Office closet

We have officially entered phase II of our remodel, and the office closet was our first project. We only have 3 closets in the whole house, so every one has to use space efficiently. This small closet is in our office, and it's a good thing we don't want to store clothes there because it is only 19" deep and you need 22" to hang clothes. Who designs a closet in a bedroom that can't store clothes? You find all sorts of wierd things in an old house.

This closet took a while - I started back in January by designing the closet using the elfa system from the Container Store during their 30% off sale. Then I had to paint the closet, install the system and load our things in it. Having lived her for 21 months now, it is quite a pleasure to have file drawers, office supplies, games and gadgets all within reach. You take these things for granted until you don't have them.




This is the first project of phase II. I've been working on this since January and it is finally done.

Why not hire someone for some of this stuff?

Somebody recently asked me "Why don't you just hire someone for this stuff? We are now into a lot of jobs we can do ourselves, so we don't plan on hiring out for some of them.

Well, there are many reasons. People who haven't remodeled don't understand that hiring someone to do work on your house isn't as simple as picking up the phone. There is no remodeling concierge that will magically make your wishes come true. I've hired enough people to know that it is not easy to get what you want. It's always a good idea to get at least 3 bids for every job. This is not only to make sure you get a good price, but it is also to make sure you are well informed before hiring someone. Each person you talk to brings a new perspective and new information. Considering just how many jobs we have left, this translates into at least a few hundred calls, maybe even more. This is a massive amount of time which is now way guarantees anything is getting done. If I put that time directly into the house, things will get done. There is also a large time investment in making sure you accurately communicate what you want and often that process doesn't go perfectly either.

For many jobs, I find that other people's standards are just too low. For example, I am applying Shellac to the wood window trim, and it takes a long time. I've put in several hundred hours, and the job is only about 1/3 done. It would cost meat least $5,000 to hire someone to finish this job, and it probably wouldn't be as good as I would do it. In any case, I would have no way of knowing how good it would be before the job was done. I just can't see spending that much money on a job that won't add that much equity, that I have no guarantee of being quality work, and that I could do better myself.

Another reason is the cost differential between what the job would cost if I hired someone and what it costs me to do it. For example, I have Ikea kitchen cabinets that come sitting on legs. After installing them, you add a baseboard. It's a simple job which I can easily do myself. If I were to hire it out, it would probably cost $500-$1,000 and not add that amount in equity. The math just favors doing it myself. In the time it would take me to hire someone, I could have a good part of it done myself. Between making calls, interviewing people, explaining the job to them, comparing bids and laying out the materials, it would take a lot of time before the person could even start work.

So, no, we won't be hiring out a lot of these remaining jobs because for so many reasons it doesn't make sense.

Update

We didn't get much done in the fall because I was in an 80-hour per week graduate program, which I have since put on hold. We were then traveling over the holidays for 3 weeks. It took a while to get caught up and back into a routine, and so we gradually got back to remodeling work in February.

The big news is we are finished with Phase I of the remodel. This was the heavy-duty stuff, most of which required contractors. The main goals of Phase I were to move in and get the yard dog-ready, both of which have happened. We are now into Phase II, which has many projects we are going to do (fewer and smaller contractor jobs - yay!). Some of the projects in Phase II include:

Set up closet systems in office and master bedroom closets
Install shower curtain on ceiling mounted curtain track
Get new garage door and install person door and windows in garage
Install drywall and shelving in garage
Clean and seal concrete garage floor
Finish wood trim on interior of house windows, purchase and install shades
Patch and repaint interior of house
Install flooring
Continue unpacking as space becomes available in house

The place will be far from done, but it will be a lot more comfortable at the end of this phase. I expect this phase to take about 2 years, assuming the current rate of progress. I am thrilled it is "only" 2 years, C is bummed it is going to take that long.

In early January (1/5/08), I wrote about some of the hidden costs of remodeling. What I didn't understand at that time was that I was in a serious case of burnout. For people that don't understand burnout, it is very different from being stressed out. Here is a quick read that describes the difference. My case of burnout came from consistent 15-hour days, 7 day work weeks, too few vacations and constant pressure to get things done. Living in a chaotic mess doesn't help either. I'm not saying I regret the decision to buy this house, nor do I know how I would have managed things differently, but burnout is bad. Avoid it if you can - it really diminishes the quality of your life and takes a long time to recover from.