Demolition continues at our house. We officially have a hole where the master bedroom shower used to be, but we also have a new shower head where there previously wasn't one in the guest bathroom. Tiles have been removed and I think I saw a little smile on Jack's face when he got to take a sledge hammer to the shower floor this past weekend. It is fun to work with tools and tear stuff up, no matter what it looks like when you are through.
The wallpaper removal is a whole different story. Whoever put up the border in the living room and dining room loved wallpaper paste. LOVED wallpaper paste. I think they must have found a good sale on it somewhere and just hated not to use it all because they double or triple pasted this border on this wall. It was going no where. This border had to be removed in layers-- the top layer, the backing, and then the sticky residue left behind kind of like when you remove a price tag from an item and the residue is left, but worse. My mom, Jack's mom, and I, along with my cousin, and a few others from time to time have worked on it for days and we have about a wall and a half left to remove.
We are beginning to consider paint colors and floor coverings so everything is moving along nicely. We are rather boring when it comes to paint, so that choice shouldn't be too difficult for us. And when it comes to floor coverings, we prefer carpet. I know, I know...hardwood is beautiful. Hardwood is THE thing to do. Hardwood is easy to care for (sort of). We've heard all of the arguments and seen all of the eye rolling when it comes to floor covering. We do have some original hardwood in the house, but we just prefer carpet. So, we will protect that hardwood by choosing a carpet that we like and enjoying the comfort of nice, soft, warm carpet. Thank you.
Between all the work at the house and all the work I'm doing for my summer teaching, I completely forgot that this past weekend was a holiday weekend until last Friday. So while I enjoyed having the day off yesterday and spending some restful time with our families, I now have to be mindful of the shorter work week in completing what I need to do for my summer class. I am trying very hard to focus on enjoying each process that I am dealing with this summer, from the house, to teaching, to all of the other work I am having to do. I know how quickly this summer is going to pass me by and if I spend all my time worrying about how quickly it's going to go or wishing the house was done and I was moved I'm not going to enjoy any of it. So instead I'm trying to learn as I go, take pictures, and enjoy the processes I'm involved in. I hope that will help me make the most of this summer.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Renovations
We closed on the house two weeks ago tomorrow. It feels great to have a home even if we don't live there yet. Since my job is more flexible than Jack's and allows me more opportunity to slip away and meet plumbers, contractors, etc for estimates, I've been calling people and meeting them for the past several days.
Some things have been difficult about this part of the process that I didn't expect. For example, do you know that there are multiple ways to take down a wall in a home? We met with 7 different contractors/carpenters who were qualified to take down a wall between two living rooms and each of them described a completely different way that they planned to take down our wall. Some of them seemed viable, others seemed a little scary. All of it was a little overwhelming. The fun part for me was listening to all of them talk about what they would do and how they would do it so now I can ask some questions and talk about taking down a wall and sound half-way intelligent about it. "So are you going to put a header up there or are you going to use an LVL beam in the ceiling?"
That's right...just call me Francie Vila. Or better yet...name me after one of those people on HGTV who never actually does any of the work but stands back and watches other people while smiling and talking about it like she knows what's going on. Yeah, that's who I want to be.
We have pretty much settled on who is going to do most of the work now, so it's a matter of making some of the detailed decisions and waiting for when they can work us in. So far-- so good.
Summer has begun as far as my school year goes. I am teaching a class that begins shortly so I haven't really gotten to take a break yet, but I look forward to taking one soon...maybe.
Some things have been difficult about this part of the process that I didn't expect. For example, do you know that there are multiple ways to take down a wall in a home? We met with 7 different contractors/carpenters who were qualified to take down a wall between two living rooms and each of them described a completely different way that they planned to take down our wall. Some of them seemed viable, others seemed a little scary. All of it was a little overwhelming. The fun part for me was listening to all of them talk about what they would do and how they would do it so now I can ask some questions and talk about taking down a wall and sound half-way intelligent about it. "So are you going to put a header up there or are you going to use an LVL beam in the ceiling?"
That's right...just call me Francie Vila. Or better yet...name me after one of those people on HGTV who never actually does any of the work but stands back and watches other people while smiling and talking about it like she knows what's going on. Yeah, that's who I want to be.
We have pretty much settled on who is going to do most of the work now, so it's a matter of making some of the detailed decisions and waiting for when they can work us in. So far-- so good.
Summer has begun as far as my school year goes. I am teaching a class that begins shortly so I haven't really gotten to take a break yet, but I look forward to taking one soon...maybe.
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