We bought our house in Salisbury in July 2015, about three months after we found out we were expecting our eldest son. The house was derelict, and although we are in the industry, actually living on a building site certainly came as a surprise. It has however put us in a great position to dish out advice on the subject. Here are a few of our top tips to living through your renovation: 1. Move out if you can. Not necessarily for the entirety of the build, but definitely for the most disruptive bits. Better still, go on holiday for a few weeks. Sound a bit defeatist? Maybe, but it is the easiest option by far. This is particularly key if your project will mean that you lose the use of your kitchen or bathroom for any time. Our own renovation has been done in stages, some of the time was have lived there, and some of the time we have lived elsewhere, and living away helps keep those stress levels down. Keep visiting site to check on progress of course, but live away if you can; 2. If living away isn’t an option, think about how you are going to cook, wash clothes and clean yourselves. In the depths of winter we had no back wall in our bathroom (or kitchen for that matter, see images below) which made for hideously chilly, and not very private toilet trips. Is it possible to relocate your kitchen or bathroom during the building work? We were able to temporarily relocate our old kitchen to the dining room, at minimal cost, whilst the kitchen was out of action. No such luck with the bathroom, but having a working kitchen at least made the house liveable; 3. Don’t try to do too much yourselves. We took out our own central heating system and re-ran the new pipes (closely supervised) in the interest of saving a few pounds. It was fun, but it took us a long time and without doubt slowed down the whole process. It would have been quicker to pay someone else to do it. Think of this piece of advice especially when it comes to decorating, doing your own painting may seem like an easy, cost efficient thing to do, but the finish you’ll get from a professional job will be worth its weight in gold; 4. In the same sentence, don’t have anything painted until all the building work is finished. Brick and plaster dust get everywhere! The temptation to paint any room as soon as it’s finished is strong, but try your hardest to resist. There is nothing worse than beautifully decorating your front room, only to have brick dust to ruin the whole thing. It will double the job as you’ll have to do it all again. The same also applies to laying new carpets. Trust us, here speaks the voice of experience. Finally (and perhaps most obviously); 5. Don’t bring home your brand new puppy at the same time you embark on a huge extension!! You would think this is a given, but some people (I’m looking only at ourselves on this one) need telling. House training a puppy whilst trying to keep her off of a building site is not easy. Stay away….