The renovation included cleaning, painting, sanding floors, replacing windows, installing lights, and sanding, scraping, and wallpapering walls. New walls were built for practical and aesthetic reasons and women learned wallpapering techniques to refurbish one of the rooms. Eventually a crew was needed to paint the exterior of the house, install locks and advise the women on basic electrical wiring. The women struggled as they began renovating the mansion during the winter, as the building did not have hot water, heat, or plumbing. Renovations included replacing 25 windows and replacing banisters that had been pulled out by vandals. They worked eight-hour days in a “manner they were unaccustomed to”, soon coming to resent the intense, “impossible” demands, even coming to see their administrators as “monsters” and complaining that they would fail.“ To cope with the frustration of learning new techniques while meeting stringent deadlines, the group held meetings to deal with any problems that arouse and sessions to raise group consciousness. Some former students now see this tension as a result of Chicago's authoritarian presence, feeling that she imposed her own goals on the group. Here are some perspectives from participators when they recall the struggles of "Womanhouse" after 25 years later. Camille Grey : “Put 30 women together and see what happens. A nightmare.” Robin Mitchell: " It was simultaneously one of the best and worst experiences of my life.” Mira Schor: " I left the Program after one year, because of my disagreements, and because I wanted to experience the school outside the confines of the Program. I have avoided group feminism since then.” Nancy Youdelman: " Looking back 25 years later, I have mixed feeling about the Feminist Art Program – We had something really incredible and unique and somehow we could not get beyond personalities and create a lasting support system." Chicago and Schapiro invited other local artists Sherry Brody, Carol Edison Mitchell and Wanda Westcoast to participate and to hang their work alongside that of the other women. Among the artists and CalArts students that collaborated were:  In the journal "Signs", Paula Harper says, "the young students did not have much personal experience of traditional marriage and homemaking roles of women. Nonetheless, the ideas of all were influenced by the general aim of feminists in the late 1960s to revise women's position in society by bringing attention to their oppression, and this ideology clearly shared by the many individuals involved gave Womanhouse its impact.