This stopped me in my tracks!

"Nothing is as permanent as an unfinished house."

I chuckled when the estate agent who sold us our new home in the Wilderness said those words to me on Friday evening while I was sipping a cold glass of champagne on his deck, watching the sun set over the magnificent Island lake. But I didn't chuckle too TOO loudly, because while his quirky wooden home may be a series of unrealized dreams...

• "We planned to do this, but..."

• "We were going to finish that, but…"

...gulp! I do the same thing! That realisation stopped me in my tracks! Since we planned to rent the Jozi house out once we moved to the Wilderness, there was no choice but to finally fix up the place we had called home for 27 years. My mindset had always been:

• "Should we paint the house or buy new mountain bikes?"

• "Should we redo the deck or go on an overseas trip?"

Net result? Plenty photos, lots of fun, incredible memories AND a house in need of some serious TLC. Tenants are unlikely to tolerate paint peeling off the odd exterior wall, the wooden floors looking just a little too well worn and a slightly scruffy looking fireplace. It took time - and plenty money. But in the end, our Jozi home looked better than it had EVER looked - which made it a little harder to leave. It had me wondering wistfully why I hadn't been a little more balanced in my approach…perhaps I could have opted for a lick of paint and a slightly cheaper holiday? Now I am knee deep in renovations on our new home and this time, I am determined to get it done properly. The temptation is there to just move in and fix it up as we go, but I know how that story ends. It’s easy to let it slide when it’s your home. Easy to cut corners, easy to do it later, easy to turn a blind eye to the obvious flaws. Not this time! This time, we are going to live in a finished home. I am treating myself like I would treat a tenant and you know what? It feels good. Because nothing is as permanent as an unfinished house!