Survivor! (A Remodeler's Challenge)
Tackling a remodeling project may make you feel as if you have just been dropped in the Australian Outback with one luxury item and a team of strangers. Showers and home-cooked meals are scarce and voting out a few family members may sound appealing. Instead of competing for $1 million, you and your family are vying for a beautiful new kitchen or bath. Here's a few tips that will help keep you sane and in the game!

Team Strategy

• Make all decisions before construction starts; each decision affects another.
• Put together a timeline. Add flextime to cover delays.
• Buy materials in advance and make sure all products are in before beginning. 
• Create a realistic budget and stick to it.
• Keep the Tribal Council to a minimum. Too many opinions create chaos.

Setting Up Camp

• Set up a temporary kitchen near a sink. Hook up a microwave, mini-fridge and toaster oven if possible.
• Pack up everything in your kitchen (or bath). Label boxes and get them out of the way.
• Start a collection of take-out menus; stock your freezer with frozen dinners and pre-washed salads. Take your friends and neighbors up on invitations to dinner.
• Prepare all rooms by covering furniture and masking off the construction area.

Let The Games Begin...

• Minimize changes. Each change will cost you time and money, not to mention sanity.
• Keep an on-going list of questions for your contractor and suppliers.
• Countertops are usually installed several days or weeks after your cabinets. Keep a section of your old countertop to be reinstalled in the interim.
• Make yourself easily accessible for your contractor's questions.

Our last bit of advice is to relax. Remember that a few weeks of mess and stress results in a lifetime of enjoyment in your new space.