• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • About
  • Shop
  • Press
  • Media Kit
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

teach mama logo

teach mama

helps families connect & build bridges between home & school, by amy mascott

  • early literacy
    • alphabet
    • beginning sounds
    • phonics
    • phonological awareness
    • read-aloud learning
    • rhyming
    • sight words
  • reading
    • books
    • comprehension
      • activating schema
      • connecting
      • inferring
      • predicting
      • questioning
      • retelling / summarizing
      • visualizing
    • concepts of print
    • environmental print
    • fluency
    • non-fiction
    • spelling
    • word building
    • word consciousness
    • vocabulary
  • writing
    • creative writing
    • grammar
    • informative writing
    • tripod grip
  • math
    • computation
    • counting
    • numbers
  • science
    • animals
    • plants
    • science experiments for kids
  • Activities
    • birthdays
    • cooking
      • new for us foods
    • crafts
    • foundations
      • colors
      • critical thinking
      • fine arts
      • listening
      • pretend play
      • sorting
      • speaking
    • holidays
      • new year’s
      • valentine’s day
      • president’s day
      • st. patrick’s day
      • april fool’s day
      • easter
      • mother’s day
      • teacher appreciation
      • father’s day
      • july 4th
      • halloween
      • thanksgiving
      • christmas
    • family life
      • family fun
      • giving back
      • lunchbox love notes
      • school
    • indoor activities
    • outdoor activities
  • digital literacy
    • computer time
    • iPad for learning
  • early literacy
    • alphabet
    • beginning sounds
    • phonics
    • phonological awareness
    • read-aloud learning
    • rhyming
    • sight words
  • reading
    • books
    • comprehension
      • activating schema
      • connecting
      • inferring
      • predicting
      • questioning
      • retelling / summarizing
      • visualizing
    • concepts of print
    • environmental print
    • fluency
    • non-fiction
    • spelling
    • word building
    • word consciousness
    • vocabulary
  • writing
    • creative writing
    • grammar
    • informative writing
    • tripod grip
  • math
    • computation
    • counting
    • numbers
  • science
    • animals
    • plants
    • science experiments for kids
  • Activities
    • birthdays
    • cooking
      • new for us foods
    • crafts
    • foundations
      • colors
      • critical thinking
      • fine arts
      • listening
      • pretend play
      • sorting
      • speaking
    • holidays
      • new year’s
      • valentine’s day
      • president’s day
      • st. patrick’s day
      • april fool’s day
      • easter
      • mother’s day
      • teacher appreciation
      • father’s day
      • july 4th
      • halloween
      • thanksgiving
      • christmas
    • family life
      • family fun
      • giving back
      • lunchbox love notes
      • school
    • indoor activities
    • outdoor activities
  • digital literacy
    • computer time
    • iPad for learning
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

how to keep your family sane during a kitchen renovation

home / family life / parenting / how to keep your family sane during a kitchen renovation
175 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print

post contains affiliate links

 

 

5 ways to keep family sane during home reno

It’s been pretty quiet on the blog for the last few weeks, but it’s been insanely busy on the home front.

We’re undergoing a major kitchen renovation.

Combining the dining room, craft room (sob!), and kitchen. ย Breaking down some walls. ย Opening up the place.

Letting some light in, and trying something new.

I’ll be the first to admit that it hasn’t been all that pretty. But there are a few things we’ve been doing to try to keep our family sane. We’re still not finished, but we’re getting there. We can see the light.

For our family, it’s been absolutely insane. ย But fun. Kind of.

Three weeks without appliances. All of our worldly possessions from three rooms shoved into our living room. It’s dusty. It’s a mess. It brings cray-cray to a whole new level.

Here’s the skinny. . .

  • How to Keep Your Family Sane During a Kitchen Renovation: ย I think any time the kitchen is involved with a renovation, it’s time to pull out all the stops.

The kitchen is the command center of the home. It’s where all the action begins and where it usually ends.

And when the kitchen’s all torn up, life can get a little nutty to say the least. ย Though I have not handled this experience as gracefully as I wish I have, I’m doing what I can to maintain my sanity.

Here are my feeble suggestions for others who may soon experience the joy of having their kitchen gutted. . .

 

how to keep family sane during home renovation

1. ย Go with it. ย Accept the chaos.

Really. My pal who is always on top of things–the one who cleans up after the cleaners, who is always on time for everything, and in whose home we follow the ‘no shoes’ rule–gave me this advice: Go with it. Accept the chaos.

Go with it.

5 ways to keep family sane during home reno | go with it | teachmama.com

See me? Don’t I look totally happy just ‘going with it’?

5 ways to keep family sane during home reno | go with it | teachmama.com

5 ways to keep family sane during home reno | keep kids involved | teachmama.com

But that advice, coming from my friend, really stuck.

