I started building my house almost 30 years ago and have now come to grips with the fact that it will never be finished.

I was personally involved with the project well before construction began.

The moment I first saw the view from the bluff above the Little Darby Creek, where my future house would grow, I had an epiphany like Brigham Young first espying the future site of Salt Lake City (with fewer religious implications): This is the place.

I labored on the work from the beginning, eventually bidding adieu to my contractors after a couple of years, planning to tie up the loose ends on my own. Im still tying.

Little projects that could be put off, were, to be eventually, more or less, tackled and finished more or less. So there was never a day when I was handed the keys and presented, Bob Vila ex machina, with a finished product.

Until relatively recently, I never thought of my house as anything but new. I remember the day just a few years ago that a salesman called seeking to sell me replacement windows.

"But my house still isnt even finished!" I exclaimed.

It was, at the time, more than two decades old.

Im still swimming toward the finish line, but the current against me grows swifter even as I do not.

Although ideas are always being added to my to-do list, now Im prioritizing repairs over those new projects that have been put off, some for nearly 30 years.

Appliances have come and gone and come and gone again.

The HVAC has chugged along like a champ, needing, like me, only occasional minor repair. But I have to imagine that it, like me, is feeling slightly less peppy than in 1992.

And thoughts of my deep-well pump going kaput no longer haunt only my dreams, but now my budgeting, too.

Im even planning can it be possible? to replace, in the next year or so, that new, 28-year-old roof that I helped put on. (This time, I will not be going up there myself.)

Ive found, however, that renovation can be almost as satisfying as addition.

My wife and I recently remodeled our kitchen, a rewarding project. And since were planning to keep the place until were carted out horizontally, we dont have to worry about the tastes of potential buyers. If we want to place decorative terracotta medallions salvaged from the frieze of an old school in the wall above the refrigerator, we can do it. (And we did.)

As time moves on, of course, the temporal imperatives of some projects grow. If Im going to remodel my teenagers bathroom which is now twice their age I need to tackle the project very soon if I want them to enjoy the results as anything but returning visitors, and if I want them to help with the heavy lifting.

Truth be told, I also have furtive thoughts that some day one of my offspring will want to take over the house, the dream thats been growing for nearly 30 years now on the little bluff over the Little Darby.

I have the to-do list ready.

Steve Stephens is the Dispatch home reporter. Email him at sstephens@dispatch.com or follow him on Twitter @SteveStephens.

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Steve Stephens: Home continues to be work in progress and thats OK - The Columbus Dispatch