If you've ever lived or are now living in a fixer upper, I would wager that you probably have, at some point or another, been plagued with DIY burnout. As the extremely long list of to-do's, which should be shortening, seems to grow by the day, a feeling of overwhelm and Will I ever get this house finished? seems to creep into our minds and root there.
In May, we will have been in our current house for three years. Three whole years! (You can check out a lot of our before and after's on the Projects page.) It's hard to believe that, and as a person who has perfectionistic tendencies, it's hard for me to swallow the fact that we haven't accomplished more here than we already have. I'm usually a very upbeat and positive person, but I can also be really hard on myself. So, I've been trying to remind myself just how far we've really come. The way our home looks now is a drastic difference from where we started. And yet, it seems our list hasn't shortened in the least. Instead, once we cross off one thing from our list, we end up adding two more items.
I was just talking to a couple of my friends a few days ago about being overwhelmed with what we still have to do here to be "done." Really, I don't know that anyone ever truly is done but I'd like to be in the vicinity of done. In our reality, we can't pull a Joanna and Chip Gaines and completely overhaul our fixer upper all at one time. This is a process, one that evolves as our family's needs and tastes change.
I've kind of slacked off on our to-do list here of late. I haven't been pushing myself to finish projects that I've started, or even start new ones. Right now, I'm looking at a mostly painted black wall in my office and I just came from our partially finished laundry room a few moments ago. I'm just feet from our front door, which is still in need of replacing, and I'm thinking about my hall bathroom, where the original black and white tile on the vanity has started to fall off just last week. But, I can't seem to get myself to address these things at the moment. I'm just in total burnout mode and I need to find a way to jump start my drive to accomplish some much needed projects around the casa. As of late, I've been content to use my creative juices for parties and gatherings, not all out DIY projects. I think a respite from the push to check things off the list is in order.
What I've decided to do about my DIY Burnout:
*Give myself some time to rest and regroup. Sometimes, I think the best way to get over being totally "over" something is the step away from it for a bit. Just take a breather and be okay with that. I often feel like there is this self-imposed deadline for projects to be finished looming over my head. But that's just it. It's self-imposed. I can choose when and how I want to accomplish a project and right now, giving myself permission to NOT worry about those said projects is a small lift from my shoulders.
*Use sites like Pinterest and Houzz and magazines to get inspired. I feel like my mind has turned into mush after looking at so many paint colors, laundry room and home office options, and bathroom details. I have an eclectic taste and I like a lot of different styles. That makes choosing what direction to go while doing projects difficult. After stepping away from updates and upgrades for a bit, hopefully I can find some much needed inspiration to get me focused in one direction or another for our next projects.
Last year, I wrote a post about buying a fixer upper versus a move-in ready home. I still stand by the things that I wrote there, even during this "burnout mode" that I'm in. I know that it will all be worth it in the end as we create a home that our little family loves to come home to. (You can read that post here:)
Move-In Ready VS. Buying a Fixer Upper
Have you ever felt like this? Are you currently living in a fixer upper and are just as overwhelmed as we are? Or have already completed all of your projects and have some wisdom to share? I'd love to hear about it. Leave a comment below!
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