Does the thought of starting a home remodel fill you with equal parts excitement and dread? If you have young children and you’re considering a home remodel, those feelings might be tilted more towards stress and fear versus positive anticipation.
Northern VA Home Remodeling
Don’t worry, I understand. I, myself, was very nervous beginning the process of my Moss Building & Design home remodel back in 2010. At the time, my two boys were 3.5 and 1.5, and we wanted to remodel, essentially, our kitchen, dining room, and living room. Living in a split foyer, that meant that our bedrooms were on the same level as those areas. How in the world would we manage the process, disruption, and, what I perceived as insanity, involved with a home remodel? Would the boys be able to nap? Would I feel trapped in my own home? Let’s go through my process of how we lived through a home remodel and came out on the other side just fine!
All the decisions. All the people in and out. I. Can’t. Even.
Yes. You. Can. I approached our home remodel as I would have any project at work. I made lists, I prioritized, I researched, and I went out and made decisions. Sure, it wasn’t easy having to tote kids along, but I tried to make everything as fun as possible. I loved having the purpose of having to make design decisions and feeling like I could control every aspect of the remodel (within reason, of course!). Empower yourself and know that you can do whatever you need to do to get things done.
We won’t be able to survive without a full kitchen!
Not true! The experts at MOSS moved our old fridge to our basement, and between that, a toaster oven, a crockpot, and a good deal of microwaveable meals, we were just fine. Granted, my boys were small then, so their food intake levels were not what they are currently like in 2019. But, it wasn’t really that much trouble to shift how and what and where we ate during the 8 weeks of the remodel.
How can my child(ren) nap with all the noise and banging?
Surprisingly, our boys adapted easily to napping downstairs in a spare room in a pack & play. I used all the mom tricks: dark room, noise machine, soothing downtime routine, etc. In the end, no one missed a nap nor was the wiser for it.
It will take forever. We will never see “normal” again.
It won’t take forever. It can’t. The contractors have other jobs that they will need to get to eventually! The remodel time frame is an adventure – some days are easier to manage than others. But the final result will be worth it. It was worth it in our case. Our new kitchen/dining room were a better use of space, made our house much more updated, and helped us with our home sale a few years later.
As far as keeping the boys entertained, I did my best to come up with new and fun ways to make the afternoons fun in the basement (if we were stuck inside). Clearly I just let the finger painting get out of hand!
What about Fido and Kitty?
I didn’t have to worry about pets during our remodel (our cats steered clear of the situation!) but I can tell you that MOSS is very thorough and careful about your pets during any remodel. Prior to anything starting on your home, you will have a meeting with your project manager to go over all of these details. We are committed to making the remodel as non-disruptive as possible.
In the end, it was all very much worth it. MOSS is committed to helping families receive the remodel of their dreams. Because of our long history in the Northern Virginia area and our commitment to our customers, we are able to anticipate every question and need that comes along. Trust me when I say that knowing we were being taken care of by MOSS made the remodel painless and exciting. You will find that’s true too.
Get a jumpstart on your remodel by signing up for Moss’ Design Days of Summer. Receive a FREE in-home Project Development Consultation, and a design session with one of our expert Designers in our Design Center.