Hard Knock Renovations

I own a house that was built over 100 years ago. I know renovations. I have resurfaced, remodelled and repainted almost every square inch of my home over the years. It's an ongoing obsession and if I ever get everything done I will probably have to sell it. Not that it's all bad - I enjoy the results - recently I was riding high after finally wiring proper lighting in my dingy basement (another in a long list of small victories).

I really enjoyed working on this assignment for Indianapolis Monthly, about the nightmarish ordeals faced by a pair of naive homebuyers who picked up a lot more than they bargained for buying a house without having an inspection, and doing the renovations on their own. They called the house 'Beelzebub', and were convinced for a while that the house wanted to do them in. Fortunately, both have prevailed.

  I'll be getting back to my ongoing projects later this week. Building a workshop in the basement. I like this quote by Jerome K. Jerome:

'I want a house that has got over all its troubles; I don't want to spend the rest of my life bringing up a young and inexperienced house. '