Sorry to hear about DH! But I am reading between the lines and even though you say you've "gotten used" to the way things are, I can sense that you're not happy with it! And you won't be truly happy until you've finished. Set aside at least an hour a day- everybody's got at least an hour to spare- and get it done! Then get back on here and post pics. I really don't think starting other projects right now is a good idea, as that will only delay it further. Set a deadline for yourself and you will be amazed at how good you feel if you stick to it.

Ynnej is reading correctly, I think. It may not be fun, but if you can decide to dedicate an hour 3 or 4 days a week, or even one whole weekend, or all the weekends for one month... Whatever it takes just to GET IT DONE and out of your hair, and be able to enjoy what those little improvements do.

I can't say from experience ;-), but I'm betting you'll really love it being completed, even if the things remaining don't seem like a big deal.

What I can say from experience is leaving things go for so long, then finally doing them, noting how fast it really went and how much better it was complete, then wondering, "Why didn't we do this sooner?"

Your in the home stretch! You can do it. Make a list of everything that needs to be done and set weekly goals for accomplishing. How nice would it be to start 2012 with your renovation behind you and all the enjoyment ahead of you. I hope your DH is feeling better.

I don't kniw what a split system is (air conditioning?) but maybe you can put it off until you feel like tackling another project. Good Luck!

Have you considered hiring a handyman to help finish it off? (As a bonus, that would also probably motivate you to do things yourself, too, so that you don't have to pay him too much.)

Thanks. I know I need to just START. It's so easy to remember something else I can do instead. Sort of like "I could work on the kitchen" or "I could clean the rabbit pens" and I head outside. You know it's bad when you'd rather shovel manure!

I called the electric company today since we have not received the quote yet. He said he just put it in the mail . . . A mini split system is a heat pump that will do both heating and cooling, though not so much heating when it gets really cold. Could not put ductwork in this old house, so we've been using window AC's

But the real neat thing about this is we could get rid of the baseboard heater in the kitchen. It's right were I've dreamed of putting in a window seat - and that would be something to get excited about.

Hiring someone isn't on option for me. It's not about cost, it's about FINDING someone. There is such a shortage of people like that around here (town of about 15,000) that we've had several neighbors offer to hire DH and I do work for them.

I'm in the exact same place as you macy and once done, the little things will get you excited. We just hung an inexpensive wood shade over my small kitchen window and I get a kick out of it every time I walk in there (but then again, I'm easily amused). we still have toe kicks, end panels, and a couple of doors that no one really sees when they look into the kitchen. If I had extra money, I"d just hire it out...but there is so much other stuff to do around here. Try making a list and get one thing off of it a week. Sometimes it's the mentality of conquering the list that jumps starts us.

So sorry to hear about your husband's accident. I can understand how that has taken the fun out of the project. I lost my mother this summer and it just changed everything. It's a readjustment of values/priorities that makes you question how important the project is.

Now regarding the punchlist, how about you put together a list of 10 things which need to be done, and update us with your progress?

Speaking of trim holes, there are plenty I need to be filling in myself....

Just to play devil's advocate-- we took a long break, despite the annoyances of unfinished things, and waited to finish until we felt like it again. Now I do feel like working on it again, and am engaged and into it and the rush of getting finished. Maybe your lack of enthusiasm is telling you to pay attention to other parts of your life for a while.

Or if that sounds way off, the punch list thing.

ditto to rhome's post. so many times I put things off... when I finally force myself to do it, it is done in no time.

another silly thing I do to encourage myself to get moving on something that seems overwhelming to me... blushing.... sing the song from one of those old christmas specials - I think it's the one with the story of Kris Kringle and the town that wouldn't allow toys -- anyway, "just put one foot in front of the other"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9jeh4mA5us

***it's not great sound quality (& not actual footage)... but it's the song!***

of course, not everyone is as silly as I can be at times. ;-)

We installed a mini split system as part of our project, and it is great, & quiet! It is very energy efficient as well. If that will help motivate you to finish the kitchen - go for it - you will love it.

This got me to thinking- while I might not find a handyman, I know a really good cleaning lady! She's the custodian where I work, and is looking for some side work for extra christmas money.

