Moving day anxiety after renovations

[Groundhog88]

So we bought our first home a few months ago and have done the house up before moving in.
We totally under estimated the amount of work that needed doing and the cost. We pushed through and are now ready to move in next week, but I just feel so flat and not excited at all.
I feel we made rookie mistakes such as decorating then getting the bathroom put in and now some of the walls have marks on from the workmen.
we got the skirting board put on after decorating but did not realise it would need painting too as it’s pre-treated white.
Just had to leave it as we have no time to paint and the new carpet has been put down.

Also still need a new kitchen next year/ new internal doors and to paint the porch/ skirting board.

There is dust everywhere and needs a really good clean before moving in.

Through into the mix a 3 year who’s behaviour is terrible at the moment.

I know I should feel really grateful we bought a house but I’m just so physically and mentally tired from it all and worried I’ll hate the house once moved in or there will be another problem.

Has anyone experienced this before and eventually loved the house?

You take a deep breath, and get on with it. We completed a loft conversion 2 years with a new born and 4year old. It was ok mostly; until the plastering. I think that was the lowest point in the renovation. DH used to take babies out with him for a couple of hours and I cleaned and cleaned.

Rookie mistakes - everybody makes mistakes. Not the end of the world if the skirting and walls need a fresh coat of paint. You can do that later on when you can face it. In the meantime, nothing like a clean place. It doesn't matter that it isn't quite finished, just concentrate on the cleaning for now and do the decorating later on when you can face it.

After the loft conversion I was so done with it all and couldn't face anymore work. To the house. But a a year later we did the hallway and I laid the floors. Then during the summer, I boarded the bottom of the stairs and panelled them. I then painted them and they have finished space off nicely. This was 18months afterwards; they have been exposed risers and all the glue used by the stairs joiners. But it has all been clean.

Take your time. The cleaning of dust will lift your mood I can assure you. Congratulations on your new home.

I’m with you - currently in progress and living on site. I think some of the problem for me is that having dreamed about this for so long (it took 2 years to get planning permission), I had unconsciously transferred a lot of hopes and dreams to a ‘finished’ house. Slowly realising that the house will never be ‘finished’ and anyways life’s problems don’t disappear when you have a nice house.

Keep your head up you got through the hard parts. My house took 18months to finish and I had builders almost everyday there.

Even now the house still has lots of tiny things which need to be done and I just can't be bothered and have fallen in love with it as is.

If you've just plastered then don't bother painting the skirting boards. In 6 months to a year there will be lots of fine cracks as it properly dries out which will need filling and repainting anyway, so just do all the painting then.

We didn't do a renovation but moved in to somewhere that really needed decorating. I had images in my head of a gorgeous finished house but we really underestimated the cost and time involved. Not to the mention the decision paralysis when it came to colours.

Six months in and we've barely scratched the surface. The living room is semi-done. Sofas arrive in 2 weeks, carpet is being laid on Friday and then we need to find curtains (massive bay window with 9ft ceilings so ££££), cushions and artwork. We've painted the dining room and bought a table and chairs but we need a blind for the side window, curtains to keep out the cold from the conservatory doors, a new light fitting and to decide a paint colour for the large built in cupboard. I'm currently typing this during a a break from painting the kitchen walls. Unfortunately the new paint has made the kitchen cabinets look extra grubby so I've got to figure out how to paint them . We haven't even touched upstairs but the carpets are so filthy and worn we decided we can't live with them so I'm going to be painting around brand new carpets in a few months time. I'm dreading the skirting on the stairs.