14 Simple Renovations That Turned Into a Sitcom the Owners Didn’t Sign Up For

They say you can’t finish a renovation, you can only survive it. But for the heroes of this article, it’s not just changing wallpaper, but a real test of humor and the strength of family ties. Sometimes, in the process, you find out that your contractor will respond to any name if paid, your husband dreams of polystyrene foam while sleeping, and your cat deserves its own “walk of fame” right on your brand-new self-leveling floor.

We’ve put together 15 stories that prove any renovation will be a blast if there’s love and fun at home. And in the bonus section, you’ll get an example of how even an unexpected renovation can bring joy.

• We decided to make a trendy self-leveling floor. We smoothed it out to a perfect mirror finish and went to bed.
  In the morning, we opened the door with anticipation, only to find cat prints everywhere! Our cat somehow managed to open the door. My wife said, “We’ll have to redo everything!”
  But I decided to get creative and took a fine brush and a can of gold paint. I carefully painted each paw print in gold. Now we don’t have a ruined floor, but our cat’s personal Walk of Fame.

• A year ago, I was renovating the kitchen and fiddling with the plumbing. I disconnected the sink drain and was working on the connections. I discovered a small leak and placed a basin underneath.
  While I was fixing the leak, quite a bit of water accumulated. Out of habit, I poured it all back into the sink, and of course, it went right back down since the drain was disconnected. Frustrated, I went to clean it up.
  But my wife came in, made a couple of jokes about my attentiveness and cleverness, and pushed me out of the kitchen, saying she’d handle it herself. Fine. She brought a bigger basin, collected everything with rags, dried the area, wiped it all down, and... emptied the water from the basin back into the sink. © TemaGematogen / Pikabu
• My husband occasionally talks in his sleep. So, I thought I’d have some fun. Questions like “Honey, do you love me?” received responses like, “I do.” So, the next time, our conversation went like this:
  — Alex, who do you love?
  — Plastic.
  — What kind of plastic?
  — Extruded polystyrene foam.
  Endless renovations lead nowhere good. © LadyTraveler / Pikabu

• My husband and I decided to put up a shelf. In the morning, we got up and had some coffee.
  My husband says, “Alright, I’m going to drill.” I replied, “Maybe you should make the bed first?”
  He didn’t hesitate for a second: “No, that’s not heroic. I’m going to drill.” Love him! © RedHedPolly / Pikabu
• My husband and I bought a house and began renovating. My mother-in-law was really delighted! I come home from work in the morning, and she’s already bustling with activity in our house: she’s mixed up some glue, brought over old wallpaper, stands with her hands on her hips saying, “Here’s where the sink will be, here’s a place for the nursery. I’ve arranged to pick up the curtain rods from Maria. She’s got new ones, and you can have the old ones!”
  I’m in shock, saying maybe not today. Later, I tell my husband to gently explain to her that it’s our house, and we’ll decide where the nursery will be, where the sink will go. And we’ll pick the wallpaper ourselves. Just find the right words, so she won’t be hurt. My husband agreed.
  The next day, I come home to find my dear hubby looking really sad. He says, “I kicked Mom out of the house. I told her, do whatever renovations you want at your own place, but don’t interfere with ours, and Olga (meaning me) doesn’t like you bossing around here.”
  In short, my mother-in-law got upset, said she wouldn’t set foot in our house again, and to never visit her either. She slammed the door and left. I say, “Wow, that was very diplomatic of you, darling.”
  But the next day, my mother-in-law brought us milk from the village as if nothing had happened. And since then, she hasn’t meddled in our affairs at all. © a11adinnn / Pikabu

• Once my husband and I decided to renovate our apartment. I moved to our summer house, while he stayed in the apartment with the builders to level the walls and plaster. My husband is a meticulous person — always clean-shaven, clothes ironed, smelling nice. But then he let himself go, grew a beard, and walked around in dirty clothes.
  The builders worked during the day and went home at night. After a couple of weeks, I missed my beloved and decided to come home, even just for one night. I arrived in the evening, no one was there, and I went straight to sleep.
  I woke up in the middle of the night, looked around: my drowsy brain didn’t recognize the white empty walls. “Oh God,” the brain panicked. “We’re in some kind of warehouse, how did this happen?!”
  And then I turn, and next to me is a scruffy man sleeping! Brain: “Run!” My husband still laughs remembering how I, knocking over everything in my path, bolted from him, nearly nosediving into the removed flooring. © UFD245 / Pikabu
• When Dad decided to renovate the bathroom, he searched for a good, affordable worker for a long time. Once he found the right guy, he often argued with him over the poorly done work. The problem was with the wall where the tiles needed to be attached.
  So, after a few hours, the worker and Dad stood in front of the wall, saying, “Yes, good job!” — and at that moment, all the tiles crashed down right into the tub. © Overheard / Ideer

