Remodeling your own home has to be one of the most simultaneously gratifying and maddening things on the earth. The more I dig into the process of redoing large parts of my little 1024 square foot stucco 1927 home with sloping floors and quaint charm the more I realize there is a ton of paperwork and process and approvals to take into account to do just about anything.

This dream began ages ago when we bought the place in 2012. We were just about priced out of the market at that point and we were very lucky to buy one of the ugliest houses on a very pretty street. We bought the house with what was at the time my entire life savings after working 3-4 jobs simultaneously. I was excited to be an American homeowner (the first for my family) and I was tired, elated, and also dirt broke. A real American fever dream.

It took me 8 more years and many many job jumps to make enough money to afford any sort of concept of remodel. So that brings you up to speed to digest where we are with the remodel: we’re right at the tail end of the Discovery Phase (to borrow the term from work — ugh) and I see now that I’m going to downscale my ambitions due to sheer freaking exhaustion.

I had grand plans of adding a full second story to our home, but you wouldn’t even believe the amount of rules that comes with. First you have to take into account how narrow your lot is in relation to how high you want to go. You can’t just go straight up a second story without adding expensive customizations and articulations to the finish that pretty much complicates and balloons costs immediately. And those required additions? Those have to be approved by the city planners and design approvers. In case you don’t know it, most cities are facing budget woes due and furloughs to covid-19, which means you can go ahead and stretch any of the minimum 3 months to get approvals to something more like 6 months.

Oof.

Anyway, here are some pretty photos about the editorial appropriate but real life impractical open shelving.

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via Scandinavialist