The new year has begun, and everyone wants to start fresh—with diets, exercise, or cleaner homes. Well, I decided a few years ago to do some renovating. Not just clean up my home but rearrange it. The same old thing gets boring and tiresome. Well, change them.

I am not writing this as a professional at all. I am not writing this as a DYI with hints for different stages of my renovation. I am writing this as a 72-year-old widow tired of looking at the same thing and needed to spruce things up.

I want everyone to know you can do what you want. Don’t let your friends or your ‘self’ tell you otherwise. I know you think you can’t. It’s too difficult, too expensive, too much work. It really isn’t. I had these thoughts initially. Then I started removing what I didn’t want. I focused on how I wanted it to end up.

The house is an older owner-built ’70s model with a wood exterior. The interior had old barn wood paneling and other wood on the walls. You can’t wash or clean barn wood so it had to go. I pulled a lot of nails, stacked a lot of wood, and hauled a lot of wood out of the house.

After I took all the wood down, several walls couldn’t be painted without redoing the drywall. Financially, I couldn’t replace the drywall, so I improvised in some areas. Patched holes, taped cracks, and made it workable. Those areas I covered with great, fun wallpaper. I bought the peal & stick to see how it would work. It was great if you don’t mind looking like Lucy & Ethel putting up wallpaper-only it was just me doing it.

Most people won’t try something like this because they think they will do it wrong or fail. It’s your house! How can you fail at doing what you want? Unless you are building a new room or adding lots of electrical or plumbing, how can you do it wrong? If you go slow plan, what you want you can’t fail. If you have doubts you can always look on YouTube. I did.

After I took down the wood and put wallpaper up, I also painted some of the walls. Then there were the stairs. They were carpeted and ugly, and they weren’t even connected to the walls. So, I tore out the carpet, lugged it outside, and cleaned up the dirt and dust of 30 years. I was constantly reminding myself this was not done by a contractor but was owner-built.

Well, the stairs were sanded, holes filled with wood filler then painted. How To Refinish Woodwork – This Old House I had to put flooring down on the landing because there was only plywood under the carpet. That was fun. This house isn’t exactly level or square. I got it done and painted. Next, was the ‘skirting’ next to the stairs between the wall and the stairs. It fills in the gap. Lots of research for this part. Stair Skirt Board: Size, Installation, Alternatives, and More – HomelyVille. It was so exciting to see it get done and with my choices. When you are married most of your choices are compromises. Your husband isn’t going to be great with pink. I miss my husband terribly, but doing this was great therapy to get through the rough spots.

I’m still working on portions of my house. Sometimes I get a little cocky and try things that just can’t be done. For example, I have 3 fireplace chimneys and only one is functional, which I use for a wood stove. They are all in one wall in the middle of the house. This house is two stories and a basement. I was going to remove the wall with all the chimneys and move the wood stove I am using. The wall is between the living room and the kitchen. That would open it all up.

Unfortunately, it would cost tens of thousands of dollars. This is the cost to remove the debris from those chimneys from top to bottom. That would not even be the rebuild cost. Oh, well, we don’t always get what we want.

I framed the existing fireplace. Building a Wall in Place – Fine Homebuilding I put insulation in. This stopped the air from finding its way in. This allowed me to have a regular wall instead of a dead space. It also prevented any more air from coming in and around the chimneys.

So if there is something you think you want to do but are hesitating, do it! You will be surprised at what you can do if you put your mind, (and body) to it. Yes, you can!