I am gonna whine a little bit today. Something new and different…
Hubby and I have owned this house for eight years now. We did a lot of work on it the spring before we got married in 2006, and very little since then – a half bath that was still from the 70s and the most used “public area” bathroom was redone, we had the marble foyer floor updated, and of course the entire inside has been painted at least once. But, not much else has changed in the interior prior to this year.
My last house was built in 1925, and my ex-husband and I rehabbed that house from top to bottom. There was not a room that wasn’t touched, not a piece of woodwork that was not stripped, not a floor that wasn’t refinished.
So, I have not only lived through the renovation process, I have done the renovations myself.
Today my first-world-problem is that we decide to have new hardwood floors installed in the living room, office and family room replacing carpet and parquet, and it is taking a bit longer than expected. The three rooms flow into one another, but the office can be closed, and so can the living room. This process was started while we were away last month. We were gone for five days, and had high expectations on how much of the process would be completed while we were gone. Let’s just say the TV home shows are edited by Pinocchio.
We have a large house. In my opinion, it is a very large house. Our home has 10 rooms. Right now, four of the 10 are torn apart, and five of the other six rooms are full of furnishings from those four rooms. It is like living in a rabbit warren.
It honestly wasn’t terrible until the family room furniture had to be moved out before the living room and office furniture could be returned. That picture above has been my desk area for a week. To say I am getting a bit claustrophobic, is a colossal understatement.
My nephew came over yesterday and helped me move some furniture around. This benefited Hubby far more than me, but now I can open the dining room up and allow light in, and that helps mentally. Then too this entire process is almost finished, and my rabbit warren should be a thing of the past in just a day or two. Looks for a lot of pictures, ideas and stories about this undertaking. I have taken over 200 pictures, so all that is left is the sorting and resizing.
Do you have renovations, painting, updating planned for your house this year? If so, what projects are you undertaking and how are they coming along?
Shell says
I feel your pain Ann. We have new flooring going down in our house. My hubby is a contractor so he is doing it. The first area to be done was the living room/dining room/hall. It was rather crazy with all the furniture moved to other rooms. Finding items needed was a real challenge! That area is now done and everything moved back. We now have a break until hubby is ready to start on the kitchen, where a wall will be removed in addition to new flooring going down. The whole house is going to be done, but I have no idea how long he will drag this out.
Ann says
I can’t wait to move everything else back, Shell. With the office and living room furniture being returned, we are now down to two rooms that are a mess – half the kitchen (in the picture above) and the family room that the kitchen flows into. This is fine. I can now sort through two weeks worth of mail, work in my office and pretty much resume life except for eating at the kitchen table.
I do NOT envy you your kitchen reno. In this house the kitchen was done right before we moved in, but we are planning a partial in Florida – just a new counter-top, back-splash and sink, so it shouldn’t be too bad. We can’t take down walls, so there is only so much that can be done in that little kitchen. Hubby insists the floors down there are fine, but after living through this here, I want to be 1000% certain before loading the place with furniture. There are only five rooms in that condo so we’d have to rent a storage locker to do a future reno… may as well get it done first before we have stuff to contend with.
Ann
KimH says
No major renovations going on here this year.. though that doesnt mean there shouldnt be.
A “friend” put tile in our kitchen which was wonderful, but he didnt put in a new sub-floor so we now have many cracked tiles.. That needs to be done sooner than later.
We also need a new roof.. badly! M’honey keeps talking about doing it, but he hasnt done it yet..
I’ve got some cosmetic stuff to do, mostly painting the stairway & one of the upstairs rooms. I need to push a sponge wash on the room I pained a year or two ago too.. its too intense and needs to be softened.
All of the walls could do with a fresh coat of paint and some of the wood floors need to be stripped & redone.. I’d love to get rid of the carpet in the living room too but I doubt M’honey sees that as I do.
Ann says
We are having the roof and gutters done at the end of the month. I can’t wait for all this to be over… next time, we won’t let it all pile up (she says earnestly even though she knows it is probably a lie).
Ann
KimH says
LOL I hear ya. If we do any one big project, that’ll be the one we do. I have no clue what M’honey is waiting on.. silly guy! All I know is that I wont be having one thing to do with it..
Tamona Valentine says
I can’t believe I am about to say this, for once, I don’t envy you. I hate remodeling period! I don’t want any kind of house changes with my husband involved lol! He has a way of making remodeling jobs down right painful!
Ann says
Oh Tamona, I know exactly what you mean! Hubby and I have done pretty well on this one though. The floors were my baby, and in the end I did the hiring, prep and return work. Ironically, he found our installer. Since he has stayed out of the process, all has been well between us. I think this is how we are going to roll from now on…
Ann
Candie says
Ann, You know I am doing extensive renovations to my 11 year old house. The inside is finished being painted. The hardwood floor was suppose to go in the middle of this month, but with the tornadoes in Oklahoma, the fireman that was doing the floor is helping tornado victims fix their houses. I can’t tell him not to because they are in such need but it will probably be August or September before he starts. The new patio is pushed back until September because he is a fireman, roofer and patio guy, and he is volunteering with the tornado victims. Painting of the outside of my house, it is over a 100 degrees every day and the fireman doing it said it has to go into the 90s before he paints. He said the heat can actually blister the paint.
The new kitchen cabinets and counter tops will probably be at the first of the year. I did not realize how expensive they were, so I have to save a little more money.
So right now I am at a standstill until tornado victims are helped and the weather cools down, nothing that I can change.
Candie
Ann says
I wish you luck, Candie. I’ll have the hardwood floor posts ready for the week of the 22nd (at least that is what I am shooting for) – it will give you some idea of what is in store for your household.
Ann