There comes a time when a space just... starts to bug you? Nothing dramatic. No gas smell. Just a gradual feeling that things don't flow anymore.Maybe the light doesn't fall right. Or maybe you've been jiggling the same tap for months. You keep putting it off — until you don't.That's when renovation starts. Not always with a designer's portfolio.

That tap wasn't even broken. Just temperamental. You had to nudge it a bit sideways and then back a hair to the right to get non-freezing water. If you messed up the angle, it'd shriek. Not loud, but oddly high-pitched — like a kettle screaming. I let it go for too long. Blamed the plumbing. Blamed the apartment. Blamed everything except myself.O