Coach Dawne’s Makeover Mondays: The Series Finale, Finally!

So, I haven’t posted here since August of 2019. It was just too hard. And of course, when I started the “Makeover Mondays” series, I had no idea what was in store. When you embark on any sort of remodel or renovation, it’s generally (for me, anyway!) a happy, exciting time.

The remodel was, finally, completely and totally finished just about a year ago – in mid-May of 2019 – and since then, I’ve been meaning to go through the house and make a video of the new space. It’s really beautiful, but to say that this is bittersweet is a vast understatement (you can find the full “Makeover Mondays” series here).

Finally, I Made the Video

Finally, one day in February of 2020, I made the “Makeover Mondays” series finale video. Here it is:

At that moment, I thought, “OK, just rip off the band-aid and do it.” And so I did, and I took pictures too, and to say that the space was not Insta-ready is a vast understatement. But I knew that if I didn’t seize the moment, there was no telling when I’d again be in the mood to do it. So, apologies in advance to my amazing contractor, who hopefully will never see this because he’ll be in tears over the clothes on the chairs, the shoes in the hallway…sorry, Mr. C.!

And then, they sat

And then, I let the video and photos sit. And sit. Until now when, for some reason, I’m ready to share them.

One thing I know is that if I ever want to be an “Influencer,” there will have to be a genre called “people who invest in a remodel and then leave clutter all over for the ‘photo shoot.’”

But I Couldn’t Leave THE REMODEL STORY Unfinished

Lately, I’ve been feeling more and more compelled to show everyone how it turned out. If you dare, take a look at the “this is real life” photos below:

 

I love, love, love everything about this home renovation. You can look back at the past Makeover Monday posts – here’s a link to the first one – to see where we started. What was a dark, tired space is now bright and happy. And one of the things that I love is that, as a neighbor said to me, “I just love how you found a place to display everything you love.”

As for me, I’m doing ok, for the most part. One of the weird things that’s happened since the tragedy with my husband is that I seem to be writing things elsewhere that are helpful to people who’ve gone through something similar. I’ve done a bit of writing about the event on Medium (you can find me on Medium at https://medium.com/@dawnerichards) if you’re in the mood.

I’ve also, for some reason, taken to Twitter to a degree that I never expected to. You can find me on Twitter here.

AFTER MAKEOVER MONDAYS: What’s Next

I think I’m ready to start writing on Coach Dawne more frequently, but of course that could change in a day, an hour, a minute, so we’ll see. And of course I wasn’t expecting that we’d all be living through a pandemic; it’s as if the rug was pulled out from under me for all of 2019, and I finally got it back into place in 2020, and the universe said, “Oh, I don’t THINK so!”

Of course, we can’t control the universe, but we CAN control ourselves. And I really believe that we face a choice every day about how we want to face the world. I do, at least. As for me, I’m choosing to be happy. It doesn’t always work, but it works often enough. And having this beautifully bittersweet space in which to do so is pretty cool.

If I have any meaningful advice for anyone at the moment, it’s that: Choose happy.