Some downsize towards a simpler life and more freedom. Some travel and explore the world they never had time to see before. Others volunteer or take a class together.
Kathy and Bob, the Upsized Boomers, renovate.
To be honest, retirement has not brought this out in us. We always bought ugly duckling homes at rock bottom prices, when the word "flipped" referred to pancakes, not houses. This house will be our sixth renovation in 33 years. It was Bob's retirement project to buy it and make the major repairs that are inevitable with a 110-year old house. It's our joint project to bring the kitchen and master bath into the 21st Century.
If you watch any of the fixer-upper shows on HGTV, or have renovated your house in the past, you'll know what I mean when I say that it can feel like being on a perverse game show where you not only get to play, you also end up paying out the jackpot. With our current project, we passed quickly through the initial Your Bottom Line Budget is Delusionally Low audition, worked well together during the Cut $20,000 More challenge, and blew through the Bad News About Structural Defects That Will Add Back That $20,000 scoring. In this moment, we're negotiating the It's Going to Take An Extra Three Weeks bonus round.
Having learned the rules through years of trial and error, here's my advice for anyone who thinks that now's the time to play your own Renovation Game Show:
1. Retirement does not convey skills or knowledge that you never had before. If your previous attempts at this game failed because you thought you could do it yourself, and one or both of you 1) hated manual labor, 2) didn't know the difference between a plumber and a plumb line, and/or 3) lost patience with making 1,000 decisions that all seemed to do with something called "finishes", be honest with yourself. Your new life of retirement can only possibly change problem #2, because you'll have time to watch fixer-upper shows, expand your reno vocabulary, and throw around words like shiplap.
2. The rules of the game remain the same if you downsize. Congratulations on selling your big house and moving to your new town home! You might be thinking that the renovation game will be easier with a smaller space. That's like thinking that house training a small dog will certainly be less complicated than house training a big one. The reality is that each project has its unique opportunities and limits that only emerge as you go through the process. Please refer back to my previous paragraph - substituting the words, "A smaller project" for "Retirement" - if you didn't like the game in the past.
3. The Renovation Game is won with teamwork. Renovation upends your entire life. It's costly, dusty, tedious, and anxiety-producing. It can feel like a marathon with an imaginary finish line and a course that keeps changing direction. Whether you're doing the work yourself or hired a company to handle the project, a team approach will get you through it.
4. The Renovation Game really isn't a game at all. It's creation. It's art. Go into it with the shared goal of feeling joy every day in your space. Keep that in mind when you have to make hundreds of decisions and navigate the compromises that are inevitable.
Here's the payoff: If you take a dream trip around the world, you go home with memories. If the home you create is your dream, you get to live in your dream every day.
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