Snagging and the never-ending decorating cycle

My husband and I are not natural completer-finishers when it comes to DIY. We love the excitement of a new project – the planning, the sourcing all the elements, the thrill of a big transformation – and then, just before we completely finish all the details, we inevitably run out of energy and enthusiasm and our thoughts quickly turn to the next thing.

This means that, after nearly five years in our current home, although we’ve pretty much tackled all the major renovations that the house needed, we’re still left without a single room that’s been properly finished off. The hallway’s missing a length of skirting board, the kitchen worktop needs resealing, we haven’t painted the high ceiling above the stairs, the en suite needs spotlights fitting.

Getting the house to a more finished state is something we’re trying to focus on this year. Ben’s got some time off at the end of this month, and we’re compiling a long, long, long snagging list for him to work his way through. He’s already started slowly ticking off a few jobs, and although we have to be realistic and accept that the list won’t be conquered in the window of time he has immediately available, we’re deteremined to try to keep up the momentum. Because the worst thing is that while we toil to finish off the niggling jobs, we realise that jobs we did right back at the beginning of this house renovation are starting to need attention all over again – walls need a new coat of paint, chipped woodwork is calling out for repair, carpets need cleaning or replacing.

Plus, there’s always the constant danger of me getting seduced by the idea of a bigger renovation project. I look at stunning pictures of new kitchens and bathrooms for work almost every single day. My inbox is full of emails that contain inspiring room ideas and images from aspirational interiors brands, and don’t even get me started on Pinterest. Like I said, I’m a total sucker for prospect of a new project, so it’s all to easy to succomb to the temptation that I see all around me and forget all about the finishing details in favour of the next big DIY adrenaline hit.

So it’s taking a lot of will-power to keep me on the straight and narrow. To not allow my focus to stray from the spot in the wall that needs filling just outside my office (I’m looking at it right now), or the bathroom door that never got its topcoat.

Snagging. The boring, but oh-so-necessary bit of renovating.

 

 

Disclosure: This post was written in collaboration with Betta Living, but all thoughts and opinons are very much my own.