Yes. I'm comforted by the others who measured so much that they memorized the numbers. Sometimes I would ask if contractors if they were sure they had measured correctly, especially when they were off from my own numbers. I used to measure, re-measure, re-remeasure, and re-re-measure. My best friend would call me up and ask if she'd interrupted my measuring. At random times of the day I would suddenly have new ideas on layouts, and I'd HAVE to draw, re-draw, and re-re draw everything. I would sit in meetings at work and calculate the possible cabinet dimensions or work up budget figures. Luckilly I work with numbers and financials so no one realized I wasn't taking notes at the meeting, I had graph paper and tracing paper, samples, etc. I visited dozens of showrooms and had 2-3 contingency plans for every decision. Guess what, it all paid off in the end and I love the result.

Ever since I joined this Forum and had been looking at kitchens and floors, I always have a tape measurer in my purse and a bigger one in my car. I also notice every counter and cabinet wherever I go and told a tax client of mine that his house is not selling due to the outdated kitchen in a rich neighborhood and he has to either update it or offer a large credit at closing so new buyers can buy a new kitchen. It has now been a year and his house has not sold and he has since bought a new house. He is finally agreeing with me that I was right all along since he loves the kitchen in his new house.

I’ve project managed for owners on vacation who didn’t want to live in the middle of the mess. 2-3X a week pictures for them, and I solve the issues. Because the design work was all done in advance, issues that need to involve them are exceedingly few, to none. I’m there on the job site for the important times and dates, and performing quality control, with adherence to the agreed upon design standards. And they are off visiting relatives or staying in an extended vacation spot. Bear in mind that “daily cleaning” means “Broom Clean” as the standard. It’s not your MIL coming for white glove inspection! Broom Clean is chunks swept up. The area under construction should be a no walk through zone, behind plastic, with an air scrubber exhausting out a window set up for any of the messy parts. That’s an extra line item, as it is an extra hassle and expensive that many contractors don’t do. The return air vents should have filters taped in front of them, and other air vents should be sealed. I insist on it on my jobs. I also insist on a post construction cleaning service. That is not a standard that many contractors operate under. Those that do this will not be the inexpensive guys, as it adds to their overhead. Which is why it’s called out in a contract as an Extra Service level.

I am just finishing a four month reno that affected nearly my whole first floor (and half the second) and left me with no kitchen or eating area the whole time. I have a fridge in the garage but the fridge portion was no good to me bc it’s winter and everything froze in there. I set up one end of my living room with a long folding table. I had some very lightweight thin sheets of wood cut to fit it at Home Depot and laid that down for heat protection, then put a table cloth over it that hung down to the floor. I put a dorm fridge at one end of the table, and on the table I put a toaster, microwave, and toaster oven. At the other end was the trash and recycling bins. I kept one plate, one cup, one bowl, two knives, two spoons, and two forks in the house, along with salt and pepper, a spatula, some tongs, and several disposable food storage containers that could either store leftovers or act as additional bowls if needed. All of it went in a basket under the folding table, behind the tablecloth, which gave me some sense of neatness and order. Another basket under the table held food basics - bread, pb&j, cereal. Almost every single other thing in my kitchen was packed up and put into storage. I cooked tons of stuff ahead of time and froze them in individual serving sizes and put them in the garage freezer. My best advice is to get the stuff you will not need out of your house. ALL of it - put it in storage. I put a lot in storage, but there were some misc hard to pack things (like bottles of liquor, and a large wall mirror, and a clock) that I decided I could just stick in my living room or office. I also didn’t want to put any sort of pantry food in a storage facility so anything I hadn’t used up before the reno I put in boxes and set it in other rooms. I regretted these decisions big time. I’ve spent four months tripping over that stuff or shuffling it from place to place - I should have just found a way to pack it and store the possessions and given the food to a food bank. It seems like every available surface had stuff piled on it that I should have stored. I hated that way more than not having a kitchen. And remove any excess stuff from the room you’ll be living in - pare it down to only what you need. Otherwise it will just feel cramped and overwhelming. I just found it’s super important to create some order and visual calmness in the spaces you are living in. Other advice - take everything off the walls, even in rooms adjoining the work area, otherwise it may fall during work that vibrates. Buy extra filters for your HVAC and change them frequently during the work. And absolutely do not use your garage as storage for what is normally in your house. The very best advice I saw on Houzz before my remodel was to ruthlessly purge and organize my garage ahead of time. I did it, and thank goodness I did - both the house and garage would have been sheer chaos if I hadn’t, because the garage was used to stage materials and set up saws and other tools. Even though I had completely cleared both bays, this stuff completely filled the garage at times, leaving only a narrow aisle up the middle, so thank god I didn’t try to also use it to store stuff from the house. One of the big surprises to me was the amount of money it costs to deal with the reno but is not being paid to the contractor or designer. Examples include: movers to move things in and out of storage, storage fees, post-reno deep cleaning, post-reno duct cleaning, area rug and carpet cleaning, service charges from my home security company to come and put sensors on my new windows, appliance delivery and installation fees, packing supplies, etc. It adds up. BUT it will all be worth it!! Good luck!