An intervention may be required. My husband and I are addicted to home reno shows!
It started when we decided to buy his grandmother's home after her passing this summer. Since the home hadn’t had any updates in roughly 15 -20 years we had some work on our hands before we could put the property up for rent. We aren’t even sure how to we stumbled upon the shows or what ones drew our attention but months later we are for sure addicted.
Since the budget for our renos and repairs was pretty much nonexistent we just watch the renovation shows to judge the creative ideas of the professionals and laugh at the disasters that they have to deal with. Of course we are now convinced that if we had a butt-load of start-up money we could buy up properties and flip them just as well as the hosts of some of these shows.
As for the house we bought, we were able to apply a few tips and tricks we picked up from the shows and it will be on the market to rent soon. We also learned a lot about working together … and more importantly when NOT to work together! Surprisingly the shows helped us see how various personalities work together and how to explain our own ideas to each other so that we could work better together.
We’ve also got two brains full of design ideas for the future when we will hopefully be able to afford some massive renos. Needless to say standard subway tile will probably not make it into the plans … too overused right now. Also, fireplace mantles should never be left out if there is a fireplace that is real or is meant to look real. We were relieved to find that when it comes to certain textiles, building materials and even most patterns and color schemes we were on the same page. It’s a wonderful feeling knowing that future wars will not be started when picking out pillows and paint.
Even though our house renos and repairs are done for now, we are still watching HGTV. It’s become a conversation starter for us and a source of heated debate at times. I enjoy trying to guess what the designers will do with a space before they share their plans with the audience. I have yet to determine if this drives my husband crazy. I also find that just watching the designers come up with ideas helps me to unlock my own creativity that had to get bottled up for several months to get work completed. I’m happy to say that I’ve been able to get back into my art room and unleash some ideas. I’ve even branched into a few furniture piece projects!
I got to try out several different tools and techniques with our DIY projects. My most recent project had me using table top resin so now every surface I look at is redesigned in my head with a glassy finish. The boost in creative ideas can be a bit overwhelming, but taking a breath and focusing on one project at a time will help get me back in the swing of creating again.
Of course we also may have gotten one of our cats hooked too ….. I suspect he is just judging the crazy humans on the screen as much as the ones in his house.
