WWYD - When to call it good enough? Long.

[wawa]

Before we got held up by our floor guys I was still hoping that we might actually finish all of the big projects before I had this baby with some room to spare.

I just sat down to update our timelines...and yeah. It's not gonna happen. We just lost too much time to the floor guy's bullshit.

I'm getting big enough that it's slowing me down.
And MH is getting super burnt out.

I don't want to spend the last little bit of this pregnancy stressed out and yelling at each other about painting doors, ya know?

This is what is left to do. What would you push to get done before this kid comes (EDD = Feb 25) and what would you just let go for now and deal with it once we're out of the baby fog?

Things that are a given:
-move our bedroom furniture back upstairs and living room furniture out of kitchen (this is happening on saturday)
-finish trim upstairs - kitchen window and doorsway, shoe molding in living room, baby room and guest room
-paint the kitchen, hallway and finish the guest room
-install hang bars and such in the baby's room and guest room closets
-finish up random odds and ends in bathrooms
-install doors for all rooms
-cover the upstairs windows with SOMETHING

Hoping to be done with this list by Jan 19th or so.

Everything else:

Upstairs odds and ends (who knows how long this will take. it's a lot of doors):
-Install real window treatments (partially a $$ limitation)
-paint all doors
-get master shower glass installed (this is a $$ limitation, not time)

Make Basement Family Room useable again (2 weekends?):
-Install additional can lights
-patch holes left in ceiling from assorted HVAC and electrical crap
-paint (ceiling, walls and trim)
-move furniture out of storage and put room back together

Make Laundry Room a real room (3 weekends):
-scrape old caulk off windows
-buy and install flooring (now thinking vinyl tiles for price and speed of install instead of porcelain/ceramic)
-install trim
-paint walls and trim
-install utility sink
-buy cabinets and install
-buy countertop and install
-move spare fridge into this room from basement

Make Pantry/Hallway/Hall Closet Area useable (4+ weekends*):
-rebuild stairs
-install doors
-install flooring (floating engineered click together)
-install trim
-paint trim and walls
-buy and install pantry and hall closet shelving
-move non-every day kitchen stuff out of storage and into pantry (canning stuff, sausage making stuff, beer making stuff)
-move overflow food storage out of china cabinet and into pantry
-move china out of storage and back into china cabinet
-move random crap hiding in various places in the house into hall closet
-move chest freezer from downstairs guest room into pantry

Finish office and downstairs guest room (3+ weekends*):
-install flooring (probably to happen concurrently with hallway/pantry area. Same flooring. Both rooms are off halway)
-scrape caulk off windows
-install trim
-paint trim and walls
-move office desks from storage to office
-move ikea shelving thingies from basement to office
-move craft supplies from mix of storage and corner of the family room into office
-probably purchase additional shelving/storage and organize craft stuff


* the "+" on the last two is for the organizational tasks. Those will probably drag on for a bit. But one of each of those sets of three is probably the same weekend. So 6 total weekends for both sets of tasks, not 7.

So. What would you want to be done before you brought a baby home? What could you live without? And at what point would you just decide that it's time to take some time off and recharge before getting dropped into first-time parenthood?

[Deleted]

I would paint, install the doors (you'll want them to cut down on noise for you and the baby), and do the laundry room (babies make tons of laundry half of which only ever gets put away).

All of that is a giant PITA with a kid int tow, so I'd finish it up first.
The rest of the smaller scale stuff (changing lighting, hanging curtains) you can do with a kid in a bouncy chair for at least a little bit at at a time.

[demandypants]

I would try to focus on the higher priority big tasks first. The things it will take you all day to do and where both of you working on it is essential. After the baby comes, it isn't too hard to find an hour to hang a curtain rod, or paint a door but for both of you to be free to work on something together may be very difficult for a while. Like until the kid turns 5. Maybe I exaggerate some... but not much.

[wawa]

Jan 3, 2013 14:45:23 GMT -5 demandypants said:

I would try to focus on the higher priority big tasks first. The things it will take you all day to do and where both of you working on it is essential. After the baby comes, it isn't too hard to find an hour to hang a curtain rod, or paint a door but for both of you to be free to work on something together may be very difficult for a while. Like until the kid turns 5. Maybe I exaggerate some... but not much.

