I noticed the mud on the carpeted floor.  The boys had tracked it in again. My spine hurt just thinking  about the vacuuming that was needed. I vacuum every day. It's part of my cleanliness fetish.

“This headache can’t go on," I thought to myself. 

“I can't blame the boys. I am the one who chose to have them so late in life. I am the one who can't maintain my own standards. I am the one who can't cope here." So I decided to rip off the carpet and tile the floor.  It would make life a little less stressful for me and the boys. They were surely tired of my constant nagging.

Less stressful?!  What was I thinking? Simple process: carpet out…tiles in…cleaning a breeze. I have the workman who know my eccentricities and understand how I want tidiness, cleanliness etc., even while construction takes place, so why bother?  After much budgeting and neotiation, I got the specs.  Off I went to pick the tiles.  Spotless elegant white ones! I always wanted a pure white floor though I could not manage to achieve it the first time around. I had finally got the chance.

We started with steps leading from the main door to the sitting area.  Carpet came out just as I thought…but tiles don’t just come on! The whole cement floor had to be chipped. This was not what I expected. From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. we had noise…I mean real noise. Dust on every imaginable surface. The process had begun. 

Kids scurrying around, little feet picking up all the dust and spreading it all across the areas that would otherwise have been tagged as “dust free”! Workman leave by 4 and there I was with mop and bucket cleaning, just to satisfy myself and I have a good nights sleep knowing very well the process would begin by 8 the next morning!

“This is what you wanted” my inner voice would say…And so I conditioned my mind to tolerate the dust and the mess.  But it did not end there. There were five additional humans in the house. Good bye to walking around in tattered night shirts and having that luxurious much awaited afternoon snooze. Routine, privacy all out the window!  Not only did I have to manage the daily chores I also had to watch every step the kids took to ensure they did not step on the newly fixed tiles.  It was hop-scotch all the way! 

As the tiling progressed to the rest of the house, we felt like we were in a shelter with stacks of stuff all over the place. Our whole house was now in our bedrooms. We had little space to move around without either bumping into each other or a piece of furniture. In addition to the extra hours of cleaning and house work, I felt that there was a hole in my pocket for the money seemed to just slip away.  Once it is done it will be worth all this, I thought. It took almost a month for the final tile to be fixed. 

Was I thrilled?  Well…Now it’s the mop instead of the vacuum! I could get away with using the vacuum once in two days, but the white tiles need to be cleaned twice a day! So much for my remodeling! Not only did the floor have a new look but it was inevitable that the walls had to be redone too. That’s another story in itself! 

The next time around – if there is ever going to be one. I will most definitely choose the school holidays; pack my kids and self away. Probably even invest on a trusted person to overlook and contact me if there is really an important issue but will certainly not be in-house whilst the remodeling is in progress.  It will also be a good idea to remember that an additional percentage of the cost should be kept aside for unforeseen expenses that seem to just pop up.

And unless things are really falling apart…remodeling will probably be the last on my list of priorities. As someone once said “If you can’t be content with what you have, be thankful for what you have escaped.”