Renovations are an amazing way to really put your stamp on your home. You can add a kitchen extension, an extra bedroom or just rip out an out of date bathroom. As exciting as renovations are, they’re also messy and stressful, especially if you don’t move out during the work. Here’s how you can keep the stress to a minimum.

Keep The Mess Under Control

Any building work is always going to be messy. There’s dust, building rubble and the mess of builders traipsing in and out of the house all day. If the whole house feels like a building site, you’re going to feel more stressed. 

Protect your furniture and other rooms with dust sheets over things and plastic sheeting in doorways. Dispose of building rubble promptly to stop it piling up. If you find you’re loading up skip after skip, find an alternative to standard skip bins, and arrange to have the rubble collected when it’s convenient for you. 

Set A Budget And Stick To It

Work out your budget for the renovations and make sure you stick to it. If you’re stressed, going over budget will only make the stress worse. When choosing builders or contractors, shop around for the best quotes. You can use quotes to negotiate with your preferred contractors to make the make the most of your money. 

If you’re skilled at DIY projects, you could so some of the work yourself. Whether you do the interior decorating yourself or some projects like upscaling furniture, you can save some serious money. Don’t take on a task if you aren’t sure you can do it well though; calling in the professionals to correct your mistakes will cost you. 

Give The Children A Space For Themselves

If you have young children at home, renovations can be a challenge. If you’re trying to deal with contractors at the same time as trying to keep the children away from building rubble and other dangerous parts of the building work. If you can, get the kids out of the house as much as you can, whether you send them to playdates or off to stay with Grandma for a few days. 

If they have to be in the house, give them a room away from the renovation work and keep it free from anything to do with building. This is their play room for the duration of the building, and means they can play safely, without you worrying about where they are or what they’re up to.  

Learn To Go With The Flow

Renovations can get delayed, things can go wrong and it can all get very stressful. Living in a building site is never going to easy. If you can, learn to let go and take things a little easy. 

When possible, get away from the building, whether that’s a night away or just a few hours out for a coffee shop visit. If you can take a break from the stress, you’ll feel much more relaxed and better able to deal with the challenges of renovations.