How Long Does a Renovation Actually Take?

When we started this farmhouse renovation, I had a timeline in my head. A nice little delusional timeline that is now ANCIENT history. Here's the truth nobody tells you before you buy an old farmhouse: everything takes three times longer than you think, costs twice as much as you budgeted, and somehow still ends with you standing in the driveway at golden hour thinking, "worth it." The honest answer to "how long does it take to renovate a farmhouse" is: it takes exactly as long as it takes. The house is 161 years old, after all. Who is rushing anything?

So, where are we in the process and how long is it really going to take? There’s a list of about 10 tasks that I need to hire a professional to do. I have no idea when those things will get done. Plus, there are still many, many walls and a whole lot of trim that need paint. There is always "just one more coat." You think you're done. You are never done. There is always one more coat, one more corner, one more spot where the light hits it weird and reveals that you missed a whole panel. And yet, I am in the midst of finishing up the foyer, and there is something deeply satisfying about being enveloped by freshly painted walls.

The truth is, slow and tedious as it all is, watching this farmhouse come back to life one room, one coat, one very long weekend at a time has been the most rewarding kind of exhausting. It takes forever. It takes more paint than seems physically possible. And somehow every finished room makes me smile.

Stay tuned for more updates, more paint-splatters, and eventually, a finished farmhouse. No promises on the timeline, though. We've learned our lesson there.