How to Breathe Easy During a Remodel #HealthierHome

Disclosure: I am a 3M sponsored blogger and I have received 3M filtration products for review. As always, all opinions are my own.

No kitchen. Workers showing up at the crack of dawn. Dust everywhere. Washing dishes in the basement. Unexpected problems. Everything out of place. Money flying out the window. And no real idea when it will all end.

Remodeling can be stressful. That I can tell you for sure. I’ve been living it all summer long.

Not that I’m complaining. At least not very much. We’ve been grilling out a ton and practically living on our front porch. It’s the dishes and the dust that are killing me.

Breathe Deeply

So how do you get through a remodeling project without wishing you had never started? Just try to keep breathing deeply and thinking positively. Eventually you’ll come out on the other side with a spruced up home and a full heart.

• Take time for gratitude – Whenever I even think about complaining, I remind myself how lucky I am to be designing and building my dream kitchen. Then I have nothing to complain about.
• Let go of perfection – Sure, it’s nice to keep a clean and organized house and serve a healthy, home-cooked meal to your family every night, but with remodeling chaos going on, it’s simply impossible. I’m OK with sandwiches for dinner and piles of papers that haven’t been put away. Frankly, it’s freeing to be more relaxed about that stuff.
• Make it easy on the kids – Remodeling can be stressful on the kids too. Try to keep up your usual routines as much as possible. We still eat dinner together every night. We make a place for homework on our crowded dining room/multipurpose table. We’re still making time for fun, family outings in between the millions of project related errands.
• Exercise it out – Whenever I feel stressed, I take to the streets. Walking, running, biking, rollerblading….exercise is the best stress reliever I know.

Breathe Safely

That’s how to get through a remodeling project mentally – but what about physically? Remodeling is a dirty, dusty process and you want to make sure that the air you breathe is as clean as possible. One way to do that is by using high quality furnace filters and changing them frequently during a remodeling project.

During the peak of our kitchen project, I broke out my Healthy Living Ultimate Allergen MPR 1900 filter from Filtrete. This filter attracts and captures 93% of all large particles including dust, mold spores and pollen from the air passing through the filter. It has a 1900 microparticle performance rating, meaning it also attracts and captures particles like household dust and smoke and microscopic particles that can carry bacteria and viruses. See the difference between a dirty filter and a new filter? The last one we pulled out was extremely dirty and it had been in for less than a month!

Do you have any advice for surviving a home remodel? Please share!

Like this post? Check out my other #healthierhome posts here.