Amy, you have to just go with it. Don’t fight it. Accept the chaos and you’ll be fine. You can’t clean. There’s dust everywhere. Just go with it.

I have repeated that phrase over in my head more times than I care to admit: Just go with it. Go with it. Go with it.ย 

It’s been my mantra. ย When my kids see me, the Joe-Cool Mom, just ‘going with it’ and embracing the chaos and ignoring the dust and mess, they are more likely going to be able to ‘go with it’ too.

————————————————————

 

5 ways to keep family sane during home reno let it go  teachmama.com

2. Let a lot go. ย Let a lot go.

The first few days, I tried to remind the kids to eat over their paper plates and to grab a napkin before they sat in front of the tv to eat their dinner (gasp!), but after a day or two, I let. It. Go. I. Let it go.

You want to walk around the ripped-up kitchen floor, eating potato chips out of the bag? Sure. Go for it.

5 ways to keep family sane during home reno | go with it | teachmama.com

There’s Brady. Letting it go.

Cereal for an after school snack? Absolutely. And you want to walk around, bowl in one hand and spoon in the other? Awesome.

No appliances for another weekend, thanks to bad weather? No problem. ย ยฟComo se dice ‘take-out’?

Maddy, Owen, and Cora, who are allowed to buy lunch one day each week, bought lunch every day for three weeks. While I convinced myself that it was fine, they acted like they won the lottery. ย See? It really was fun.

ย ————————————————————

ways to keep family sane during home reno stick to routine  teachmama.com

3. ย Try to stick to the routine.

Because our renovation started a few weeks before winter break and stretched to few weeks after, our routine was pretty much crazy from the start. December is nutty. Always.

But while the kids were in school, I homework in one spot–even if it was the coffee table in the basement.

Through the entire renovation, I kept out a sweet pot of pretty white cyclamen given to me for the holidays from a neighbor. We usually have flowers of some sort out in containers or tiny bud vases, so I really wanted to keep something beautiful around through the ugly parts of the reno.

It helped.

5 ways to keep family sane during home reno | stick to routine | teachmama.com

5 ways to keep family sane during home reno | stick to routine | teachmama.com

We ate dinner as a family, even if it was Chinese take-out. ย And it was take-out quite a bit because we don’t have a laundry sink so doing dishes was difficult in the tiny bathroom sink.

Though we totally lost track of whose day it was, I kept our daily schedule up and rolling every day.

And when everything was packed away and I couldn’t find the dry erase markers, I printed out our schedule from our family google calendar on a one-pager and taped it to the tile.

————————————————————

 

5 ways to keep family sane during home reno- chronicle the adventure - teachmama

4. Chronicle the adventure.

And in the vein of ‘going with it’, we’ve been chronicling the whole renovation adventure.

Taking pictures every single day and talking about the progress each night.

keep your family sane during a home reno | chronicle adventure | teachmama.com

5 ways to keep family sane during home reno | keep kids involved | teachmama.com

keep your family sane during a home reno | chronicle adventure | teachmama.com
When we’re finished, I’ll put it all together in a photo book–the good, bad, and the ugly.

And for a few weeks, a whole lot of it was ugly.

ย ————————————————————

 

5 ways to keep family sane during home reno keep kids involved  teachmama.com

ย 5. ย Keep the kids involved.

We have tried to keep the kids involved in every aspect of the process, from beginning to end.

Since this is their house, we wanted them involved in the adventure. ย This has meant that we asked for their opinions in all choices we had to make: from cabinet color to countertop, from drawer organization to paint colors.

This isn’t always easy, and some decisions were made even before we asked for opinions (we knew we wanted white cabinets and dark countertops), even inviting the kids to the conversation is important.

5 ways to keep family sane during home reno | keep kids involved | teachmama.com

 

Figuring out where to put each item and what drawers made the most sense for us was a hugely fun part for the kids.

I wrote all of the drawers and cabinets we needed on small sticky notes. And we all worked together to figure out where we should put each item.

And then? We all worked together to put the items in the proper places.

Some kids wiped out drawers while others loaded. It made the process move much more quickly, and everyone was a part of it.

5 ways to keep family sane during home reno | keep kids involved | teachmama.com

keep your family sane during a home reno | keep kids involved | teachmama.com

ย ————————————————————

These five tips should be prefaced by a biggie: Say YES! to offers of meals and help.

We are hugely thankful to my husband’s parents for generously providing us with invites to dinner, with warm, cooked meals, and for support through this.

Huge thanks to many of our friends who invited us over for lunch or dinner or threw a gift card our way to offset the growing cost of eating out each night.

Though it has not been easy and Owen cried hard at the thought of the renovation (But I loooove the kitchen the way it is. I don’t want it to change. We don’t need it to chaaaange.), now that we’re close to the end, everyone is loving the new kitchen and big, open new room.

