In Shaw (an historically gentrified blog)

The 3rd year slump

I stopped by my neighbor J&L's house to drop off some extra tomatoes I'd had. Now I haven't been inside their house for a good long while, over a year. J&L bought their house round about the same time as I bought mine, three years ago. They did much more work than I could ever do, the floors, the kitchen, the back, exposing brick, getting a working fireplace, etc.... Walking in I remarked about the difference since I last saw it, and J pointed out some things he and his wife did, and we looked at the hallway. There is more to do in the hallway, moulding and such. However it is on the back-back burner, just tired and not interested in doing more to the house. I'm gonna call it the 3rd year slump.
I've hit the 3rd year slump. My interest in doing more to the house myself is very low. I prefer, despite the pain to my finances, to pay someone to tear up the house and build it up again. My first year of home ownership was a flurry of DIY projects, now, my goal is to keep the house from falling apart. This morning the house was still standing, job done.
I'm still a DIY girl, just that it is now more reactive than proactive. Three years ago I built a stair railing, I repointed the brick in the basement, I overhauled the front yard and repaired the walkway. Year 2, I put in new fencing (had to hire for that), put the washer/dryer downstairs (also a hire job), actually I hired men to do a lot of work round the house last year. This and last year was the kitchen (before & 2 and after & 2). Now I just want to plan to pay people to tear up the rest of my house 2-3 years from now while I temporarly relocate to College Park, or Hyattsville (not silly enough to live through construction again, ever) in cheap student housing.
Well you just get tired. It's great to do home improvement, but your energy and bank account get drained.
Well as I said. House still up as of this morning, all I gotta do is maintenance.

posted by Mari @ 15.10.04