Gift for the stressed home renovator

April 4, 2024 8:07 AM

Searching for gift ideas for my boyfriend. He is at the beginning of a major home renovation project and is stressed about it.

I see this post in the archives, but in this case, my boyfriend is doing the planning, design, and overall project management but is not actually doing the construction work. Looking for a practical gift that might make his life easier during this project. Something under $100 is preferred, but would consider more expensive options.

posted by maddieD to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

Some kind of pre cooked meal delivery service so he doesn't have to cook or grocery shop.
posted by phunniemee at 8:20 AM on April 4 [5 favorites]

Depending on the areas of the home disrupted:
- Laundry service
- Paper plates
- Small appliances such as a toaster oven or hot plate to replace an inaccessible large appliance
- Dorm fridge
- Gym membership
posted by shock muppet at 9:41 AM on April 4 [1 favorite]

I just did this over the last few years.

Sketchbook + high quality tape measure.

More effort but would REALLY land: I would have loved someone to document before, during, and after for me and print a photo album of the project like with Artifact Uprising or Mixbook or similar.
posted by amaire at 11:56 AM on April 4 [4 favorites]

A subscription to a magazine with cool design ideas? A gift certificate to Home Depot or some sort of supplier? (There'll probably end up being some detail he wants to upgrade but doesn't want to pay that much extra for it, like really slick kitchen hardware or something.) Also honestly, a high quality headlamp is super useful in many situations. I found some books useful, but moreso on the topics where I was in the DIY weeds. A certain number of hours of paid consultation with a design-build or construction-supervision person? (During a major home renovation that went wrong, I met a construction-defect expert witness, and I wish we had just paid him to do occasional consultations and progress inspections for us from the start. And one of the best people we met was a design-build general contractor who was willing to guide us and share subs' contact info.)
posted by slidell at 1:10 PM on April 4

Some nice front door entrance hardware (1, 2, 3) or gift certificate for same.
posted by cocoagirl at 1:42 PM on April 4

A year subscription to Polycam (or similar) could be useful. He can use it to map the entire house and use it for quick reference for measurements and answer general questions.

If he's going back to the framing during reno-- it's a really good time to scan the house with the plumbing and electrical all visible, so when the drywall goes up, and you need to hang a TV or drill a hole somewhere, you essentially have x-ray vision to help you.
posted by Static Vagabond at 2:43 PM on April 4 [4 favorites]

Perhaps something to help him with the design, planning or project management part, such as a subscription to an on-line tool that would be useful but that he might not think to organise himself or even know they exist?
posted by dg at 11:08 PM on April 7