No, it’s not what you’re all thinking!
Everyone has words that they hate, according to my Facebook feed moist seems to be a particularly popular one at the moment, but the word I really dislike is compromise*!
Over time, it’s something I’ve had to learn to live with while renovating our home but making compromises is never something that comes easily to me.
Let’s face it, who would choose a hallway that looks like this if they didn’t have to?
It starts from the very first moment when you’re house hunting and continues through almost every renovation and decoration aspect and even through to selling your home at the end!
The financial aspect is obviously a huge part of compromising but that’s definitely not the only reason that you sometimes have to adjust your plans.
These are just some of the areas where we’ve had to compromise.
PVC instead of timber windows.
I’m still not sure about I feel about this one. We would have loved traditional timber windows but there was just no way we could have justified spending thousands of pounds on gorgeous timber windows when we still had so many other projects to do in the rest of the house. For the first winter in our home, we had almost no heating and tried to warm our living room with dozens of tea lights!
Choosing uPVC windows also allowed to spend more on the stained glass with we had made from scratch and then encapsulated.
Planning permission.
This is something I feel really strongly about. I would have liked a different design for our extension but it wouldn’t have passed through planning. I find the whole planning process too rigid. Sticking to rules doesn’t necessarily help achieve the best solution – not only for individual houses but for the area as a whole, too.
I don’t believe in making things look old and think that the new should compliment the original design.
In case you’re wondering our extension would have been the same size and shape but it would have been clad in Shou Sugi Ban (which is charred black timber) with hidden drainage and gutters. Basically, it would have been a crisp, clear and contemporary box that would have complemented the old. It would have been gorgeous. Sadly it wasn’t to be as all materials had to exactly match the ones used on the existing house.
Area.
This isn’t something we compromised on when we bought our first house and I honestly think it’s the last thing you should compromise on. It’s really the only thing you can’t change but having said that we have had to make a compromise (it almost hurts even when I type the word) on the location of our new apartment.
The area is great but it is just off a very, very busy main road. We’ve chosen to live in a large city so figured that there will always be inevitable noise but this also means that we’re able to afford a larger apartment on a higher up floor.
Holidays.
For the first 3 years after purchasing our house in Manchester we didn’t do any travelling. Our decisions were always “Do we tackle a home improvement project?” or “Do we go on holiday?”. Needless to say, the home improvement project always won.
Space Planning.
I would love a kitchen island in our new home but I’m not sure that it’ll fit. I can’t magically make the room wider and will have to see what the best solution is for our space. (You can read about how we’re planning to change the kitchen in our new apartment here.) There might also be structural constraints where you can’t remove something you’d like or end up with a huge steel beam like we did between our kitchen and dining room.
Often we see dream homes and interiors in magazines or on Pinterest and would love to replicate something similar in our own homes. It just isn’t always possible and you could end up with a solution that isn’t quite right for your space. It’s all about working with what you have and considering what your space is like – even if that means you can’t have the wine fridge you’ve always dreamed of or there’s just not enough space for an island in your kitchen.
There’s really no easy way to deal with compromise, especially if like me you like things perfect but I’ve learned that it is possible. Setting your priorities before you start out on any project is the key to success. Not only does it help you make compromises in areas that aren’t as important to you it also helps you stay focussed throughout the whole home improvement process.
I also try to think of compromise as a good thing. After all, if I wasn’t compromising in some way I probably wouldn’t be able to do, improve or afford whatever it is I’m trying to achieve at all.
Have you had to make compromises on your home? Have you made a compromise you’ve regretted? How do you set your priorities and do you find it easy to stick to them? Do you have a word you hate (keep it clean!)?
*It’s not really the word itself just the meaning of it that I dislike.
