8 Tips for Remodeling (Fairly) Painlessly with a Toddler

Excuse the phone pictures.

     We recently bought a house and absolutely love it. Well, most of it. We aren't sure what the previous owners were thinking when they installed fake saltillo tile with fake chicken prints
throughout the main living areas. It really baffles the mind. We knew the floors would be the first major remodel we would do. (Painting Cutes bedroom purple and installing new base boards was the first interior change we would make.) Tax time came and we bought the flooring and waited for the bamboo to acclimate. Papasaurusrex and I were really excited about getting rid of the old tile and having new beautiful bamboo floors (gorgeous, durable, and sustainable YAY!!). Papasaurusrex was even excited about the process of the remodel. He could barely contain his excitement about busting up that hideous, improperly installed tile. I on the other hand had extreme reservations. Toddlers are very much creatures of habit (and so am I).  This was going to put an extremely large kink in our routine. She is used to being able to get up and watch some cartoons while she eats breakfast and wakes up the rest of the way. She runs around and plays with her toys a good portion of the day. Stopping for lunch and a nap around noon. These things just did not seem possible during a major undertaking like removing and installing new floors. Not to mention it was finals week for me and I had enormous amounts of work to do. While I couldn't wait to HAVE the new floors the process of installing them had me sweating bullets.

See? Ugly tile.

     We made it though and honestly it wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it would be. Yes there were some abbreviated naps and the first night Cutes slept in our bed because she was so freaked out by all the changes she didn't want to be alone. But all in all it worked out and after the first night she realized it was all going to be okay. (Seriously it took the dog longer to figure out we were not moving. I am still not convinced he doesn't think we are moving.) There were a couple of things we did that I think made it easier on all of us. remodeling in general is stressful. Add in a toddler who doesn't understand what's happening and it can easily become a nightmare and a dangerous one at that.


  
Tips:
1) Move the furniture at night. We moved the furniture at night after she had gone to bed. Yes, we had to do it as quietly as possible and yes, we were tired the next day. However this made it so the changes seemed to happen by magic and Cutes just accepted them. Truth be told at first she was excited and singing "happy day-o" at all the room for activities when she got up on demo day. The other benefit of doing it this way is you don't have a toddler under foot trying to be helpful. This helps protects them and you from injury.

Toddler 'helping'

2) Set up a 'Safe Zone.' We knew we were going to need somewhere to put Cutes that would be safe and help her maintain a modicum of normalcy. In light of this we turned our office into a pseudo-living room. We already have a couch in there but if we didn't we would have put one in there.  We also moved the entertainment center in there and hooked up the tv so she could still have her cartoons. When she got up on demo day we picked a few toys and put those in there as well. This gave us an area we could go to get away from the chaos that was indoors. I simply shut the door and tucked myself and Cutes in the room to keep away from the dust and danger that was in our living areas. At night when Papasaurusrex was done with working for the day or just needed a break the 'safe zone' was a nice respite from the construction zone. Having this one room allowed us to relax which kept us from being at each others throats.

3) Ask for help. We took any offer of help busting up tiles or installing floor boards. This made it so I could watch Cutes and keep her out of trouble without Papasaurusrex doing all of the work. Even with the power tools I don't know that he could have gotten the job done as quickly as he did without help. So don't be afraid to ask. If you have a friend that is going to be doing some remodeling soon offer to help them in exchange for helping you. If there are older teenagers or young adults in the family offer to pay them for their help. But whatever you do Ask. For. Help. Remodels are big jobs. Even what seems like a small job can turn into a 2 day affair. Painting Cutes bedroom took 2 days because once we got the new paint in we didn't want to put the old yucky base boards in.

4) Spend time outside. We spent a good deal of time during the remodel outside. It got Cutes and I out of the small room and into the fresh air. It also got us away from some of the jackhammer noise and gave me some time to look over and take care of our garden. Cutes had lots of time to play "basketball." And we got some much needed sunshine to de-stress. As our kitchen floor also needed replaced we had to do all of our cooking outside and also ate most of our meals out there. I am not saying I want to live like that all the time but it was nice. And again it was a nice break from the chaos and gave us time to be a family and remember why we were going through all the chaos.

5) Be Prepared for surprises and accidents. Watch some DIY home shows before you undertake your remodel. In every show during the remodel SOMETHING goes wrong. This isn't a case of dramatization it happens no matter how small a remodel you are doing something will go wrong. See may statement about painting Cutes Patoots bedroom. We had not originally planned to replace those base boards. The floor remodel was no different. In the course of breaking out the saltillo Papasaurusrex accidentally broke a tile on the riser that we weren't planning to take out. We also realized we needed more quarter round for the kitchen. We decided to change out the base boards because the ones that were in here were already in rough shape and they were also not installed properly. Once we did that suddenly the door casing to the master bedroom needed done too because it's in the center of a major living room wall. Small things we hadn't thought of. It happens but instead of stressing out about it we simply came up with a plan and did what needed done. We knew unexpected things were going to happen and while we were not sure what would happen we had extra money and patience on hand to deal with it. So be prepared for the unexpected and plan for more days than you think you need.

More 'helping'

6) Cook or Don't. I had all of these grand plans that we wouldn't eat out while we took care of the floors. Haha! Haha! Ha! Ha! I am still laughing at myself. While we didn't eat out the entire time we did a fair share of eating out. For one our stove was outside and the kitchen was covered in tile dust. Two we were both tired at the end of the day and quite frankly until we had all the old tile out making lunch was impossible. Tile dust is not good eats and cooking on the grill with a toddler is hard without a second person to keep Cutes out of trouble. Eating out happens. Just plan that you will eat some meals out. However keep in mind you don't have to eat all of your meals out. We grilled pizza, made chili dogs, sandwiches and a crockpot soup. Just check out Pinterest and look for grilling and crock pot meals. The crockpot is you friend. You can plug it up outside if you need to and the grill is a fabulous cooking tool. The grilled pizzas were awesome.

7)  Maintain Your Routine. No you are not going to be able to completely maintain your routine. It just isn't possible, but try to stick to it

as closely as possible. One thing we did that was helpful was whenever there was an errand I would run it around nap time. This gave Cutes a chance to rest during the days the jack hammer was going in the house. This may or may not be practical for you depending on how far you live from where the errands take you. We live a little ways away from most of the places I needed to go. A 15-20 minute nap is better than no nap. Not optimal but better. Once the jack hammer work was done we kept to her routine as much as possible and put Cutes down in her bed at nap time. We also made sure she went to all of her classes and activities just like any other week (well as much as we could. It was spring break so dance class was cancelled and there was no story time at the library. Though we still went to the library.) This helped mitigate the impact it had on Cutes and kept
her from losing her mind.

8) Remember you love each other. This might be the most important tip. I had a heavy homework load and I handle routine disruption with the grace of a two year old. I was stressed out, Papasaurusrex was stressed out, and Cutes was too. The thing that I think really got us through the whole process was  remembering we love each other even when we snapped or snarked at each other. We tried to help each other out when it was possible and stay out of each others ways when that was what was called for.

     Did we have a flawless remodel and never snap at each other? Did we completely avoid any toddler melt downs and insecurities? No. However I think the whole process went far better than I had imagined. The floors are beautiful and I would do it all again knowing the result we would get. Our next big remodel plan is for the kitchen though that is a ways off. I am far less nervous about that undertaking now than I was before. There is little you can do during a remodeling project to maintain a completely normal routine, but hopefully these tips will help it go more smoothly for you and your family.

Okay she was helpful here.

It was all worth it for these beautiful floors!