Every renovation looks like a disaster before it looks like a home.

The middle of a renovation is uglier than the start, which catches everybody out. Walls have to come down before anything better goes up, so the worst-looking day is usually the one where real progress happened. Judging the work at the dust stage tells you nothing except that you are standing in the dust.

Expect the ugly middle and name it when it arrives. The half-rewritten essay, the friendship in the awkward honest phase, the skill you got worse at while changing technique. Take the photo, keep going, and rate it when the plastic sheeting comes down.