Redecorating relationships

You always see those lists of what events cause stress on relationships. Usually it's things like finance, jobs and kids that are on the list. What isn't on the list, but should be near the top, is decorating and remodeling. I can't imagine many things that are more stressful than this.

What started as a simple, yet massive, organizing and decluttering project at our house has now turned into remodeling our front room. We have emptied the room, threw away a ton of stuff, painted from baseboards to ceilings, bought both new and used furniture, and bought and installed a new ceiling fan. While we are pretty excited about what we've done and how the room looks, there have been little squabbles along the way. Things like,

• "Yes, I want to add color to the room, but no, lavender and lilac won't be the colors."
• "Read the directions. They will tell you how to install it."
• "Tell me where you want the bookshelves. Once they are in, they stay there. They are too heavy to re-arrange to see how they look."
• "Your painting job isn't as bad as I thought."
• "Humor me. Just put that there."

From Home Depot, to the recycling center, we have gotten into discussions along the way on how to do things, where items should be placed, how to load, unload items, colors, and of course, cost. To top it off, we have a tight deadline to get everything done. My parents are coming to visit this week and we have to get Doug's office looking less like the place where he collects everything, and more like a guest bedroom. We are making progress, but needless to say, we are behind schedule. Doug had wanted to steam clean this weekend, especially his (former) office, so it wouldn't smell like a whino died in there. One too many exploding beer bottles have taken their toll.

On the other hand, it is a bit exciting to see what can be done in a room. Our next goal, later this fall, will to be to redo the smaller room, making it more useful. We (me especially) have been watching all sorts of home decorating shows on HGTV, DIY and TLC -- anything with initials and paint will do. In the meantime, I have more work to get done on this renovation before bed.