When I close my eyes and go to my happy place, it looks something like this: I love everything about my house, my projects always go just the way I planned, and my partner-in-crime and I never try to kill each other with shims. And I certainly didn’t have to leap up while writing the first sentence of this post to deal with an overflowing toilet.
Reality is a slightly different story, and while I try to keep it real here… there are just some things I don’t share. Like how much money I’m going to spend on a custom refrigerator without feeling guilty, and how I’m a little afraid that by the time this house is finished, I’m going to be in a permanent state of what can only be described as unshowered-frantic-crazy-lady.
But I think there’s a compelling story there, in the things we don’t share about our lives inside the houses we build, the things we hate and the things we love about the homes we create for ourselves.
Secrets For Habitat
So here’s the deal. Not much could entice me to take on yet another project right now, but the company I work for in all of the hours I’m not building a house is offering to match up to $1000 of donations raised for Habitat for Humanity in the next couple of weeks.
And while I’m temped to just shamelessly beg for your money, what Habitat does– helping people build homes who otherwise wouldn’t have had to opportunity– is something near and dear to my heart, so I’m asking for something a little more personal that your spare change today.
I’d like to know your secrets. All of those things we think– good, bad, scary, hilarious, and everything in between– that we never tell people about our homes and the lives we live inside of them.
You can submit them anonymously by sending me an email or leaving an anonymous comment below (feel free to use a fake email in the email field).
Over the next two weeks I’ll be creating photos of the secrets I collect to tell the story of the things we don’t say about our houses. And then I’m going to beg shamelessly for your money, but at least I have something to give you for it.
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Comments
G
Ever since i had a nightmare about it, I’m afraid to turn on my bedroom ceiling fan bc of how crazily I Jerry-rigged it!
Tina
We gutted our basement and have been remodeling it, my secret is that when we drywalled in the last section (just happened to be under the staircase), be entombed all of our NASCAR programs and a bunch on die-case collectible cars from Bristol, TN and Daytona, FL. If the wall ever comes down, they will be found… lol
meryl rose
I will put my face to mine! (because I always admire YOUR bravery):
I am afraid that when we’re done with our house I will have no idea what to do with my life and that I won’t really know myself. What will I do on the weekends? What will occupy my mind now that I don’t have to think non-stop about paint colors, tiles samples, and bedroom layouts? Will I never be satisfied and have to move on to more and more and more projects just because I need to have the endless feeling of stress, building, and decisions because that’s what I’ve become used to?
As you can tell, I have many “secrets” and fears.
anon
I love my house, but I hate my neighbors!
Anonymous
I buy “high end” furniture and pretend I love it because that’s what my friends get, but when I think of home I picture my grandparents living room with old ugly broken-in couches.
anon
I’m afraid all the renovations & constant projects are what ruined my marriage.
Britt
I can pick out hardwood floors, cabinets or siding in under a minute but it takes me days to choose paint. It took me less time to hang and tape sheetrock in my bathroom than it did to pick the paint color.
anonymous
I like being a home more than I like going on vacation.
anon
My husband proposed on our front porch. That single act not only started our life together, but made our house a home.
anon
I’m afraid to make design choices for our house for fearing of spending lots of money only to hate the final outcome.
Jen
Ssin from my former rental in the form of numerous half-ass repairs, an example of which is:
The second time the door-stop fell out and the landlady told me to just screw it back in, I stuffed toothpicks in the hole and then screwed it in.
I know, you’ll hate that – at least I never put tape over holes on the wall. I just wish I was more patient in general when it comes to home repair.
TTH
We take a perfectionist approach to all our projects here, things that are only “worth it” if you’re planning to stay in the home for a long time, but I don’t really want to live here. I’d move so fast…but H is starting a business and we have family and well I guess home is where it is.
Holyoke Home
I hate the original lighting and the original ridiculously fancy mantle in my 1890′s row house.
Chief Show Officer
When I had to open a hole in the kitchen ceiling to fix a toilet upstairs; Rather than patch the ceiling I put in a cold air return grill. Ceiling looks fine AND I have access for any future plumbing issues!
hjc
I already told you my house secret last week – that I burned it down (not intentionally, but maybe that’s worse?). Although no one blames me but me, I still feel like an idiot 20 years later.
JW
My secret is that I pretend to know what I am doing because I watch HGTV. My poorly installed tile flooring in the mud room looks worst than the cheap laminate that was there before.
mohaus
I am afraid that whenever we finally commit to turn our unfinished basement into an apartment {that we can rent out} it will take years to finish… A valid fear since the complete renovation of our previous house took us 5 years.
Anon
Our extensive house renovations are keeping us from starting the family that we’re ready for.
Tara F
The DIY plumbing job for my Master Bath drives me crazy because now that I know something about plumbing I see all the flaws. It needs to be redone, but I can think of a million other things I would rather do with my time than rip out functional, but not perfect plumbing. However, with all that said, the biggest secret is that I love my house, it gave me inspiration, protection and something to believe in at a time when I wasn’t believing in my self.
