I have been into home decoration as long as I remember. I guess I was eight years old when I started cutting out pictures of beautiful homes from magazines and newspapers. Decorating my room or other rooms of our home had always been a passion project of mine. We have moved a considerable number of times during my childhood; and thrice after I actually started understanding the concept of decoration.

When I was a teenager, there would be a lot of conflict of interests between me and my mom over decor stuff. I used to be attracted to tiny trinkets and vignettes because let's face it, I was not concerned with their upkeep! Dusting and maintenance did not exist in my dictionary! Now as I have grown up (and totally a home decor enthusiast, I know the challenges of maintaining small baubles. Now I don't even buy small souvenirs from abroad. It's either a significant piece (read a big Turkish lamp from Istanbul, huge masks from Bali, Sri lanka, Venice, wooden chest from Mauritius etc) for which we end up paying extra on the plane or just settle with photographs and magnets. I have become a minimalist (not in terms of the number of stuff but in terms of decor items) just for the ease of the upkeep of our abode.

Long story short, it's been a long journey and I finally got my very own place style in 2017, when we bought our present home. I was not even thirty and totally naive in terms of being a home owner or having a significant style.  The home was fully functional but the fittings were dated. The wooden fixtures were not of my taste but tearing down  those fully functional cabinets and closets would have been an utter cause of wastage and expenditure. Neither we had the money to do so.

I am a full blown advocate of sustainability. 

However after 6 years of living which included 2 full years of sheltering in of 6 individuals; sans any maintenance; rendered this place of some serious repair. So I though why not combine some renovation works along with the repairs and fulfil my long lost dream of renovating the house? However little I knew what mammoth challenges I would have to face during this process.

So here I am, sharing my two words of wisdom; learned the hard way.

1. Shift to another place if it's possible financially and logistically.

Sitting amidst the chaos and dirt and debris with the workers constantly coming to you for consent and other stuff is truly painstaking. You are simply paralysed during that period; you can neither nap nor shower, forget working from home. 

While shifting to a cleaner home seems tempting, It's a humungous task to empty the entire home, settle somewhere else and then again pack up and come back. Also, you have to constantly supervise (if you are a control freak like me) so that too has to be considered. And the additional expenses are impossible for most of us. 

So we chose to stay back, husband and kids returning in the evening and me braving each day, everyday, for 6 months.

2. Be prepared for collateral damage. 

No one told me how much fully functioning stuff (some my favourites even) would get damaged during this process. This happens partly because the workers are careless and partly because it's unavoidable. For example, while changing the door frames of the bathrooms, all the tiles broke. Although it caused so much extra expenditure (new tiles+labour), it could not have been avoided.

However breaking of decorative materials while moving furniture, breaking of furniture legs, scratches in existing stuff; these all are avoidable but inevitable given the careless nature of workers. We have a couple of broken mirrors, scratched surfaces of cupboards and chipped tiles.

I am the saddest about my dying green babies, for which the painters are responsible.

3. Try to avoid demolition of existing framework.

Our flat had been constructed 20 years ago. That means it's quite dated and old fashioned. Many people in our society have been tearing down the walls and making new eruptions; rendering weakening of the building. I highly condemn such actions. I totally believe in making new things out of the old; not in getting rid of the old. If every one begins to demolish the pillars and reconstruct, one day the entire building would come crashing down.

4. Always add more time to the expected period.

When we started, we were told that it would get over in two months. That got stretched; partly because of the nature of the project, partly because of the weather and partly because of personal reasons. In all, it took full six months to get the house completely done. And I am not including the time after that ; which I spent reorganizing and tidying up.

5. Be very clear about your intentions.

You must have a clear picture in your mind as to what you want. Prepare mood boards. If you can't, hire help. It will save you tonnes of time and money in the long run.

I am a pretty determined person when it comes to choices. I had a very clear picture of what I wanted. I was dreaming of a coastal theme/ resort like look for our home.

White and green is my favourite combo ever. So I got the living room walls painted in a shade of moody, spinach green. However, the colour looked too bright for my choice. Paints can be really pricey and not to forget the manpower charges. After 3 whole days when the room was finally done, I realized that green was simply not working.

We got the newly painted room repainted in a shade of dark blue (Blue Dome of Santorini shade) which I had always loved; but did not go forward with.

6. It's never too late to make changes.

Changing the decided course of plan may add on some really bad expenses; but it's priceless in the long run. Example 1: Repainting the living room walls cost a tonne of extra time and money, but the satisfaction is priceless. Similarly, the look of the doors which I had chosen earlier looked good in the catalogue but looked too plain in real life. The raw materials had already been purchased for all the doors and four doors were completed in that plain look.

I was in big dilemma but finally mastered the courage to ask the contractor to change the look for the next set of doors. I am so glad that I did! It definitely cost us extra but the happiness I get from looking at the 'not so plain ones' are so worth! Not to forget, people who have come to our house have always raved how beautiful the doors look; even my mom; who never ever compliments and is really hard to please!

To conclude, the past 6 months have been intensely grueling for me and my family; both physically and mentally but this is truly a labour of love.

If if you have waiting to take the plunge, go for it! The end result is absolutely divine!

This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla in collaboration with Mads' Cookhouse.