The whole idea of upgrading your home sounds super fun and amazing, like there’s absolutely no denying that whatsoever here. And a lot of people turn to Pinterest and TikTok to get ideas on how to make all these home upgrades. And sure, a renovation TikTok is basically a magic trick in a way (well, videos in general do this). Like a wall comes down in two seconds, the old floors disappear with one dramatic pull, and then there’s a cute little montage where someone is smiling while holding a paint roller, they snap their fingers to a trending song or soundbite. Well, you get the whole idea at this point here.
But yeah, real houses don’t do this; real life isn’t a fun little montage or anything like that. And it’s not like it’s because people aren’t capable, and not because inspiration is bad, but because the internet edits out the parts that make renovations, you know, real. The parts that take time, cost money, require planning, and occasionally make someone sit on the floor and stare into space for a minute, or cry, or argue, or whatever. Again, the real stuff, the stuff that’s actually relatable when you’re DIYing.
The Video Skips the Prep
Okay, so demolition looks satisfying, and painting is easy to film because it’s visually obvious. But the boring prep steps are what decide if the finished project looks professional or looks like “close enough.” You don’t see any prep in these videos; again, it’s just a montage. But as you know (if you’ve ever done any sort of DIY in your life), that prep includes measuring, patching, sanding, leveling, finding studs, protecting floors, shutting off water, pulling permits if needed, and figuring out what’s behind the wall before doing anything bold. No one would want to watch a video with all these boring bits, right?
Time isn’t Filmed, and that’s the Whole Problem
Another thing to think about here: renovation content makes time feel optional. Like, a bathroom gets “done” in a few clips, and the brain starts assuming it’s a three-day project, max. But no, unless you’re maybe painting, adding some trinkets, and putting in a new faucet, then no, there’s no way that bathroom renovation can take only three days, or three hours, or whatever.
But no, like in reality here, it’s a giant waiting game, even if you hire professionals to do your home renovation, there’s still waiting, you just won’t get instant gratification. But seriously, think about it here for a moment, you need to wait for materials, be it you getting them, the contractor getting them, you need to wait for deliveries if bought online or at a specialty store, waiting for a contractor’s schedule, waiting for inspections, waiting for the one backordered item that holds up everything else. Like lots of waiting, and time stacks no matter what.
Yep, the Mess is Real
You might see this, a big fat might, sometimes content creators will show this, maybe not always on TikTok, but a good chunk of the time, long-form content creators on YouTube will at least show this. But yes, renovations get super messy, regardless of whether it’s you or a contractor doing it. But often times, there’s dust everywhere, some rooms are off limits, and for weeks, it can be like this.
Don’t Forget About Surprise Repairs
Hopefully, they don’t happen, but at the same time, they’re common. Sometimes content creators will show these, sometimes they won’t, just depending on the person and their usual audience. So just keep that in mind. But surprise repairs basically lead to their whole other side project that needs to be done first.
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