I am sorry I am so long in between posts but I have been so busy. The last 30 days of a renovation is the hardest time with coordination and final touches, etc. I literally am up early and fall into bed at night. I have printed a calendar for myself to count down the move. I had to push it back by one week because of the granite coordination.
On top of everything happening, we had another trip to take for a whole week and I was stressed about leaving my son and pets and all the construction, etc. Thankfully, my wonderful mom decided to come up and camp out at the house and supervise the work and the pets! We have a cat and dog and her dog as well. She is such a blessing and I don’t know what I would do without her. She would run to the apt during the day to shower and check up on Justin. The only thing working at the house is a laundry sink and toilet in the garage! He had school and tennis and had some college visits as well! Luckily we have had good weather.
My son says it looks like nothing has been done for weeks. HA! He has no idea the behind-the- scenes that have taken place.
First I had the hardwood floor sanded and stained to match the winding staircase. Omars did an amazing job. They only did 2 coats of poly and said they will come back for one final and buffing when I am ready and all the contractors are finished. Right now I put paper down to cover most of it. They also installed laminate for me in the mud room. I decided to cut costs and not tile that area. We also agonized what floor to extend down the hallway, either tile, hardwood or laminate. I am so glad we picked the hardwood it looks great I think.
The tub for the girls bath and all the faucets and toilets and shower valves, etc. were all delivered. My crawlspace guy told me the washing machine pipe was leaking in the crawlspace. I had to have that fixed before my girls bath could be plumbed and checked for leaks. My drywaller, Wilmer, was running around all over the house to fix last minute items for my tile man Elmer to come in. My outside trim worker, Oswaldo, finally made it around the whole house again to fix last minute wood rot. I have not gotten the final bill on all that but I hope it’s not as expensive as just siding the whole thing, which is what I am wondering if we should have done. It just wasn’t in the budget right now.
The cabinets for the bathrooms and apartment kitchen were delivered. The day we left for our trip the installer came. We didn’t get to see the final placement until we got home! I was dying to see if the wood I picked matched up okay with the floor. In the picture my son sent its didn’t. In person it looks pretty good! The week before the trip I finalized the granite order. I picked something kind of wild for the kitchen but I think it will look good. It has sapphire blue tones in it, I love blue personally and I think the granite is gorgeous. I will probably do a white quartz in the main house. So I went a little crazy in the apartment… Also I totally forgot I have to get knobs for the kitchen. I can’t even open the doors without them really. And the installer was all ready to put them in for me! Now I have to order knobs and put them in ourself. Rats.
While we were away the plumbing was finalized in the girls bath in the main house and the washing machine pipe fixed and the drywall finished in Georgi’s room (we took out one whole wall of closets) and Elmer began with the tile. I didn’t realize how long it takes so I had to push back the granite measurement again. It is going to be cutting it close.
A side note to everything that has been going on, Mark has been sick. He had childhood asthma and now it seems to have returned. WebMD says it can be brought on by allergies, pollutants, stress and age related lung capacity decrease. He has all of the above! It has been really hard on everyone. During the whole diagnosis period, he swore it was the house making him sick. I am sure the renovation dust and dirt the former owner left behind does not help, but those things are not permanent. However, it became such an issue I finally thought I am just going to fix the apartment and put it up for sale. I am not going to spend the next 30 years with Mark complaining he can’t breathe. We went away for the week and Mark did not take his medication because he figured he wasn’t at the house and would not need it. That turned out to be a mistake because he still had asthma while we were away! That proved it was not the house. He is somewhat resolved now that his asthma is caused by the air everywhere. So that was a blessing we went away I guess, even though it was rotten timing.
Tomorrow the tile should be finished, and the windows are coming! Also, the painters are supposed to show up and scrape the rest of my rotten paint and caulk. They are so far behind due to the weather and waiting for all my rotten wood to be finished. The house looks so dreary from the outside with no paint. I can’t wait to get a first coat on at least. The vanities are being installed this week and the appliances are coming Thursday, just in time for the granite measurement. Also, I have finished painting the baseboard trim and that is going up. My plumber is coming when he can, to install the toilets and shower valves. My electrician is coming next week to hang the lights and fans. Alot is happening these last weeks! This weekend I plan to totally clean the apartment and have it ready for carpeting. I can’t wait to move in. Wegmans shopping center is so loud and even though it’s nice to walk to shopping and eateries I need a peaceful nights sleep. The constant traffic and trucks bringing supplies to Wegmans is getting soooo old.
Another side note, we are adjusting to the wildlife. The wasps and bees are everywhere, I guess they had free range of the house for so long and we have eliminated all their nesting places they are still hanging around looking for a new place. There was a huge hive in the upper corner of the back of the house. We have killed so many already. Some are honey bees and I don’t want to kill them but they are in our metal railing and I think in one of our porticos. I don’t want the painters getting stung so I called our Pest guy to come again. Maybe I should call a beekeeper…I have had 3 contractors tell me we have a black snake living right out back, once it was hanging from the fence. I have yet to see it and hope I don’t. Also the other night two wild turkeys were outside our garage gobbling so loud my cat came flying inside. One worker swears he saw a bob cat out back? This wildlife is gonna take some getting used to. But its nice to hear the frogs at night. I love that sound.
Kitchen cabinets in
Laminate in the mud room
finished hardwood down the hallway
Ferguson delivering my tub!
Girls bath almost finished
my poor house after powerwashing more wood rot replaced
apt bath almost finished
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