It doesn’t take long into most projects to become acquainted with what DIY ers call the mushroom factor. A term originating in 1986 from Clem Labine, an author in The Old-House Journal, describing the unpredictabilty of renovation work, or as Anita of Anita’s ‘Book of Days’ says “Because of the mushroom factor(“Since we are doing this, we might as well do that at the same time.”)”
Yes, my husband and I know this all too well. It comes from the logic of doing what needs to be done since you are there doing whatever it is anyway….only it gets away from you. It mushrooms, in time, money, and effort. And that, friends, is why we have movies such as ‘The Money Pit’- classic example of the mushroom factor gone amuck.
I think this post is in danger of mushrooming, as I have the very bad habit of either digressing or going on and on…. I now have this as a definition to refer back to when I will inevitably be referring to …da tadata….~The Mushromm F-a-c–t-o-r…fadeout
I think our most representative situation of it was the kitchen renovation. It was renovation in name only, what actually happened was that all was torn out to the open air, and my husband started from scratch. I will be devoting at least an entire post to that project… it has many funny moments, well, maybe not all funny, telling is a better word.
Squidoo: Mushroom Factor, Technorati: DIY
“The Money Pit” was pretty funny, Ilona – but when we get into one of those mushrooming situations, the one that comes to mind is always “Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House”. For an old movie fan, Cary Grant will always win out over Tom Hanks!
All we want to do is remove the “popcorn” from the vaulted ceiling and paint the LR – but have hesitated, knowing one always finds surprises once you start taking off the darned popcorn.
Until we make up our minds, I’ll read your adventures, instead.
Annie
popcorn! I haven’t had to deal with that- my houses have always been too old, but we did live in a rented place that had mucky “texture” paint everywhere. Never did learn how to deal with it, moved, thankfully.
I have used some types of texturing products, but went for subtle usually to cover unevenness in the old plaster ceilings. The Craftsman style house we last lived in had what I think was original sand textured ceiling- if not original it was decently done. But the more modern popcorn is something I’d gladly not deal with -ever.