Improve Your Perspective: Stand Back

 

There it is, my almost-dream house on a hill, four years into the five year plan that will never meet schedule. Right now the three season porch is in a state between dismantling and rebuilding. The bathroom I use every morning hasn't changed since 1938. One person, my husband, is the sole architect and renovator for all improvements. Since he is the proprietor of a wood flooring company, you can imagine how much time is left for leisurely refurbishments.

I used to keep the "before" photographs running as a slide show on my PC, the daily reminder of how far we've come. In a whole house rehab, most of your money is spent in the kitchen. Thank heaven that's (for the most part) finished. There are four bathrooms, not counting a crude toilet area in the basement originally used by the help. I'm thinking about $4-5,000 each for materials plus lots of inconvenience and bad words uttered rounding out the process.

As a real estate licensee, I view  a lot of properties and have the chance to see beautiful renovation work in many great St. Louis neighborhoods. Sometimes the budget gets hit with necessary expenditures that aren't exactly House Beautiful features. Fixing the roof before it leaks. The unglamourous and expensive driveway replacement...when you want a pool, and an outdoor kitchen, and a carriage house. (Note use of the conjunction 'and,' instead of 'or.')

One reminder that provides perspective for me is a photograph of my cousin Angie Byler, RN with husband Mark Byler, MD and their son Luke. The three have spent several years in Zimbabwe doing medical missionary work. Patients with TB, malaria, and AIDS are brought by donkey or wheelbarrow to Sanyati Baptist Hospital where blackouts and supply shortages are routine. When I begin to obsess over cabinet knob finishes or the color of tulips, I look at the picture and remember that I am not the one facing real dilemmas in this world.

Someday this house will be a showplace, but not tomorrow and not next year.  Perspective adjustments have become necessary due to my occasionally painful sense of realism. I can handle the truth, even the black and white bathroom. Just stand back and keep it in perspective.