What My Home Remodel Taught Me About Myself

“Marriage is a compromise, and so is renovation”, Candice Olson

The idea of re-configuring an existing space in your home to the requirements of your family and lifestyle is a very attractive proposition and most, given the time and money, will rush into it with earnest. I am no exception and when the opportunity presented itself, I was beyond thrilled.

Two years ago, my husband and I decided to buy the townhouse next door to the one we were renting. What was even more perfect was that it was a grey-structure just over 5000 square feet spanning three floors. For those who don’t know, a grey-structure is a building that has been left unfinished other than its walls and roof. It is literally a blank canvass for the artist (ahem, me!) to pick up their paints and bring it to life.

As we were renting the town house next door which had a similar layout to the one we had bought (albeit mirror image) I knew exactly how the space worked, or in this case, did not work for us.

We decided to knock down quite a few interior walls and reconfigure the entire space on the three floors to suit our almost grown-up family of four (here I am referring to my husband as an almost grown-up too).

My youngest had just turned sixteen that year and was already looking at university choices. My…