So I've hired her to come and give the whole house a fall cleaning (we live on a dirt road, so it NEEDS it now). Right now I look at everything in the house, and just decide to head outside so I don't have to look at it anymore. We have 40 acres with some livestock and garden, so there is always something that can be done outside.

I know how I work, and once the house is CLEAN I'll be more motivated to make it look nice by finishing up those odds and ends. Not that the house is really dirty, but dusting shelves and vacuming cobwebs ended up very far down the list of priorites.

I don't know if I want to put together a punch list. Sometimes I do better by just looking at one small part at at time, if I stop and think about all that is still needed, I don't even want to start.

BTW - we started this whole house remodel in 2005, so we've been at it a while. We are so close to being done!

I have thought about posting on this for over a month - it's taken me that long to even admit I'm procrastinating!

Yeah Macy!! Way to pick up those options, baby.

There's some sage advice above that I can't touch. As you're doing, baby-stepping your way from wee-flame of inspiration to the next will limp you across the finish line. I think, as they say, the night is darkest before the dawn, right? So know you're up against some seriously depressing circumstances and push through it just because you hear the chorus of how nice it is on the other side. Sometimes you just have to follow the voices blindly. Finish it, one teensy step at a time, because you will feel better, you will be happier; you must.

for me, in situations like this I find the gruelish part is the prep-getting dirty-laying out the materials and occupying the space and time for it all.Do you have a bench or a small table/ledge off to the side-leave your bits and pieces there so they are handy-when done each day-drape it so you don't have to see the stuff. When you are in the mood-every 2 days or so-and no interruptions -get going and knock off some of your activities-it gets easier when you see some progress and some end goalposts are in sight.You can do it-and you will do a better job than a handy man-the money saved can be a splurge-nice kitchen floor mats-beautiful shades or something like that.

since 2005! that's a loooong time! no wonder you're tired of it. but, just think - once those end projects are done - it'll BE DONE! finally! then take a long rest before starting another project.

the dirt road - boy, I know that problem! my road isn't dirt anymore but my driveway (long) is and most of my land is (desert). we've had some nasty winds lately and that stuff just blows into everything! you'll feel much better getting the house all dusted up for the winter and holidays.

hiring that woman to do it is good for her - and you. that's one load off your shoulders. You can only do so much. With dh not able to help much that puts more on you for now. I do hope he is healing nicely and will be back in the swing of things soon.

IF you don't get it done, don't beat yourself up over it. Come spring with the burst of new life (blooms) you can throw open the windows and dig into it again!

here're two ideas: first, look at your heating bill from last winter and see if that tips you over to putting the hole in the ceiling. Of course, once you have a hole in the ceiling, you have to wait on any trim work etc until that hole is all fixed up.

second, put together what you want for your window seat. This has the two-fold advantage of building in some more procrastination during the web search and ceiling work while simultaneously building in excitement for the new window seat. Especially if the window seat will get you a lovely sunny spot during the winter!

hth

I think I know how you feel! Our last DIY kitchen didn't get completed finished until we were ready to put the house on the market and move, which was more than two years from the initial gut. But that desire to make it look good and sell really helped motivate us!

If not Thanksgiving, could you plan a nice meal and invite some company over for a day several weeks away? There is nothing like guests coming to make me really buckle down and finish all those little odd jobs around the house. Seeing the house with a stranger's eyes helps me notice those small things that I've grown accustomed to and correct them.

Macybaby, Well I can certainly identify with you. We bought an 1840 home 3 years ago. We moved from a home that was a 1/3 the size and one that anyone would be pleased to live in. Most people would have torn down our house to make way for a Mcmansion but as usual we fall in love with houses that need the most work. Anyway, we have been working on this house (DIY) every moment since and still have 3-5 years to go.

