I figured its high time for a cathartic rant on why I haven’t felt motivated to blog or post more after photos.

A month or so ago, I finally tabulated our total expenditures on this 3+ year project. The results, although shocking, were not that surprising.

I don’t feel I’ve done visitors justice on being fiscally responsible taking on house restorations of a similar scale. I know that’s not my responsibility, but I think that houseblogs sometimes glamorize the excess because the “end will justify the means, right?”

Our grand total is ridiculous. I know it could’ve been much worse if we hadn’t staunched the wound when the recession hit hard. After already committing to ridiculous mortgages, a little too late, we jumped on the Dave Ramsey plan, and we forced ourselves to manage every dollar with an iron fist. Since 2009 we did much of the remaining work ourselves or found rock-bottom-priced contractors that were just happy for the work.

Now that our fun playing house restorationist days are essentially behind us (except landscaping… ugh!), and a huge mortgage is in front of us, I cannot say that it was worth it. Even worse, it’s work every day to remind myself that it’s finally time to enjoy it.

Yes, we can “afford” the mortgage payment, but only if our jobs remain steady. That said, moving on with our lives with having children or doing foreign travel with this mortgage is not as feasible. As I type, houses nearby are listed well below what we could sell for and aren’t.

It doesn’t seem worth it after all those long days, nights and weekends of sacrifice. I spoke with a fellow houseblogger who said it best:

“I resent all of the vacations we haven’t taken and parties we haven’t thrown and stress we’ve endured to get this far, and for what, really?” — Stephanie from the aptly titled, Bungalow Insanity.

I totally agree with her! Yes, restored homes are indeed beautiful, but come at the expense of activities that probably should’ve been more important in the grand scheme of things. We only see that now that we are out of the remodeler’s high of infinite possibilities. Sure, I can repaint… or stencil, but who really cares except me? I have no doubts that a future owner will just paint over it. It seems like such a waste of time if we won’t live here long enough to enjoy it.

So when people contact me excited about the possibilities of buying a fixer, my apologies if I’m less than enthusiastic. Don’t get me wrong, I think historical homes should be saved. But it cannot be entered into lightly as it was pre-recession in the flipping boon with just the knowledge gleaned from HGTV, a few books and blogs. In other words: exactly what we did, to our own detriment. Novices in this world seem to land somewhere on the scale from WTF remudding to mediocre DIY all the way upto insane purist-eco/greenwashed-top-of-the-line everything.

For those, independently wealthy, I say go for it… with the caveat: don’t complain after the remodeler’s high wears off that you’ve exhausted your savings, can’t move because you can’t recoup the investment, can’t afford to travel, etc. now that the project is all wrapped up. I say this as the absolutely HYPOCRITE of these matters! We learned the hard way on almost everything, especially this lesson.

So should I keep blogging, I’m not quite sure. Instead I feel more like I’m encouraging bad behaviour.

6 Responses to “Blogger’s Block”

1. Judy Henninger says:

   May 23, 2011 at 10:29 am

   Dawn & Jeremy,
   I understand where you’re coming from. You’ve done an amazing job with your Bungalow, and should be able to sit back and enjoy it. While I don’t actually own a Bungalow, I’ve been restoring them for the past 20 years, mostly in Mountain View (near San Francisco). I clearly don’t charge enough for the type of work I do, but I’m satisfied with the joy it brings to others. Someday I’ll have my own modest Bungalow without having to put my life (and finances) on hold. I’ve enjoyed reading your blog, and would like to see you continue writing it. Thanks for sharing your house with us! Judy
2. casacaudill says:

   May 23, 2011 at 5:35 pm

   We had big plans for everything we were going to do to our bungalow – big, big, big plans. And as months went by and nothing was accomplished, I started feeling inferior to those bungalow remodelistas out there who were actually *doing something * to restore their beautiful homes. Then we started on our projects and the costs to do things “the right way” had me near tears. How were we going to be able to afford to live AND remodel this house? Then the recession hit and our home value dropped a good $125k below what we paid for it. I decided then that we were going to do things that made sense to us, for us, blogville be damned. I took A LOT of flack for putting in vinyl windows but at $9k for the whole house versus $43k for the whole house, it was a no brainer. Then I had someone call me names when I posted about turning our laundry room (an addition, I’m sure) into a half bath and I decided that my blog needed to be for me and needed to cover what I wanted to write about. We went from being a house blog to a life blog and I’m okay with that. People will never visit to find out how to strip gorgeous 100 year old wood work, but they just might stop by to see something … I’m sure your loyal readers would feel the same way.
3. Liz says:

   June 3, 2011 at 8:23 pm

   i have a wee tiny (710 sq ft) portland bungalow and i’ve been feeling a little lame for not getting things done, lickety split. i don’t have the financial option to hire anyone to do anything, or i feel like i don’t. therefore, if i don’t do it, or my family members don’t, it doesn’t happen. i went to morocco last summer, though. and i fly home to WI a couple times a year, and to other family events. thank you for this blog entry; it makes me feel like i’m doing okay. :)

   i haven’t gotten on the landscaping either.
4. Sharon says:

   June 9, 2011 at 7:54 pm

   I’m sorry that the finances for your remodel put you in such a position. Your house is beautiful and I hope you can find some satisfaction in a job well done. While we are spending TOO MUCH on our remodel, we are not borrowing the money. We’re spending savings–which we may someday regret. Luckily, I value a nice house over travel.

   BTW, are we the “insane purist-eco/greenwashed-top-of-the-line everything” people? =)
5. Dawn Peterson says:

   June 9, 2011 at 10:15 pm

   What I recall from our first email correspondances was that you were so worried at the time to spend $$ for Pasqualle’s to strip paint. Seems like a 180 to go from an ultra-frugal stance to suddenly going to the high end of costs, although I know how contractor bids can spiral out of control. I personally have no problem with going for long-term quality or eco-friendly items within reason, so its good to hear you had a sustantial nest egg. It seems from your blog archives that you dreamed of traveling the country as recently as the past couple of years. I figure day-to-day living in a nice house is preferable to a one-time trip, but my point is for everyone is that I hope they don’t have to sacrifice other dreams for the sake of getting an old beauty up to code.
6. Sharon says:

   June 10, 2011 at 4:23 pm

   My natural inclination is to ruthlessly save money (that’s why we had substantial savings) but I always seem to let go of that habit to pursue quality with remodels. Both times we’ve remodeled we’ve spent well beyond our initial “budget.”

   And yes, we were planning to travel for a year, but when the stock market crashed our savings crashed enough that we had to choose between the house and the travel and I’d rather have the house. =)

   Luckily we’re still young enough to work to build up savings for travel if we later desire it. We’re not indebting ourselves for this crazy remodel.