The term “home improvement hell” is used to describe the inconvenience, unexpected complications, and inevitable delays associated with home improvement projects. However, setting aside all alliterative advantages, I actually think purgatory, defined as “a place or condition of suffering, expiation, or remorse,” is a more appropriate description of this mayhem.

Let’s dissect and enhance that definition. I think the suffering part is pretty self-explanatory. Noise, dust, delays, no water, no power, that giant sucking sound from your wallet, etc. — no question, if home improvement was playing a hand in the card game of suffering, it’d have a royal flush! (Which reminds me — don’t forget “no toilet!”) Next, to expiate is “to make amends or reparation for.” While this typically applies to one’s own sins, in the context of home improvement this could certainly apply to the sins of former homeowners, right? They did all the sinning, and now you’re left doing all the “amends and reparations.” As for remorse, what homeowner, upon learning that their original 3-week project (already running months behind) isn’t going to be completed for another 6 weeks, doesn’t, in a moment of despair, regret ever having decided to do it in the first place? Finally, purgatory has two connotations that make it apropos to home improvement: 1) it can be seen as a self-imposed state (i.e., as a consequence to one’s sins), and 2) it is usually considered a temporary state. As for hell, self-imposed or not, it’s usually a one-way ticket, right?

So, for our purposes, we’ll use the following working definition:

Pur-ga-to-ry n. A temporary, self-imposed state of suffering, expiation, or remorse.

And if that’s not a good description of a major home improvement project, I don’t know what is!

So begins our “Home Improvement” series of blog entries. In the entries to come, we plan to bring you all the details of our major patio and sideyard renovation as well as a blow-by-blow account of our from-the-ground-up kitchen remodel. Stay tuned — purgatory awaits!

This entry was posted by Steve on Thursday, June 1st, 2006 at 7:29 am and is filed under House, Yard/Garden. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.