How to survive a basement renovation

I’m broke, there’s a Lego in my foot, and I really have to pee!

Over the past two months and change, we renovated (rather we paid someone to renovate) our basement. 

6 people, 2 cats,1 dog, 1 bathroom, 1000 square feet

It was expensive.

Any full basement remodel would be. But to complicate things, our hot water heater, air conditioner, furnace, and a large portion of our underground plumbing needed replacement (SURPISE!). 

It was crowded. 

We had 2 kids bunked in one tiny room and 2 kids bunked in another.  One Saturday morning, one kid in each room was awake, the other was snoozing away.  One awake kid came out of one bedroom, bladder near the point of explosion. He knocked hurriedly on the door of the already occupied adjacent bathroom.  The cat proceeded to knock on the now closed door, asking to get out. Likely he wanted the attention of awake humans.  Upon opening the door, the dog rushed into the bedroom and began chasing the cat. 

“There are too many living beings in this tiny space!” I yelled.  

When we shoved everyone into tight quarters and danced through our days to the music of jackhammers and nail guns, I expected chaos.  There was, admittedly, a tiny bit of that, but the good outweighed the bad.

So, how do you survive such an ordeal? Well, I suppose you focus on the positive.

God’s Surprises

Reconciliation

The cats had been hiding from our pitbull since puppy move-in day.  They made peace with the “bully”, even coexisting in the same room at times.

Togetherness

We saw a bit more of my stepdaughter.  With her bedroom temporarily shifted to the main floor, she spent more time with the rest of us. Board games, sibling wrestling matches, giant Lego forts, and lots of outdoor time filled our days. In fact, as a family we spent a lot more time outside in general.

Cooperation

All the kids chipped in more to keep our tiny space a little more organized. They even put their shoes away! The dog didn’t steal the cat food. Then again, the latter might be the result of the cat food binge induced belly ache pre-construction.

Dependence on God

With appliances failing and costs skyrocketing, we had to lean on our faith. We also had to relax our hold on the idol of money.  I had no idea how much money had a hold on my heart and how good it would be to let that hold go!

Realization of How Little We Need

We began the renovation process with the intention of building a more usable space for our larger family.  With the oldest now a teenager, it provides a nice hangout spot for the kids and their friends.  And, with my new husband’s out of town family, a place for folks to crash. 

However, at one point, the teen had 3 friends over.  Though it was loud and cramped, and a couple teens needed multiple legos surgically removed from their feet, they didn’t mind. They even came back to spend more time the next day.

Character and Kindness

The basement is finished, and it is beautiful.  Though the extra space is nice, there’s something about those days that I miss already.  

My oldest (14) said the same was true of two other periods in our family’s life.  One was when we lived on a very frugal budget to finance my late husband’s job change.  The second occurred when the same husband died and we leaned hard emotionally on extended family.

I suppose that it is those trying times that developed our character and kindness more than any other.  It is those times that the kids remember with a touch of nostalgia: when we didn’t have everything, but we had each other.

So, how do you survive a basement renovation? Together, leaning into each other, with the help of God.

What challenging time did God use to develop you or your family’s character?