Jack says
Hi Christine, great post. I’m just in the process of planning my home improvement for the year and was considering where I need to compromise and prioritise my funds. The bathroom seems to be it at the moment. I would love a whole new traditional suite but I’ve decided the money is better spent elsewhere and that a fresh makeover doesn’t need to cost the earth. I won’t be scrimping on the new tiles for my bathroom however and hope that this will give the desired impact without having to do a full makeover. The money I save on the bathroom however will go towards a new front door – a must on my little terrace. Good luck on your new move. Jack ;)
Christine says
I think that new tiles will make a huge impact too, Jack! As well as tiles another area (for me at least) in the bathroom where you shouldn’t compromise too much are the fittings. They get so much use and it’s probably better investing in something that’s a good quality from the start. It’s always a bit annoying to be pushing money back and forth between projects but that’s probably the only way to get anything done!
Thanks for your comment and wishes!
Cx
PS. Depending on how far along in the planning process you are you might want to check out these two sites – Megabad and Reuter. They’re both in Germany but do deliver to the UK and have amazing prices on all of the big brand bathroom items. Worth checking out even just for comparing prices.
jack says
Thanks for the reply and recommendations. I had not considered looking at or ordering items from European sites and businesses, I will give these both a good look through. My GCSE German will come in handy ;0)
Ha yes, I also seem to be pushing money from one project to another; for example I have just spent money saved for the bathroom on a rather lovely bedroom fireplace at the weekend I was lucky to come across – it matches my living room one so I could not resist!
All the best Jack ;)
Christine says
We bought our toilet at one of the sites (can’t remember which) and it was sooo much cheaper than anywhere we could find in the UK. Just a bit annoying that we didn’t get round to installing it and ended up moving it across Europe with us. ;) You can switch the language to English on the sites, so nothing to worry about!
Cx
PS. I probably couldn’t have resisted a fireplace either!
Gerry says
“Basically, it would have been a crisp, clear and contemporary box that would have complemented the old”
They thought the same thing when they built extensions in the 1970s. And they all end up the same: a cheap modern cube of soon-to-be-unfashionable materials glued onto a traditional building of perfect (but now spoiled) proportions. The more clever and contemporary you think you’re being, the faster it will look dated and unsympathetic. :S
Christine says
I honestly don’t mind 70s architecture, Gerry. I think that any architecture should reflect the current technological advancements on not be made to look like something it’s not. At the end of the day, it’s always going to come down the quality of the design and the way it’s built – no matter in what century or style it was built in.
Cx
Gerry says
1960’s concrete tower blocks are very well designed for living, and presumably well built. So why are they all objectively ugly and unwanted? A medieval castle or Victorian water tower is very poorly designed for living in, but objectively beautiful and prized. Seems ‘design quality and the way it’s built’ are not the issue!
Christine says
I guess it’s all down to personal preference, Gerry. I personally don’t find the concrete blocks ugly at all.
Cx
Gerry says
0_o
Anna International says
This is such a great post. There are always compromises in big home renovation projects I find. One of mine was the upstairs landing. We built a new stud wall to separate the home office/bedroom from the landing, but in order for the room to be square, the landing wouldn’t be, and vice versa. Obviously I wanted everything square, but now we have a landing that is visibly wider at one end. Such is the joys of 1800’s houses – I am pretty sure they didn’t care about square! It still irks me a little, but the perfection of the office makes it worth it. I have so many other examples of where we have had to change what we wanted to do just a little to make it work, or to make it affordable, and although I also hate having to do this, I know it is this flexibility that means overall our house is starting to look and feel like a home. If we couldn’t compromise, we couldn’t get anything done at all!
Agree on area though – you can change the interior of your house, extend the space, but if the location is wrong, there’s nothing you can do about it! Not one to compromise on! x
Christine says
Thank you, Anna! It’s good to know that other people struggle with compromise, too. When we’re bombarded with images of perfect homes and interiors all over the internet it can be difficult to take a step back and “keep it real” without feeling that we’re in some way inadequate if our spaces aren’t perfect. Your landing situation is definitely the perfect example!
I love to aim for perfection but I totally agree that we’d never get anything done if we couldn’t compromise.
Cx