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.