How to not sweat the small stuff?

[Rollnsquare]

Currently renovating a Victorian house. The (stone) building is in good condition, roof reslated around 15 years ago, no damp or rot. Wiring also surprising modern and boiler 10 years old and working well. So a few big wins there. Cosmetically it's not good though, elderly owners who hadn't done anything decoratively in decades (though clearly maintained it well).

We are trying to do as much work as possible ourselves so we can save the bulk of our funds for a kitchen remodel (incl. wall removal) and new bathroom and windows next year. But I'm struggling with all the little flaws and imperfections. Strange wiring, unsmooth walls, cracks in ceilings (and wallpaper on ceiling in living room), strange joinery, gaps under skirting boards, phone sockets mid-wall absolutely everywhere etc etc. All sound minor but I can't stop my eyes darting to them. I'm quite detail focused and our last home had a back to brick renovation, so everything was finished perfectly with all work done by builders.

We've not moved in yet so maybe it just looks worse without furniture? I just feel so low about it and totally ungrateful because DH and family members are spending every spare minute there getting it into shape - I'm at home watching the kids so slightly detached from it and feel like I'm putting a downer on things by noticing.

Can any other renovators relate? Will I learn to ignore? Am I being too picky?!

I made the decision to live with the wallpapered ceilings but the rest of the textured paper came off . We moved in this week and I had forgotten about the ceilings until now, the light fitting detracts from it. The walls aren’t perfect but I feel it is an old house and they are the scars of time and I quite like that idea.

Light switches have been chased in but some sockets are still surface mounted which was a compromise as I can’t see the sockets as they are behind furniture.

Strange wiring has all been sorted and surplus wires been removed, just one weird thing there still which will be going .

It definitely looks worse without furniture and flooring if that helps. I think nice light switches and ceiling lights help too.

Old houses will have quirks, you just have to learn to live with them.

I'm always slightly baffled at people who buy period properties and then strip them back to brick to turn them into modern builds. Why not just get a modern build in the first place?

Your house has a history, think of the little imperfections as telling you its story. The big ones of course you can fix.

I like the idea of the scars of time. All the things you mentioned will be far less noticeable once there’s furniture in there and fixable as you are decorating.
It sounds like a lovely house and you are just going to make it even lovelier.

Not having seen it I can't comment but I would say , empty , yes you will pick up on every detail. Once decorated and your furniture in it then I suspect you will not notice.

I had an extension done many years done with balustrade and I immediately saw they had put one upside down. The cost to have had it redone was such I went Ok you can do x instead. I stopped notcing after a while. 😀

Ok, I'll try the 'scars of time' attitude! 😁Definitely a more positive outlook.

I suppose it's the lazy shortcut ones that are most annoying (visible wiring) and the ones where period details have been removed/damaged. Then again, here we are painting over wallpaper where we can get away with it to save money on skimming, probably creating much annoyance for the next owners!