual activity.
We are still waiting for HGTV! But about 16 months ago we decided to drywall our garage. That was one of the projects we talked about doing when we moved in. I wish we would have done it then. We didn't, we waited until 16 months ago. Now granted, our garage has a 12 foot ceiling so it isn't the easiest of projects but I keep having to move stuff around to work on it in sections. Right now our dining room looks like our garage because I have relocated much of the contents there in a concerted effort to finish the project that won't go away. When I say "We" decided to drywall our garage what I really mean is "we" my wife and I decided "we" me should drywall the garage. So I drafted my brother in law to help me hang drywall. That part was completed about 14 months ago. The last year has been spent taping, mudding, sanding, griping, avoiding, griping more, avoiding even more, occasionally working on and now almost completing the project. I strongly dislike finishing drywall. In fact, I turned 40 and think I would probably prefer "the exam" 40 year old men are encouraged to get instead of finishing more drywall. It isn't the prettiest drywall finishing you will ever see but it is done and its a garage so I'm ok with it. The part I started on looks better than the part I finished on as my resolve eroded as the sanding wore on. A little more paint and it will be complete.
Here is what I am taking away from this experience:
1. I'm glad I don't do home renovation for a living.
2. If we buy another house, we need to better think through the "must complete before we move in" projects.
3. Hire out the drywall!!!!!
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