The thin line between stupidity and success

"Success is going from one failure to another without the loss of enthusiasm" - Winston Churchill.

"Stupidity (insanity) is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" - Albert Einstein.

Currently I feel like I'm walking the thin line between stupidity and success. Days are feeling like groundhog day - pretty similar problems every day, resulting in an early start, lots of running round to solve the problems, a late finish and a longer list of problems to tackle the next day. Some days I can understand why Bill Murray sat in the bath and dropped the toaster....

As I'm learning, the devil in construction is in the details. And there are a lot of pribbling-idle-head-giggletting  details when you're doing a renovation on this scale.

Many of the details are semi-predictable design based decisions, even if you couldn't foresee them all. What tiles would you like in the kitchen? Bathrooms? How would you like them laid? Colour of the grouting to go with that? Shade of woodstain for the cabinets? What about granite - colour and precise measurements? And the handles? Which light do you want here? And there? What about the sinks and toilets? And where exactly would you like them? What taps for the basins? Curtain rods? Window stays?

The problem is that every decision requires you to research (read: run between shops) and choose models before going into the details of fixing. Unfortunately money is limited, so budget has to be respected too; my workmen have been given chapter and verse on recycling existing materials on site. After choosing it's necessary to go and actually buy the materials; whether they be new materials or parts to renovate old objects. So every day includes an obligatory material run. Often for the more interesting aesthetic materials, but also for more mundane items like cement and plaster. One thing I've learnt is that during construction, you can never have enough cement. I've transported over a tonne of the stuff to the site in the last week alone.

Then there are the practical, often unpredictable details. For example, with so many changes, suddenly the way doors open, or even the presence of some doors doesn't always make sense. Others are things that no one really thought about earlier. For example my gutter guy put up the gutters this week, but hadn't thought about where to you send rainwater once it's in the gutters. So a couple of hours were sent talking through the possibilities, which inevitably resulted in additional work with additional costs.

Finally there are the actual workmanship based details. Wednesday I walked in to find the workmen haphazardly repairing parquet. The result looked like similar to that of a two year old trying to decorate her mother's birthday cake; i.e. points for effort but a horrible final job. To be fair it is the first time in 7 weeks that I've actually had to stop work, rip it up and show exactly what is needed by doing it myself. Bottom line is parquet was not the specialty of these guys (and given I spent most of Saturday doing the same thing, I think we conclude it's still not their specialty) .

The parquet is the most extreme example, but every day requires the supervision of little details. Workmen aren't psychic, so unless you specify that this light should be connected to these switches, or this kitchen cabinet should have this many shelves/drawers and open to the left, they won't know. And even if you tell them once they might forget. Understandable when handling works on a large scale. You could argue no one will notice a bit of wonky parquet, or a door which opens the wrong way. I believe that within a limit, this is true; one door opening the wrong way, or a couple of bits of wonky parquet won't be noticed. But if half a dozen doors open impractically, the basin blocks the bathroom entry, you smack your head on the showerhead because is too low, seven light switches don't do what you'd expect and the whole living room floor looks wonky, then everyone will notice. The only way to deal with this is to focus on the details on a day by day basis. Incredibly I'm not a details person by nature (ISTP/INTP for those who've done Myers Briggs). But focus on day to day details is a necessary evil.

Days therefore flip-flop between stupidity and success. Most days this week I've arrived home late and feeling on the side of stupidity; a feeling that has followed through to 630 the following morning when I get awoken by the light and have to drag myself up to go through the same routine. But taking a step back, maybe I'm just about keeping on the side of success. Judge for yourself (though the photos are 1 week old as I haven't had time to take any this week).

We chose Brussels beige grouting...in case you wondered...

When in doubt, go with white. The opposite of what Wesley said: "always bet on black". But hey, bathrooms are a different context.

Island! Or "highland" as the workmen (and 90% of Kenyans) write it.

Windows almost done. Actually the door has been done now too. I just haven't had time to take another photo.

I've concluded that the line between success and stupidity is indeed thin. It's a lesson I'll be taking back to my everyday life after these three months!