Reno Weeks 5 & 6

I forgot to blog about week 5 so I'll combine it here with week 6.

There was a lot of progress in week 5 such as new... I'm not even sure what this is called - bannister top or something. The old one drove Dave absolutely crazy because it was so poorly done (whaaat!? Not in this house!) and the corner here didn't line up even close to right. It has been redone properly and now he's a happy camper!

The new ceiling fans were installed and they're beautiful! They work really well and to our amazement only the fan blades move rather than the whole fixture!! Hooray!!

Lots of good things happened in week 6! Yesterday was lighting install day and the rest of the new lighting was installed. We'll start with my favorite - the entry way light. So long to the dark, ugly, old bug catcher and hello beautiful! I get a big smile every time I see this light. Oh, and it's brighter and as a Wild you know that makes me happy. 

 We installed these track lights in the kitchen. Two of them. The electrician kept asking if we really want both and Dave kept saying, "You just don't understand. You don't know my wife." It's lovely. Nice and bright. We still need to position the lights in the direction we want them but I think they'll work really well.

As the electrician was securing this to the ceiling he was trying to find the studs. Naturally they weren't in the logical places and he said "I wonder why the stud isn't there...."  House of Wonders. That's all. House of Wonders. We'll never truly know why so many people did so many things so poorly here.

Floors started going in this week. It's super dusty in this picture so a little hard to tell but they really are pretty. During the install in the living room we learned that - wait for it...... the ugly fireplace hearth tile (on the floor) is an inch different from one side to the other. Of course it is. We can't afford to replace that right now so we have to figure out how to make the floor work with it. 

And countertops went in this week. Better pictures to come when everything is completely finished. We're still trying to find a backsplash we like. We bought about 10 or 12 different ones and were really surprised that the ones we thought we'd like the best were the first to go and the ones we brought home on a whim "just in case" are actually in the maybe pile. 

Lots more to do but it's looking like we'll be moving back in around September 9th. Yay!!

Reno Week 4

Hard to believe it's already been 4 weeks! It's gone by fast but we're also SO ready to be done with this. That said, this week we made some progress that feels tangible and promising.

Our cabinets have been installed and they made the template for countertops. When they told me they were coming to measure for countertops I took that pretty literally and thought they would be pulling out a tape measure and measuring for the countertop. Nope. They bring in strips of what looked like balsa wood and literally make a template that they glue together and bring back to the shop.

Surprise number 1 for this week was how much the floor slopes. Most floors slope a little. It's the nature of the beast. But in the House of Wonders this little kitchen goes a full 1 1/8"! We knew the old countertops has a wicked slope but we didn't know it was due to the floors. Which was a builder issue. We also learned that the studs aren't where they should be in the walls. Shocking. Again.

All of this meant some major adjustments to make sure the cabinets and countertops would be level. It also means a challenge for the kick plates when those are installed after the flooring.

So.....all those little dots on these pictures are dust on the camera. I didn't even realize it until just now. But I should have because everything in this house is covered in dust. I was just remarking yesterday that I really wish I could bring a hose in and power wash this whole place - top to bottom. I'm realizing now that once we have everything installed there will still be lots to do before we can move back in. We'll have to clean every inch of space - the walls, floors, cabinets (inside and out), windows, window screens, and on and on. I know that sounds obvious that we'd have to clean before moving back in but you just don't understand the enormity of the mess until you live in it. So much dust everywhere.

Saturday we spent much of the day removing the surprise wallpaper from the bathroom.

We were going to rent a steamer but decided to buy one because, knowing the House of Wonders, we knew it would likely take more than one day so it was cheaper to buy one. That was money well spent. If you ever have to remove wallpaper, do yourself a favor and get a steamer! This thing worked like a charm. 

It was an outright sauna in that bathroom since there are no windows and it has stupid high ceilings so we were sweating like crazy. But it was worth having the steamer!

Surprise number 2 was the entry way. We have to replace some of the subfloor and when they pulled it up they realized that the floor there isn't reinforced! Our contractor worked until late last night installing reinforcements and he'll finish replacing the subfloor tomorrow. Underneath this floor is our food storage. That was one room we didn't plan on moving but we had to move a bunch of stuff out while this was being repaired.

This week we're hoping to have lighting installed, the bathroom textured and painted and late in the week maybe countertops. But if there's one thing we've learned it's that this is all very fluid and there is no such thing as a set date when you renovate. You've just gotta roll with the punches and it will get done when it gets done.

And hope we don't go insane in the meantime. Living in one room. Among dust and chaos. Deadlines looming and nowhere to work. Nowhere to focus. In each other's space 24/7. Ah, but I digress.

And HOORAY! The cabinets are in!!! That is happy.

Reno Week 3

Things are coming along albeit slowly. This week we had a long conversation with our contractor about communicating with us and not making decisions without consulting us. He was going to skip several steps in order to stick to the original timeline. We expressed that we want things done right not half-way. I think he listened to at least part of the conversation. In talking to many other people who have or are doing renovations there seems to be a theme - contractors do NOT know how to communicate. It's completely maddening.

That said, after our little heart to heart, we did make some progress this week. Drywall is all up, plumbing in place and we finished painting Saturday night.

Cabinets start going in on Monday. If all goes well, they will measure for countertops on Thursday.

One of the things I've noticed as we've worked on the house is how dingy the walls get and you don't even notice. Until you take everything out. Then all those spots stand right out. And some things are just confusifying.  Like how do food splatters get on the wall behind the armoire in the kitchen? There wasn't any food in there and it was up against the wall. I just don't get it.