What I’ve Learned from Living in a Hotel Room

My childhood, and current, home is in the process of undergoing some extreme renovations — my home was built on a ~6,000 square-foot lot in Boston back in 1978, and its age has been starting to show for quite some time now: liquid was seeping through some areas of the ceiling, the cabinets were falling apart, tiles were coming loose, the floors sung every evening, and the walls were in dire need of a basic paint job. From observation, however, compared to other homes in the city, the family home was in pretty decent shape. Still, money was put together, contractors were hired, and construction on just about the entire home was commenced at the last quarter of 2022.

The main objective of the home project is to expand the home altogether: this will be done via a floor-to-floor extension from the backside of the house. The extension will then be connected to the original home, and modifications will be done to mend the two together seamlessly. In addition to the extension, the home itself will receive the following upgrades:

• new porcelain flooring on the 2nd floor
• open-concept living and dining areas
• addition of a 2nd living quarter (i.e an alcove or sorts) on the 3rd floor (we are planning on turning this open space into an office/study area)
• addition of a master bedroom
• addition of a shower in the 2nd floor bathroom
• addition of a 4th bathroom on the 3rd floor
• new siding, shutters, and a balcony
• removal of our chimney
• new landscaping (chileeeee, they messed up all the ti fleur with their trucks lol) (“ti fleur” means “flower”, for all my non-Haitians)

My family and I are all so very blessed to be in a position to be doing this: it’s one of the biggest investments we have collectively made yet.

Big investments come with even larger risks, especially when dealing with real estate. There are so many hidden surprises embedded within a home, and they will never truly be uncovered until the work itself is being done live: you just do not know until you are in the midst of it all. Its the same case with anything that needs preventative maintenance: a car, an apartment, even a human all fall into that box. I guess thats why insurance exists.

The extension was completed sometime in March, and the next phase of the renovations required the walls to be removed so that the openings on the extension could mesh with the original house.

Now, I do not know much about houses, but I can promise you this: I do not think its very legal in the state of Massachusetts to live in a home with an entire side missing.

Not only would the merging of the old and the new parts require that the walls be removed, but it would require new insulation, new plumbing, and all new electric wiring.

To make a long story short: once the walls come tumbling down, the home is no longer deemed fit to live in.

We collectively did not plan for anything out of the norm, but when push came to shove, we had less than a 2 week notification to pack up and move. As the days drew near for us to find somewhere to go, all these questions of “where are we going to lay our head?” and “what are we going to eat?” rummaged through my mind continuously.

We were in hot water.

I am someone who lays all their troubles down at the altar, so even as the day for us to skedaddle creeped in, I was certain that God would provide accommodations beyond my imagine.

And that He did. But, at a price.

A fairly large price.

We ended up at an Air-BnB 8-minutes away from our original stomping ground. The pictures online did not do it justice: it was beautiful. Small, but beautiful. My style exactly.

I had trouble settling in the first night: the idea of living in someone else’s home (the ‘BNB was encased in a multi-family unit) did not sit well with me. One of the rooms was designated for my sister and I, since in had two, small twin beds, and it did not hit the threshold of my comfort level.

Again, small place.

Fortunately for me, one of the queen bedrooms ended up unoccupied, due to the fact that my brother decided to stay back at home for the renovations: he slept with our cat, Trey, in the basement.

My sister let me have the room, no questions asked. Once I moved my things into the queen bedroom, I felt a blanket of peace hovering over me. If you know me, I have a certain “aesthetic” when it comes to personal living spaces:

• the room needs to be clean
• the decor needs to be minimalistic
• the lighting NEEDS to be warm in nature

It sets the tone for me. I physically cannot function without a designated residential sanctuary.

When I come home after a long day, I need to feel as if I am cozied up with a pair of silk Natori pjs, by a fireplace on a winter evening, sipping a hot cup of cocoa.

With marshmallows.

And whipped cream.

And chocolate chips on top.

That is the only way I am able to describe it.

That bedroom was my stress reliever amongst all the predicaments we were in regarding the renovations. At one point, I ended up loving the unit more than my actual childhood home. I was able to study, slept extremely well every night, and surprisingly enough, I was early to work every day.

Too bad we only had the place for a week.

That next Sunday, our belongings were at a $92/day double bedroom at the Hilton in Dedham.

We are now (by the everlasting grace of God) are in a, what they call, “furnished (not really), short-term rental” that we happened to find online, but our time here is coming to an end, so we have to repeat the process of finding somewhere else to stay for a maximum of one month: accommodations are cool and everything, but not when the money being spent is your own. I have an inkling that we will (again, by God’s grace) be able to do another short-term rental, but I am not certain where we will end up. Evidently, I have so much faith in God’s promises to my family and I.

I honestly just cant wait for this freakin’ house to be done.

I have some takeaway from this experience so far:

1. Be open to change. — I struggle with this immensely: I live my life on a schedule, and I have been slowly learning this year how to be more open to what's unknown in life; you do not need to have a game plan for absolutely everything.
2. Accept what you cannot alter. — Acknowledgment is a grand skill to have: be at peace with the things that cannot be changed, either for the meantime, or for forever. There are some things that simply cannot move, so stop trying to push it.
3. Have control over your emotions. — There were some moments where, I will admit, my frustrations got the best of me. Emotional intelligence is one of the biggest signs of maturity. Think before you speak, and speak before you act.
4. Live simple. — You do not need 7 bottles of perfume, 12 pairs of sneakers, and trash bags full of clothes. When the going gets tough, your eyes start to have a realization of whats truly important.
5. Have more than one property! — This was the biggest takeaway: we would not be in this situation if we had more than one home. Invest in real estate so that in situations like these, or similar, there is always a Plan B (or Home B, haha). I am going to ensure that this particular lesson is learned with a swiftness.

Someone call Bob the Builder to come fix this house, please and thank you.