Help!
Here in the Netherlands we have a tv show called 'Help, mijn man is klusser!' - Help, My Husband is a Handyman! Typically it shows a (once) lovely couple and their (once) lovely home, where the husband decided to shape things up and sadly, instead, shaped them down. Or at best, started the job of remodelling the home but never got anywhere near finishing.
Well, among other things, my husband is a self-taught handyman also. But not the kind they have on the show ;). He actually did a REALLY GREAT JOB on renovating our home, turning a completely run down place into a neat and lovely apartment. He had some help, of course, some of it professional. I also worked my hardest, but was around less as I continued my regular job in between. A sneak preview of one thing I got really good at: cutting tiles! We got around to tiling only towards the end of the project, but it was one of the things I liked most.
Now we've been looking to buy a next place to renovate, but the house prices in Rotterdam have been going wild. We're kind of hoping the house buying fever will cool down a bit. And the crypto market to do us a few more favours ;).
We're waiting for a project of our own, but in the meantime my husband got lucky and is helping out a friend (picture below). And for me, I'll write about our first house renovating project and what it was like to actually live in the home we were renovating for three months. And maybe it'll help a bit to tamper my enthusiasm for doing our next project, since we'll have to have some patience with that anyway ;).
When I started writing I thought I'd make this one post. But once I got started there was so much to tell! I think it's the beginning of a sequence!! ;) One thing I love about Steemit is that I can write about all the things that I am so passionate about and enjoy sharing, and it's always a surprise when I get a lot of response, but even when I don't I just really enjoy writing it all down...
So here comes the story of BUILDING OUR OWN HOME!
The history of our home at the Maaskade, Rotterdam
This is the front view of the home we bought at the very end of 2014, we started renovating it on the 2nd of January. The top two floors are ours.
The place we bought was previously owned by an investor who has multiple houses in Rotterdam, and who had rented this particular place to a guy who had lived there for 45 years and who died in the apartment too. This particular guy had worked at the Van Nelle factory all his life - now a museum and on the UNESCO world heritage list, but back then a tobacco company serving its employees free tobacco as much as they wanted. The previous home owner was a chain smoker, and what can I say - the orange coloured walls were there to prove it.
Apart from being a chain smoker, the guy had been single all his life, was having all kinds of fights with the neighbours, and probably had some mental issues. The doors and walls in the apartment were covered with weird texts and messages. For the 45 years that he lived there, not a single thing about the home was changed or upgraded. All in all, the house was in a bad shape when we got it and it needed a complete make-over.
We signed for the house at the end of November 2014, but had a holiday in Cambodia planned for December which we didn't want to skip. So we moved out of our rented apartment before going to Cambodia, put our stuff in boxes and stored them with family and friends, had an awesome holiday, flew back on January 1st and started the renovation on the 2nd. No other home to go to, so during the house make-over, we lived and worked in one place.
Breaking up
The project started with breaking everything down. Or up. What's the expression in English? We had so much debris, we set up this mechanism for getting rid of it: a tunnel/slide leading into a container down below. We filled three of them before most of the garbage was cleared!
DEBRIS
We took out the floors, tore out the ceilings, broke down the walls.
And the first results were amazing! ;)
At home survival camp
The whole three month project was tough, but there were different phases to it and they each had their own challenges. Still, I think the first weeks were the toughest. The physical work was intense. The amount of dirt everywhere, all the time, and the cold and the limited facilities - they made it feel like camping at its worst ;). We'd actually alternate between eating pizza or ready made soup with bread.
Every evening, we had to clean out the debris from the bed:
We had the bed covered in plastic every day (we got a better plastic sheet on day 2), but at least the first few weeks we would always find so many rocks and nails and wood splinters in our bed.
Did I actually mention we started the project in January? And that it was way below 0 degrees outside and after breaking out the walls, we could actually feel the wind blowing through the home? And that there was no heating system? And that the rocky bed wasn't comfortable, but what was even less comfortable was to sleep with two pairs of sweat pants and two pairs of sweaters to try to keep warm at night? Lol, it was like being on survival camp, but then having it in your own home.
SPA
One of the most challenging parts of our three month building project was the bathroom area. It was actually really only towards the end of the project that we built the new version, and till then this grimy old bath tub was our place for freshening up. There was a tiny little boiler, providing a trickle of warm water. Before taking a shower, we'd have to clear the bathtub of the debris. Oh my, was I glad when that part was over ;).
And well, the toilet. After breaking away all the walls, this was what was left. I know it looks horrible, we actually did really clean it, but the stains didn't go anyway. No doors, just a curtain. We flushed with a bucket.
So why am I looking forward to a next project!?
Lol, looking back I remember those first weeks and that they were quite crazy. And that I don't miss them at all! However, when we do our next project, we probably will not have to live there while doing the construction. We can live in our finished home and work on the new one, that will make things so much easier!
Still, I really don't regret having that experience as it was. The cold, the minimalistic lifestyle. I don't know, but it's something I'll never forget. It got me to realise a few things:
- For me this was an experience of a few months, after which I went back to my regular western comfortable lifestyle. For many people around the world, these kind of conditions (or even worse) are their LIFE. That made me feel:
- Grateful!! And,
- Strong. I now know that I can handle a situation like this. Meaning, even if life would turn upside down and the luxury and comfort I am used to having is stripped away, I can handle life without (or with a lot less) comfort and luxury.
- When things were tough, my husband and I really got through it together. He's just my favourite person to work and be with, always. A lot of people commented on how relaxed we were in all of it, together. And I do really feel we did an amazing job ;). Of course, so many people helped and they were awesome and amazing! A big big thank you to all of them!!
UP NEXT
So much to tell about this process of building our home! After breaking everything up (or down?), our next priority was the top floor and building it into a studio. We finished that part first, then later continued working on the downstairs area which is now our home. So a lot of lovely pics coming up! And did I mention that during the whole renovation process, I also switched jobs and actually had to go to my job interview while our shower wasn't working for days!? Lol! I'll let you know how that turned out in the next post ;).
Thanks for reading! Thanks for your support! Do you have any experiences of doing renovations yourself? Anything you're curious about? Would love to hear it!
Did you enjoy the read? Here is Part 2 to this adventure!!