1. First, as cute and as fun as they are, cats are no help at all when you’re working in the attic.

In short, cats make terrible assistants.

2. Don’t leave tools on top of ladders. Just don’t.

You will knock them off when moving the ladder and you’ll probably yell and curse. A heavy screw gun might bash your toes. Just don’t do it. It’s even worse when other people do it and you knock the stuff off.

3. Everything takes longer than you think it will.

A truism. Usually two to five times longer. Sometimes even longer. Sometimes even longer than that. In the rare event that a project is short and sweet, rejoice.

4. It gets crazy hot in the attic in the summer.

Work in hot spaces early in the day before things heat up. Sometimes it’s more about timing.

5. Thoroughly clean up your work space.

That is, if you want more peace of mind, if you want to be mentally ready to begin again the next day. A clean space invites more dirty work. So allow time, when you still have energy, to organize and clean. A simple thing to say, but so easy to bypass if you’re working hard to get something accomplished.

6. Self-imposed deadlines matter little.

It’s okay to miss them. Honestly. Really. (Remember #3)

7. The vision for any final result will change over time. And it should.

Flex with your ideas. And allow substantial time for thinking and designing before getting that circular saw out. If you can, live in the house for months — or a full year or more — before making serious structural design changes. Planning ahead and scheduling is essential, but don’t be a slave to the plan.

8. Eat fruit and drink water.

And rest often. If you’re pushing too hard to accomplish something, and you don’t have enough fuel in your body, you’ll invariably make a mistake that you’ll need to reverse engineer in the future.

9. It’s okay to take a very long break from renovating.

You have to rejuvenate your energy and interest, and sometimes that means turning your attention to other matters for a significant period of time. Don’t sweat it. It’s not a race.

10. Reflect on progress.

Take the longer view, as they say. It’s easy to get tunnel vision.

11. Enjoy.

It’s all about enjoying the work and the results, the experience of planning and doing the work. Even when there is a friendly cat underfoot in the attic.