About

Join us as we work to turn our* 1950s house into our 21st century home in Chicago's northern suburbs.

We are definitely "function over form" kind of people, looking to make a casual cozy home. We're not design snobs and don't need everything Just So. And even if we did, with two growing boys in the house, it wouldn't stay that way for long. 

Though we'll be relying on a lot of pros to do the heavy lifting, there's a lot of research to be done and decisions to be made as we update the house. Once the big jobs are out of the way, we'll tackle some fun DIY projects, making use of the large workshop in the basement, a hallmark of these older houses.

In addition to witty and informative banter along with the obligatory he said/she said renovation arguments, expect to learn about helpful resources and interesting new products and have a chance to win exciting giveaways when you visit Reluctant Renovator.

Cast of characters

Kim, a veteran blogger, vlogger, social media consultant, Twitter's "Queen of no drama" and chocoholic. Sure, I've been quoted in the NY Times, The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging, and I've spoken at leading momblogger conferences, but what do I know about home renovation?! Nothing yet, but give me a few months. Read more about my background.

Hubs: The man of the house. A talented technical writer with a fondness for spreadsheets and databases (as well as mad skillz creating and managing them). He is also the voice of logic and reason, which balances out Kim's keenly intuitive, but sometimes spazzy ways. Might be an organic farmer, if the job came with a guaranteed income and great health insurance benefits.  Instead, he helped found our local farmer's market.

The Boys, which can be broken into two categories: the Teen and the Tween. Their main decorating concerns are getting a huge TV and an XBox 360.

*Pending mortgage approval and closing of the sale in June 2011.