Pretty self explanatory really. Hubby and I brought our house in scotland 6 months ago. It's very dated. Think pink carpets, wood chip wallpaper and frilly pelmets/curtains. We love the house but we can't live with it the way it is. We lived in it a few months to get to grips with how we would live in it but about a month ago we started renovating.

The living room was the first thing on the list. No matter how much I cleaned it I couldn't get rid of the previous owners dog hairs and I can't take it any more! I have young kids so I only get a few hours a time to do anything while they nap.

I ripped up the carpet and then had to do a few big jobs like knocking out the fireplace and re-tiling it. And then fitting shelfs and a mantle. Each time I'd only work 3 hours max (mostly less) working between the hours of 10am and always finish before 7:30pm. However there has been two days where I've worked for whole afternoons.

We've been away the last two weeks and got back yesterday. I worked on putting some flooring down for a few hours and then went to start this evening for an hour.

When my neighbour came over. I met him when we moved in and he said he could barely hear us so I assumed the walls were pretty thick. He said he's fed up with the noise and wants to know when we'll be finished. He says he's at home everyday and goes to bed early and it's not fair on him when it's been going on months (I started in march.) I apologized and recognised I should have warned him we started working and then asked when would be a better time for him and he said no time as it's always too much.

I explained I had so many jobs to do but id always try and accommodate him but he just wasn't having it. He's asked for a time frame for us to be finished and thinks were being unfair. He wants any adjoining rooms done in days. The thing is we have a tiny budget, I'm working 30 odd hours a week my husband 50+ with a bunch of kids and we're having to do it all ourselves. We can't do it all at once without the funds and we're hoping to to it as we go.

We spent our life savings on this house not to mention the huge mortgage just to create a family home but now I feel we can't do anything to it. I suggested doing anything excessively noisy at the other side of the house as were a large semi detached with rooms that don't ajoin which didn't please him as he just wants it done. I think now I'll just be worrying all the time I'll be upsetting him.

The other thing is he isn't exactly quiet himself he owns huge dogs who bark for prolonged periods of time in the garden or house throughout the day and at anti social houses (think 10pm every night for an hour etc) I just put it down as part of living closely to someone else and to just accept it. But now I feel maybe I should have said do you understand that we're pretty understanding of your dogs. Maybe that would have made me the a-hole?

now I'm putting off finishing it not wanting to annoy him further but I'm just gutted I hate that I've upset the guy so much and that people dislike us but I thought I was already being considerate. The house is a mess and we're trying to live around it so not to annoy him. Please help am I the a-hole? Is there a way I can be more considerate? Don't hold back I want to be more understanding of him.