LOL, I believe you. One of our best couple-friends were finishing their basement while she was KU'd. The baby is now 3 years old (and they have a second) and the basement is useable as a play/family room...but still not really done. No ceiling. No baseboards. And the bathroom down there is just an empty room full of boxes with Kohler logos on them and plumbing rough-in stubs. They were making good progress on it...and then the baby happened and it all came to a screeching halt. And now the times that they can get alone time with both of them the last thing they want to do is install tile.

[bunnymendelbaum]

What is your EDD?

Is there any room to hire anything out?
I was surprised at how cheap our drywalling & painting was.

I would look at which rooms you use on a daily basis and try to get those done first (hallway, pantry) and leave the basement rooms for after baby is born. We got quite a bit done while DD was sleeping actually, but you need to be removed enough from where baby is to not wake her up with the noise.

[wawa]

Jan 3, 2013 15:05:24 GMT -5 bunnymendelbaum said:

What is your EDD?

Is there any room to hire anything out?
I was surprised at how cheap our drywalling & painting was.

I would look at which rooms you use on a daily basis and try to get those done first (hallway, pantry) and leave the basement rooms for after baby is born. We got quite a bit done while DD was sleeping actually, but you need to be removed enough from where baby is to not wake her up with the noise.

EDD is Feb 25th.

No money to hire anything out. Our pot of original reno money is down to nubs. As it is I think we're going to have to create a "finish our damn bathroom fund" in order to get our shower glass. Which might mean we don't get that for another year since we're also going to be paying daycare...

ETA: This is funny. Like, funny-strange and funny-haha (but really I'm laughing so I don't cry). Because this whoooooole thing got started because we wanted to fit a shower into our master half-bath. That's what ballooned this project from a general spruce up into a full on semi-gut renovation.

But we'll probably have everything else done and STILL won't have a working shower in the master bathroom.

[thewop]

Jan 3, 2013 15:19:46 GMT -5 @callmefia said:

I am thinking you will want the nursery, main living areas (just one comfortable living room, not the family room too), and the laundry done.
Forget about the office/guest room.

A) you will have a ton of laundry
B) you will have visitors. They will focus on the baby, and want to see her room. They won't be focusing on whether your caulk is applied nicely on your windows. But they may need a working bathroom and a drink from the kitchen etc.

I love that you guys want a finished house, but it took my parents 20 years to do theirs. You guys deserve a break, need a break, and remember that as long as things are in livable condition, it's not the end of the world. So, my point is - get the furniture out of your kitchen. But if it isn't painted before the kiddo comes, NBD.

All of us do not live in Blog ready homes. A lot of us can't afford massive reno's all at once. Back away from the toolbox and enjoy life a little too!

I actually agree with this.

[simpsongal]

Another member of the good enough club. When I think about what we spent to decorate the house (rugs, window treatments, etc.)... some people spend that amount on a single chair. Pretty it up, even if it isn't perfect, finish the big stuff, and create space for scrapbooking & baby stuff! You'll find time to fix it up when you have teenagers.

Congrats! We've got tons of February birthdays in my family

[wawa]

Jan 3, 2013 15:48:27 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

Another member of the good enough club. When I think about what we spent to decorate the house (rugs, window treatments, etc.)... some people spend that amount on a single chair. Pretty it up, even if it isn't perfect, finish the big stuff, and create space for scrapbooking & baby stuff! You'll find time to fix it up when you have teenagers.

Congrats! We've got tons of February birthdays in my family

LOL, my family is all March. MH, grandmother, sister, mom and I are all March babies. So if I go really late little girl might share a birthday with her daddy. He's March 9th. My doctor doesn't induce before 42 weeks barring problems so if I follow the family tradition that's when she'll be coming.

[bunnymendelbaum]

I also want to add that you should do some of the stuff that is going to drive you nuts on a daily basis.
I looked at peeled paint (thanks DH) for 5 years. I should have had this stuff painted back then.
I think you are much more organized than we are though. We like to get projects 75% done and stop.
I feel you on the shower. We bought a toilet over a year ago. Still not installed.

[housegeek]

I'd focus on the laundry room for sure, then maybe the hallway project.