Obviously, some renovations are easier to live with than others. If, for example, your plans include simply redecorating a couple of rooms, transforming an outdoor entertaining area or replacing one bathroom, there’s every chance that some careful planning will enable you to achieve this aim without disrupting your normal daily life too much.

In contrast, however, if your plans extend to a totally new kitchen, a second storey extension or a repaint of the entire house, it may become virtually impossible to live in the house while this process takes place.

The key ingredient here is to plan for the entire process. This could mean a family discussion about everything from how long you can live on take-away food to being honest about whether moving in with the in-laws is going to be more stressful than living with several millimetres of dust coating everything in the house…including you!

Experience tells us that taking an overly optimistic view when planning your renovation won’t help you in the longer term.

After all, the last thing you need is to complete your improvements, only to find that you need an even bigger extension now…because your partner won’t let you back in the bedroom!