Neighbourly Advice on Renovating

Your neighbours know when you’re renovating. Whether it’s seeing the Home Depot bags or watching you put the new light fixture box out at the curb or catching a glimpse of you cutting trim in the garage, they know that you’re up to something, and they want to know more about it.

Sometimes you can keep it ‘on the down-low’ by making late night trips to the home improvement warehouses, but why? Brag a bit about what you’ve got on the go and your amazing plans!

People like to know about what others are doing with their houses and share ideas. It’s fun to talk about changing our environment and to look at what others are doing. Though, that being said, it can be hard for us to accept the input from others when we’ve already made decisions and plans. But, do try to keep an open mind – some fabulous ideas come from the input of friends and neighbours.

Case in point – in our current house, talking to the neighbours about what we had on the go led to discussing what they were doing. This facilitated a couple of great things: 1) Good suggestions came up about our kitchen – ideas we incorporated easily that made our plans even better 2) The Renovator put in a few days work on their kitchen when they needed help.  Great results for everyone!

Another case – on house #2, the neighbours suggested I remove a wall in the kitchen. While I initially dismissed the idea because it wasn’t ‘in my plan’, I later ran it past friends and family who felt it was an excellent idea. In the end, I’m really glad I listened because it was a wonderful change to the house that opened things up and let more light in. I loved it.

Don’t shun the nosey neighbours. Let them take an interest in your reno, show them what you’re doing. They might be impressed and boost your confidence and they might provide some wonderful ideas. The Renovator and I believe in taking good ideas from wherever they come from, and that’s why I love being The Renovator’s wife.