Have you done this before? What were your secrets to success–and sanity-savers? ย Do tell!ย 

 

fyi: affilliate links are used below

You May Also Like...

  • Navigating Education in a Time of Uncertainty: A Virtual Summit for Educators
    Navigating Education in a Time of Uncertainty: A Virtual Summit for Educators
  • Virtual Summit for Educators: Navigating the Online Classroom & Beyond
    Virtual Summit for Educators: Navigating the Online Classroom & Beyond
  • everything free and awesome online to do while kids are home: classes, crafts, virtual tours and more
    everything free and awesome online to do while kids are home: classes, crafts,…

About amy mascott

teacher, mother, dreamer. lover of literacy, fun learning, good food, and three crazy-cool kids. finder of four-leaf clovers | dc metro ยท http://about.me/amymascott
tweet with me: @teachmama

Previous Post:teachmama top 10 of 2013teachmama.com top 10 blog posts of 2013
Next Post:word building, letter writing, stamping to spell

Sidebar

amy mascott profile blog

join the coolest club around:

  • About
  • Contact
  • disclaimer
  • terms of use
  • privacy policy
  • Site-Map

Instagram


our books

setting the stage for rock-star readers
raise a reader

Find Us On Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Helpful Links

  • About
  • Contact
  • Press
  • Media Kit
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy

Follow Us On Instagram

View
Open
UMD Womenโ€™s Basketball ROCKS!! โค๏ธ๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ–ค๐Ÿ€

We absolutely love watching you play, @terpswbb !

We love watching you perform, @marylandcheer !

And @mightysoundofmd we love your music and your hilarious signs! ๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿ˜ณ

See you in Greenville! 

#terpsbasketball #terpswbb #umd #familyfun #marylandcheer #umdfamily
View
Open
Tomorrow is St. Patrickโ€™s Day!

Are you ready? 

https://shop.teachmama.com/

#saintpatricksfun #stpaddysforkids #familyfun #classroomactivities #teachmamashop
View
Open
This is how we use the St. Patrickโ€™s Day Brain Teaser Scavenger Hunt! ๐Ÿ€

Super easyโ€”and makes kids work a little for their golden chocolates! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Grab them here: https://shop.teachmama.com/product/st-patricks-day-scavenger-hunt-4-pack/

<< Tag a pal who needs to know about this and would LOVE to use it with kids or students! >>

#stpatricksdayfun #saintpaddysday #stpaddysforkids #stpatsfun #linkinbio
View
Open
and then there were six
๐Ÿฑ๐Ÿฆ๐ŸฆŠ๐Ÿฆ„๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฐ

thank you @thewoobles for giving my mind, heart, and hands something fun to do during a really challenging few months. 

#crochet #thewoobles #brainbreak #teachersanitysaver #shescrafty
View
Open
With great sadness, I'm writing to share that my brother-in-law, Jeff Mascott passed away from pancreatic cancer earlier this week--at home, surrounded by family and friends. 

The family is very grateful for the community's immeasurable help, encouragement, and prayers over the past several months since Jeff's diagnosis. 

Jeff's obituary will run this weekend in the Post: 
https://www.collinsfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Jeff-Mascott?obId=27420280&fbclid=IwAR2YTRooCyaLTikfjLeqF4gM-GaB1amZI2OmVl1VtKLUOjWj3Wo4URD8lC8#/obituaryInfo
View
Open
Flowers and a basket of @traderjoes faves are salve for a tired and weepy soul. ๐ŸŒท

Thankful for great, longtime friends ๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›

#itshardtobeahuman #thankfulheart #wlhs4evah #teacherbffs
View
Open
Almost 30 years of friendship!! I love these smart, beautiful, strong and creative women who walked with me through my early days of teaching. 

๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š

Thank you, Wilde Lake High School, for bringing us together way back when. 

๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›

Missed you, jigofjoy ๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š

#weareteachers #andoneprincipal #wildelake #wlhs4evah #teacherbffs #wildelakehs #teachersofinstagram #celebratewewill
View
Open
Today marks the 4th time in 3 weeks that I have had to hang new Kindness Reminders Tear-off Sheets! 

Makes my heart ๐Ÿฅฐ!! 

Some kids come by every day and give one to a new person. Others take a bunch for the week. One 2nd grade girl comes by evey morning to tell me who she gave hers to the day before. 

Every little bit helps, friend. And every interaction matters!

#kindnessrocks #adoormadeforme #teachersofinstagram #makeadifference
View
Open
Best crew for one of the best @terpswbb games weโ€™ve seen all season! 

And of course super job by @marylandcheer and @mightysoundofmd too! 

#terpswbb #terpsbasketball #familyfun #marylandcheer

Copyright © 2023 · teach mama media, llc · All Rights Reserved

  • 6
175 shares