I Should Have Listened To Y’all

And now we’ve come to the end of the week — a week when the flooring and subfloor of the guest bedroom were supposed to be removed, vapor barrier installed, insulation installed, plumbing for the washer installed, and new subfloor installed so that I could start installing the new hardwood flooring — and this is all that’s been done.

I’m frustrated, to say the least. I understand that people get sick and have to deal with sick kids. I get that. I try to be gracious. But I can still be frustrated with the situation and with the lack of progress, and I am. Very frustrated.

Back when we bought this house and I began working on it, I did virtually everything myself simply because we didn’t have the money to hire people to do every little thing I didn’t want to do. As long as it wasn’t something major, like re-roofing the house, replacing the main sewer line, leveling the house, or replacing all of the old galvanized pipes with new PVC and PEX, then I’d do it myself.

I removed and rebuilt walls (with the help of my brother), installed new windows (also with the help of my brother), built cased openings in load-bearing walls, installed new drywall. I didn’t necessarily enjoy the process of doing all of that stuff (although I did enjoy the feeling of pride and accomplishment at tackling those things with my own hands), but I did them because I had to. We just simply didn’t have the luxury of hiring those things out.

But quite honestly, I also hated the idea of having to rely on others to do things for me when I was capable of doing them myself. I don’t like relying on other people because other people aren’t reliable. Other people don’t show up when they’re supposed to. They don’t call and let me know they’re not going to be here. They don’t listen when I say how I want things done. Lots of times, I have to go back and redo something that they didn’t do quite right. So I’ve always found it easier to just do it myself. My mom tells me that the first sentence I said as a child was, “Me do it meself!” And that has pretty much been my personality for my entire life.

But as time went on, and Matt and I have enjoyed more financial freedom, I’ve started hiring out more and more. But the result has been a mixed bag. Yes, it’s nice to not have to do the stuff I don’t really like to do. But there’s a definite trade-off when I hire out these jobs to other people. And this last week is a clear demonstration of that. It’s been an entire week of no progress when I know very well that I could have been in there removing the flooring and subfloor myself. And now I’m kicking myself for hiring out the job and being stalled for an entire week.

Of course, had I listened to some of you who encouraged me to start the work in the bedroom at the ceiling and work my way down, I could have been getting some work done. It does make more sense in my mind to start with the floor and get it finished since the sanding process is so incredibly messy and gets dust into every nook and cranny of the room. But just because there’s a preferred order to projects, that doesn’t mean that’s the only way to do it. And I, of all people, should know that. I’m the queen of doing projects out of order (or out of the generally accepted order) and still having things work out in the end.

So I should have listened. Once I decided to hire out those other jobs, I should have left the possibility open for me to start on the bedroom while that was going on, and to start at the top and work my way down. During this last week, I could have gotten the crown molding installed, walls repaired (i.e, repaired holes left by drywall anchors), walls primed, and possibly even the wallpaper installed. I was very adamant about doing the floor before the wallpaper so that the grasscloth doesn’t end up loaded down with dust from sanding the floor, but the walls can always be draped with plastic before I start the floors.

But because I was set in my ways, I now have hundreds of pounds of flooring that would need to be moved once again for me to start on the bedroom walls. Ugh. I’m so frustrated.

So I’m not really sure what to do at this point. Part of me thinks I should just chill, stop stressing about these rooms, and just let it happen when it happens. And in the meantime, I can find other projects to work on, like maybe finishing the skirting on the front porch, and then starting the skirting on my workshop.

But the other part of me thinks I should channel my frustration into moving those hundreds of pounds of flooring yet again and just get started on the crown molding and walls. The only place I can move those boxes is to the middle of the room. They have to stay inside the house (so I can’t move them to my workshop) because the wood has to stay acclimated to the house before I install it. And I’ve just run out of room anywhere else in the house.

Anyway, who knows at this point where I’ll channel my frustration and my energy this weekend. There are plenty of options, so surely I can find something that needs to be done and get something accomplished. It just may not be anything related to our bedroom suite, and that frustrates the heck out of me.

Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.