Now I get it (homeowner chat)

[A10CalGal]

3 splotches of paint on the wall (living, dining & guest rooms), one third mowed lawn, deck plans on the kitchen table, unpacked boxes hiding in the pantry, nothing on the walls...the sure fire signs of new homeowners with TOO MANY PROJECTS started at once?? Yes, I think so. Oh yeah, and another $1100 trip to the furniture auction under our belts.

 

Now I understand how people can start projects & never finish them. There is so much to do, and so much we want to do. I told Rafael we need to make a list of all the projects we want to do & vow not to start one until the last is finished. This is crazy! We took a lovely new home & have turned it into a war zone...all with the intent of "making it our own."

 

Tell me we aren't alone here. We totally have homeowner overachievement ADD syndrome.

[Sandra E.]

Oooohhh Christa,

You're definitely not alone. When we bought the house last June I wanted to do everything at once and my DH kept saying we'll do it one step at a time. Which he was right! we're doing things little by little I feel like we're spending money much faster than we're making it and everything is at least either $100 or $1000. If I start to think how much I want to do to the house I get overwhelmed so I'm taking he's philosophy on this.

 

What threw me over the edge was when he decided to have a housewarming bar-b-que at our house 2 weeks after we had moved in! and had sent out an evite! So you can only imagined how fast we had to move to get everything done. The good thing is that everything got done so quickly, the bad thing was that I wanted to strangle him over this and I was absolutely exhausted. But he did help and we did have a great time! and I told him he had to clean up after the party. He's never done anything like that since.

 

Congratulations on your new house, and it's so true the list never ends.

[Yari]

LOL, oh yeah. There are so many things we want to do. We have been in for six months. Lots of projects going on all at once.

[A10CalGal]

Funny thing is it's totally both of us...we are enabling each other left & right! Oh well, I guess at this point it's just paint & unpacked boxes....

 

Big ups to Kris (Lilpaisly) for giving us her unused lawn mower, we just picked it up today. Rafael got it running right away. And he's been mowing our lawn for at least 45 minutes at this point. It looks like a riding lawn mower may be in our future. We have a ridiculous amount of grass...probably half an acre. Our neighbors are laughing their asses off at us right now (makes them feel better about us having the biggest lot on the block).

 

Doh!

[Jessica]

This is totally the way Brian operates. We had many an argument over his 9 projects going at once approach. After many fights, tears and a couple of hissyfits, we now have most of them under control and are doing things my way (working on one project at a time until completion and then moving on to the next).

 

But you are not alone!!! I think it comes from the desire of just wanting to enjoy your home in a completed state. I can't wait until we have finished a few more of the rooms and have the garden a little more in order. I want to be able to enjoy eveything as opposed to working on it!

[Sandra E.]

New paint will give it a huge face lift, it's amazing how much a room can change and it'll make it feel more like home.

[A10CalGal]

Well, I'm glad I'm not alone. I definitely have that "I want to do every thing now" drive. Full on nesting mode. It's weird how we are all about the home improvement store and gadgetry (we need a reciprocating saw??). Oh well, good healthy fun, keeps me out of trouble.

[Yari]

I seriously never understood the need to go to Lowe's or Home Depot mulitple times in one weekend. I now know!

[becks]

When I bought my condo in LA several years back, my friends would literally tell people that I had a reserved parking space at Home Depot. I love all that home improvement stuff. After the condo, I can now change out plumbing fixtures, handle minor electrical and lighting, hang chandeliers, paint like a pro, tile, drywall and lay flooring.

 

At first, when FI and I were looking at houses, he used to think it was funny when I'd say something about putting in a workshop in the basement. Now when I tell him I want a compound mitre saw, he just looks at me and asks how much they cost.

[tvt]

You are so not alone!! We just moved into our new house 8 days ago.... and we've so anxious to make it ours as well. We started painting this weekend..with a 50% success rate. 1 color is great - a nice warm brown for the bedroom, but the other color turned out baby blue, when we wanted a darker blueish gray for the bathroom... ugh! Makes me want to repaint it right away!

 

THen I also started trimming the bushes, but did I clean up the trimmings Nope! I got distracted by pulling weeds. I swear it never ends!

 

And the $... my god where does it go? Why is it that every new place you move into there are a bunch of new things to buy?? Not to mention that Joe's truck finally lost it's last leg and we had to buy a new SUV this weekend. UGH!!! We're so poor right now, but there is so much I want to buy!