I remember reading your posts when I first found GW and enjoyed reading about your progress. You seemed to disappear a while ago. I think you should start one small project and post as you go along. If anything can inspire you it will be all these wonderful people on GW who can cheer you on. I recently posted our finished kitchen and was so touched by the generous comments that people took the time to post. So many times we have shaken our heads and said,"what were we thinking". We have been so overwhelmed by all the work we have ahead of us but just reading the wonderful comments made us feel as though we were on the right track. Funny that the people who are closest to you sometimes find it hard to be equally as giving but total strangers have no trouble. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make this all about me. What I'm really trying to say is that I would love to see your progress as you start that first project and with so many people encouraging you, you will be finished in no time. Good Luck!! Sorry, should have said first that I'm sorry to hear about your husbands accident. I would kill my husband if he had an accident like that. LOL, just kidding. I'm glad he's on the mend.

Sorry, was trying to say that we moved to a house that was 1/3 the size. I've been painting all day. The paint fumes have gotten to me.

I'm so sorry about your DH's accident. I can definitely relate to the motivation thing. We have two things in common - my DH lost the tip of his thumb in a carpentry accident a few years ago and we recently experienced a loss in our family that has completely derailed our motivation and any progress with our kitchen. My advice to you is to pick one part of the kitchen that you love or are excited about and make a plan to complete it. By finishing one project (rather than doing parts of multiple projects) at a time you may find that your motivation returns.

I'm glad that your DH is on the mend!

Hey Macy, All DIYers can empathize with you, sometimes life just sucks the wind out of your sails. I think your idea of outsourcing some cleaning will help, I know I often feel paralyzed by the too dirty/cluttered/piled with laundry syndrome. Having someone else take some of that load off your shoulders should help.

I often try the just one task approach -- I only tackle one thing extra this week and I keep plugging away at that one thing until done. If that all fails, throw a party. If all that doesn't work, when I'm in SD this summer I'll stop by for a pep talk :-)

Hope the thumb is healing well and you are both back in the swing soon.

Got the quote for the mini-split system. I'd researched these quite a bit online, so thought I'd be prepared . . .

The Electric Co-op wants about $10,000 to put in a system that will only provide AC and auxiliary heat for THREE rooms in the house! And they will knock off $1,000 if we do the hard work of installing the one unit that goes in the ceiling. I was hoping to get a bit of a discount on the materials through the Co-op -but instead it looks like they are trying to recoup the costs on the new facilities they are building.

The estimator was a really nice guy, and loved my kitchen. He asked all kinds of quesitons and I had fun showing him all the neat parts (all ideas from GW) he even said it was a good thing his wife didn't come on estimates with him, or she'd be tearing out the kitchen the next day.

Maybe with seeing the neat features, he figured we have lots of $$$ to spend.

Right now we spend about $500 a winter to heat the house. We do have a wood stove, but don't use it regularly as we aren't home. This mini-split system would not work much below zero, and I live in SD were we get temps that low on a regular basis. It would work well for the AC needs, right now we use a window AC in the kitchen, and one in the bedroom. We only run them maybe 20-30 days a YEAR. I think if we had a quite system we might use it more often, but it's not needed.

I did a little figuring, and even if this system saved us half on our heating/AC bills(which it would not come close to) it would take about 20 years to recoup the cost, and we don't plan on being in the house that long.

Our house is old, but has all new windows, new inslutaion, exterior house wrap and interior vapor barrior. A lot of people in our area pay more a month for heating than we do all winter.

On the good side, this means no crawling in the attic to put in supports and cutting holes in joists.

Option two was to get a radiant ceiling cover heater for the kitchen (about $150 and we use the existing wires and thermostate). Then I can still have my window seat (and a lot more storage). We are going to look into getting a single mini-split system for the bedroom (ac only) that should run about $1,200 and it's about as simple an istallation as you can get.

All in all, it's not a real bad thing - nothing like getting really mad to get a person motivated! I'm going to dig out the plans I did a while back for the window seat, and get to work.

You can use "The 5 Minute Plan". I don't know where it originated but we use it with our patients at work. The premise is that you can do anything for 5 minutes. You set about doing a task for 5 minutes and when 5 minutes are up, you've met your goal! You can then set another 5 minute goal or quit! Our patients love it. They are suffering from depression and often haven't done anything for months with the chores around the house. One woman had a dinning room table full of mail that accumulated for 6 months. She implemented the 5 minute plan daily and with in weeks she got that mess cleaned up. I think sometimes she went over her goal as she was such an over achiever!

I am amazed at the miracle of 5 minutes in some peoples lives.