SP
i secretly love having to live in the house while we renovate. The plywood underlayment on the floor, unpainted walls, and rooms without furniture makes me feel like there is so much potential, so much to look forward to.
Sara @ Russet Street Reno
I’m afraid my city is slowly turning into a big slum and in a few years I will be unable to recoup costs of our upcoming kitchen reno. Or sell the house at all, for that matter.
J
I don’t “love” our house. I can’t stop thinking of how gross it was when we moved in despite essentially gutting it. I would move in a heartbeat. When people say “I bet you can’t wait to get home and just relax” I say yes but my head is screaming NO!
K
My house was a new build when I bought it. One day, while touring the site, my young daughter (now 17) desperately needed to go to the bathroom (#1). I wasn’t ready to leave yet, and was a bit impatient, since she always needed to go after we’d gotten somewhere. Since she flat refused to go outside to a hidden corner, “someone might see me!!” I finally persuaded her to go, in the house, on the bare slab. Yeah, I did. Desperate times, etc.
She and I are the only ones to know about this (up til now, anyway!) and we laugh about it. But if she knew I was posting this for you all to read…..lol!
Lou
I won’t buy a house because I’m afraid someone will break in and I’ll feel violated and move.
Guerrina
It’s been almost 5 years and I still can’t commit to new paint colors!
S
My house is the size of a breadbox. There I said it. Two bedrooms and one bath. Picture Diva’s garage living space but with one more bedroom. When I bought this house it was just me and my daughter. She is now 18, and I just got remarried to a wonderful man…with two teenagers. Let’s count: Me (1), 18 y.o. daughter (2), new husband (3), 15 y.o. new daughter (4), 13 y.o. new son (5), and two dogs (6) and (7). Seven souls in this 780 square foot house. We loved it and were super cozy in this cottage with just me and daughter #1. Now we are trying to be creative about freeing up living space…but I think we are going to need a bigger box.
s
While I was pregnant, I put more planning into my bathroom renovation than the upcoming arrival of a new baby.
LRK
I love my house so much that sometimes I hug the wood trim and tell it that I love it.
Kelly C.
LOL, that just made me laugh, thanks!
Mamie
I love houses, since 1990 I have remodeled 3 houses, built 3 and moved into 1 already built new. Now I think I will move again and start over. Worked for habitat in Arizona and the interesting comment was, “If we had a choice, we would pick the house that the women built” We were strictly women only on the houses I helped build. Mamie
Heather
My extra bedroom is really a giant walk in closet…a very poorly organized one at that. I’ve been known to stand at the door and throw things in, to be organized later.
Aimee
Here’s my secret (or rather, not so secret secret):
I really want a “man cave”, for myself (a woman)!
Freyja
I start on new projects before I’ve finished the existing ones – so I have a house full of almost completed jobs. Will I never learn!?!
J.
Where would I be without caulk…?
A
I hate that my husband stopped all home restoration efforts the moment he could steal an internet connection. We are so screwed.
Kanemoto
I secretly want a Festool C12 drill. They are the unstoppable ultimate and make a robotic awesome sound when used.
I buy maple and oak tables used on Craigslist for small amounts and tear them down for hardwood lumber because I’m cheap. I feel bad because many of these are loved on and I’m basically the guy who’s going to rip them apart for countertop and furniture.
My paint stripping secret is the Silent Paint Remover, a IR heater. I’ve used this way too many times to count, and although expensive up front it’s been a good companion. I did have to add a series of bolts to keep the handle down.
I’m afraid I won’t finish restoring the house before my first born arrives.
Anon
Not all of my wall studs are 16″ OC and not every corner of drywall has screws in the (non-loadbearing) walls we put up.
L
I’m afraid that we’re great at DIY, and awful at anything that doesn’t come from Home Depot. I think we’re going to end up with a great house, an amazing custom built kitchen–and still be sitting on folding chairs because we can’t figure out how to buy real chairs or a sofa.
Lisa
We’ve been timing our house projects around fertility treatments. Demo is a therapeutic treat after finding out it didn’t work again.
Emily
We let our dream house get away, and I’m afraid we will never find another house like it.
Kanemoto
I hope this is not true. Your comment and Lisa just about tailspun me into a funk.
Deb
I sometimes use my projects as a way to get a few hours away from my husband and kids. I love my family dearly, but everytime I’m feeling overwhelmed, I start another project so I have something to escape to (they don’t know this so please don’t tell them or they’ll never let me pick up another hammer – ha!)
Emily
I feel like I need to finish all our house projects as soon as possible because I don’t want to raise kids in an always-unfinished house. I’m afraid that if I don’t get this house to where I want it, then I just won’t ever have kids.