What is the price of living in an ongoing renovation? I don’t mean the monetary cost. The cost in time, time that might have been spent doing something else.

Every weekend we spend time working on our house. Time that could be spent elsewhere, relaxing, preferably with a drink with a straw in it…

David Giffels and his wife have spent 12 years renovating their home.

The strain on their marriage, as Mr. Giffels admits in his sweet and funny book, “All the Way Home: Building a Family in a Falling-Down House,” which will be published next month by HarperCollins, has not been inconsiderable. Weekends, vacations, time Mr. Giffels might have spent with his two children, have been given over to such projects as removing, cleaning, and re-caulking the 733 windowpanes in the house. (He counted.)

And yet, they are still not done. The Giffels do not believe in credit cards and other than their mortgage, they have no debt. This means that they do not embark on any home improvements until they have the money. What a novel idea! Quaint, even. My mother, a product of the Great Depression, doesn’t believe in credit cards either.

How long did projects like re-caulking 733 window panes take?

“Years,” Mr. Giffels says. “This is where I’m glad I wrote the book 10 years later, it gave me a perspective of all the time it cost: All my vacation time, all my possible spare time, a number of years of my children’s growing up I gave to my children’s house. And once you get in it, you can’t get out, you can’t sell a house in that condition. When all of a sudden you realize what it is costing you in your life, it’s too late.”

And yet Mr Giffels says that they would do it again.

I am looking forward to release of his book next month. Maybe it will remind me of why we chose our house.

A few weeks ago I was at my local library looking at some design books on the shelf when I saw a small book mixed in the lot, a book that was the size of a novel. So I reached in and pulled it out. That book was Gutted, by Lawrence LaRose. A novel about one man’s adventure in home renovation. I guess this isn’t a new book, having been published in 2004, but what can I say other than I live in a small town where a four year old book still warrants a NEW sticker on the spine. Also, I had not heard of the book before this.

The book opens with Lawrence describing a photo of the day they took possession of the house. His wife is smiling on the porch holding cleaning supplies, while he is off camera holding a too small crow-bar, “testaments to [their] ignorance.” The bucket and mop won’t be used for ages and the crow bar will very quickly be replaced with something more effective.

That scene resonated with me. I clearly remember when my husband and I bought our first house, a fixer-upper that no one wanted. “It just needs some paint.” we told everyone and each other. We felt like we had won the lottery. I remember turning to my husband at the closing and saying, “I can’t believe that they are letting us buy this house.”

What can I say? We were young. I am not sure who the mythical “they” were that I was referring to either, but I have the distinct feeling the heirs of the deceased owner were thinking, “I can’t believe they are buying this house from us.”

We neglected to see the outdated wiring that need replacing, the new furnace, the walls that needed insulating, the porch that was falling off the house. I suspect that if there were a photo of us on that first day it would show me holding a paint brush and my husband with a hammer.

I only wish he had written about his house in more detail. And the voyeur in me was wishing for a photo or two.

Anyone who has renovated a house, or is thinking of renovating a house, will appreciate this book. Especially if they are the one who is home all day doing the renovating and their spouse routinely comes in and asks, “And what have you been doing?”

Looking for a unique gift for the DIYer on your Christmas list? The person who already owns all the cool tools, spends all their free time working on their house, and has no real life or hobbies that don’t revolve around the house?

What about some rusty tools?

Okay, these aren’t really old rusty tools. These are chocolates hand made by Andrea Slitti, of the world-famous Slitti Cioccolato in Tuscany and sold at Tuscon International.  Slitti’s signature solid chocolate tools (56% cocoa) dusted in cocoa powder to give a “rusty tools” effect.

Slitti Chocolate is made with the finest and most natural ingredients possible. Through careful selection, roasting and grinding of beans, the full flavors are released without the bitterness often associated with dark chocolate or dark-roast coffee. They will not taste one bit like rusty tools.

Honestly, who doesn’t love chocolate? The perfect gift for the handyman, or woman, in your life.

And if you don’t know anyone who fits that description, you can feel free to send a box my way.