house remodel: take one.

hello?  lo lo lo.  anybody out there?  there there there.  

hm, from the sounds of it, there appears to be an echo.  echo echo echo.  so, I'm pretty much assuming you are all long gone.  gone gone gone.

my sincere apologies, but I had a minor, well actually major, technical difficulty.  you see, the hard drive on my mac crashed, like it just up and died without any forewarning, and so I had to bring my computer down to Sedona to get repaired (that's where the mac clinic is located), and what should've been a couple day fix ended up turning into a week long ordeal.  yeah.  apparently, there were some corrupted files that were keeping the computer from booting to the desktop, among other things, and so the software had to be completely reinstalled and well, I have no idea what all needed to be done I'm just repeating what the knowledgeable technician told me which basically went in one ear and out the other due to the fact that I'm severely computer illiterate, but anyway my laptop is up and running again so whatever, it really doesn't matter.  so, apology accepted?  good.

let's see, where to even begin?

at this point in the game, we're roughly three-quarters of the way through the remodeling process and hoo boy, what a ride it's been!  after diving into this project, we realized very quickly that there was way more work that needed to be done than what we had initially anticipated.  like, WAAAY more.  but then again, what project ever turns out to be less complicated than expected?  or goes off without nary a hitch?  or winds up being under budget?  probably not very many.  

so yeah.  needless to say, we've run headlong into some sort of problem at just about every twist and turn, or at least it feels like it.  everything from having to reroute plumbing, to wires running along the ceiling in the exact spot where a recessed light was supposed to go, which in turn had to be dealt with.  in the downstairs bathroom, the previous owners had painted over wallpaper, and so of course that had to be removed.  there was popcorn on the living and dining room ceilings that needed to be scraped.  we decided to turn one of the smaller bedrooms into a laundry room which involved yet more plumbing.  and on and on and on the list goes.    

and don't get me started on Home Depot.  they've been a thorn in our side every step of the way, not even kidding.  instead of taking 7-10 days for the flooring to show up like they promised, it took 5 weeks for it to arrive.  granted it was a special order, but still.  5 weeks?!?  was it on the slow boat from China, or what?  I mean, come on, you orange apron-clad people!  can't you see we're under a time constraint here?  get with the program!

sorry.    

anyway, at least the demolition phase went fast.  we handed out hammers and crowbars to the kids and set them loose on the place.  a few hours later, all that was left was a pile of rubble.  I knew all these kids would come in handy at some point.    

please pardon the dust while you look at these pictures.

                            

in the picture on the left you can see the pipes that Gary had to reroute.  also, he's installed a total of 25 recessed lights throughout the house, so there shouldn't be a lack of lighting.

before painting.

during painting.

after painting.

I'm too lazy to go into all the details of the project right now, so my plan is to give you the full scoop (the before and afters, product information, paint colors, etc) once everything is completed, and we've actually, you know, moved in.  (which is set for June 14th, by the way, yay!)  this week is shaping up to be a busy one-- wood floors are getting refinished Monday and Tuesday, countertops will be installed on Wednesday, and painting and installing flooring upstairs will be happening throughout the week as well.

I'm not going to lie and tell you this project has been a bowl of cherries either, because really, it's been everything but.  loads of back-breaking work, long days, late nights, project delays and/or setbacks (to name a few) have taken their toll on us, causing tempers to occasionally flare and patience to dwindle.     

the good news though: I still like Gary.  and I'm pretty sure he still likes me, but I don't want to put the words in his mouth.

-jessica