The ADHD Dad's Guide to Renovation, Regret and Rogue Balloons
Renovating your home while raising five children should qualify you for some kind of knighthood. Doing it while also having ADHD? That's not a renovation—it's a lifestyle choice that walks the tightrope between optimism and full-blown meltdown.
We set out with big dreams: move the kids' bedrooms around upstairs, freshen up the house, create a bit of space and order. But four months later, we're living in what I can only describe as a "before" photo montage. There are paint rollers still cling-filmed 'just in case', a hallway that looks like Banksy got bored halfway through, and the faint, lingering scent of cat wee we're all pretending not to smell.
Short on time? Here's the gist: If you're a parent with ADHD trying to renovate your home while keeping your kids alive and vaguely clean—expect delays, half-finished projects, and a house that looks like it's in witness protection. But you're not alone. And yes, that carpet smell might be permanent.
And even as I try to write this post, my youngest is climbing onto my chair yelling "Daddy, let me get on there!" — and to be fair, that's how most of our projects started. With good intentions. And someone interrupting them halfway through.
Table of Contents
The Great Bedroom Migration
We started strong:
- One daughter got moved into her own bedroom.
- The nursery became shared real estate between our son and another daughter.
- We stripped wallpaper. We moved furniture. We assembled beds.
Well—started assembling beds. One is up but missing half of the decorative elements. One is propped against the wall like a badly designed sculpture. And we even ended up getting another Bus Bunk bed which is half in the playroom and half in the porch...
Half Jobs and Quarter Energy
With ADHD, every job feels like it'll take five minutes.
- Painting the upstairs bedrooms? "Quick afternoon job." Still not finished.
- Hallway wallpaper? We painted over it. It's now a visual metaphor for our mental state.
- Carpets? Ripped up to deep clean them. Some never went back. One came back with cat pee upgrades.
Trying to get the smell out? If you haven't screamed into a carpet shampooer begging it to please get rid of the god-damn smell, you're living on easy mode.
Chaos in the Garden
Trying to mow the lawn should be easy.
Should.
But no—when you've got five kids, the moment you turn your back, one of them's underfoot, another's launching toys into the mower's path, and someone's blowing up balloons like it's a party.
I took one in the face mid-turn and nearly declared war on the garden.
The ADHD Time Warp
With an ADHD brain, everything starts with:
"I'll just do this quickly…"
Three hours later, you're elbow-deep in a cupboard you weren't even supposed to open, the original job still half-done, and you've somehow started sanding a doorframe that was never on the list (twice).
Then one of the kids gets sick. Another one climbs you like a tree. And suddenly your motivation, like your hallway carpet, has completely disappeared.
Somewhere in the chaos, I even managed to do some research on knocking through a wall and stumbled across strongboy and acrow prop hire — then I remembered I still hadn't finished painting the ceiling I started in March.
At one point, I walked into a room to find a child using a paint tray as a foot spa. I didn't even ask.
What Renovation Projects Did We Actually Finish?
We did finish some things:
- A bathroom is mostly done.
- A couple of beds are fully functional (even if they creak like a haunted ship).
- And I successfully made a cuppa and drank it while it was still hot. Once.
What Are Our Summer Renovation Goals?
This summer? We're aiming high.
- Finish the bedrooms
- Replace the carpets (or just burn them)
- Maybe repaint the bits the kids finger-painted when we weren't looking
But if nothing else, we'll have more memories, more mess, and more material for blog posts like this.
Got five unfinished jobs and a kid stuck to your leg while you paint? You're not alone. Welcome to the club.
Planning a summer of unfinished projects too? Or have a miracle hack for getting cat wee out of carpet? Drop it in the comments — or better yet, sign up to my email list so you can follow along as I probably start another five projects before August.
Tag a fellow DIY parent who's still pretending the living room rewire was definitely finished last year. Go on—we all know one.