• We’re doing renovations. Some of the work is done by the contractor, while my husband and his brother are installing the wiring in the rooms themselves. I brought them some food.
  As I’m leaving the apartment, one of the workers catches up with me on the landing and blurts out, “Miss, forgive me, but I have to say it. Those guys installing the doors, they’re great! The plasterers have hands of gold! The ones laying the laminate also work well. But those electricians! Get rid of them! They can’t do anything at all!” © ***Bear / Pikabu
• The coolest renovation I’ve ever seen was done by my mother-in-law. She put up wallpaper in the bathroom, covering the baseboards. Then she painted the baseboards with brown oil paint. If we skip over my father-in-law’s choice of words, he kept silent about it. © Faxmaq / Pikabu
• We were renovating the apartment. Hired a good foreman. From the very beginning until the end (which lasted almost a year), we called him John. “John, come over,” “John, buy this.”
  Only when the renovation was finished, we found out his real name was Antony! We asked, “Why didn’t you correct us even once?” His answer shocked us. “For that kind of money you paid me, I can be whoever you want me to be.” © Overheard / Ideer

• Today is our wedding anniversary. I arrive home to find rose petals being scattered from the front door to the bedroom. I follow them, slowly open the door — candles are lit, soft music is playing, and my husband is wallpapering wearing only shorts. This was his gift — to finish the renovation. © Ward No. 6 / VK
• About 3 weeks before New Year’s, I decided to change the wallpaper in a small corridor between the bedrooms — the kids had smudged it. I cut the wallpaper, mixed the glue, and waited for my husband to help hold the strip.
  He comes home from work, but he needs to mentally prepare first, because how can you just jump into something like this? He prepared and prepared. No requests worked. Either he had a headache, or he was tired.
  On New Year’s, guests came over. The wallpaper was torn off the walls, the new ones cut and standing in the corner. My husband explained, “We didn’t have time.”
  A year passes. My husband still wasn’t ready, and I stayed quiet. December 31st, I’m bustling around in the kitchen, preparing, waiting for guests. The same ones.
  My husband rushes in yelling, “Quick! Let’s go put the wallpaper up! Drop everything! What will I tell them?! We couldn’t put up the wallpaper in a year?!”
  In the end, we got it done in 2 hours. A satisfied husband admired the results, and when the guests arrived, he announced that we have a tradition: putting up wallpaper for New Year’s. Last year we did it a bit late, but this time we managed to get it done just in time. © Galina Dolgikh / ADME

• When my husband and I just had our daughter, we were finishing the kitchen renovation. Often, we had to drill while the baby was sleeping, but it didn’t bother her. The little miracle continued to sleep soundly despite the noise from the renovation work.
  We finished the kitchen quite quickly — our daughter had just turned 2 months old. I started noticing that she was having trouble falling asleep. She would toss, turn, and cry. Then my husband decided to finish something up in the kitchen, turned on the drill, and our daughter instantly fell asleep!
  I was in shock, told my husband, and he smiled and said, “So what now? We’ll have to start another renovation. Choose: the bathroom or the living room.” And that’s how we ended up redesigning the entire apartment. © Caramel / VK
• My wife and I started another renovation. We already knew how it would end. As soon as I brought the wallpaper into the room, I said, “Darling, no matter what words you hear from me today or what I call you, know that I still love you!” © Unknown author / Pikabu

Bonus: sometimes unexpected repairs can bring fluffy happiness to the home.

• Bought an apartment. During viewings, everything was perfect and smelled like flowers. But then the owners took away the carpets, furniture, and aroma lamps. And immediately added our number to their blacklist.
  We moved in and noticed a smell so strong you could cut it with a knife. It turned out nothing could make it go away: neither special products nor a mixture of peroxide, soda, and vinegar, nor coating the floors with oil or varnish, or painting with enamel. We removed and hauled away the entire wooden floor in the apartment — the craftsman cut and cursed, everything stank. We installed laminate flooring. Spent a ton of money, which, of course, wasn’t in our plans.
  Then, the culprit of our troubles appeared at our doorstep — a scruffy, thin cat. The neighbors told us it was the one that lived and marked the corners in this apartment, and before the sale, the former owners had taken it out to the forest.
  We removed ticks from the cat, fed it well, vaccinated it, and decided to take a chance on keeping it. It’s been living with us for 3 years now. Not once has it missed the litter box. © Overheard / Ideer

What funny incidents happened in your family during renovations? Share in the comments!

And here are renovations that turned ordinary houses into dream houses.