My Heroes :0)

And I thought last week was the lowest point... I apparently wasn't looking at the chart quite right because I was still sliding down to the actual lowest point ;) Which I think I am at right now. I want to kick and scream because my house is still destroyed and I am spending every penny I have to live in a spider infested basement!! ARGH! Ok, enough whinning... Here are a few updates! Sorry for the long post, but it has been a while ;)

My parentals and Gwen came over on Saturday and tore off the ugly 'mud room' that was on the back of the house! It was a strange shape that didn't really complement the house and it blocked all of the great natural light from the back door... So, we tore it down!! What a big deck I have now!! My contractor was surprised and glad we didn't kill our selves! How tough are they:



Did you know it rained HARD on Friday night?? I was getting ready to head out and heard a trickling sound... it was water coming in the side door and down into my basement! Check out the little pool that formed!!

Frog towel to the rescue! I bundled it up and jammed it under the door. The rain eased up and stopped coming in the house... But it shows just how important gutters are!! Hopefully the new ones will be up in the next week.

When the freight company dropped off my damaged vanity, they forgot to bring my tub. For about a week, we thought someone had stolen the tub off the freight truck, but then I got a call that it was found! Hurray - that meant it wasn't lost and it could be installed soon... No wait, that crate looks a little damaged... and that isn't what the tub is supposed to look like!!
Fortunately I was at the house when this was delivered, and we just refused to accept it. 0 for 2 on the master bath stuff! There are still arguements between the supply company and the freight company about who pays for the damage, but the wonderful news is that a new tub and new vanity will be here in 3-5 days!! Ok, that was one recovery that could have been baaad.

There is another contractor that has been helping at my house and he is also a great carpenter! In the past week or so, he has gotten all of the trim installed, including the new trim around the doors and the baseboard. The drywall guy has about 2 days of stuff to finish and then we are ready for paint! Oh and I need to get a new back door... Of course this door size is a custom size... nothing is ever as easy as it seems.

And the bead-board is going up in the hall bath... Big improvement.
See what a mess my house is? How are they going to get all these pieces back together??

I have a few other pictures on my camera that I can't get off... A few are pictures of "cone-head" AKA Sadie. Last weekend, she did something (I still don't know what) and cut her head - she needed about 10 stiches (on a Saturday night - yeah, pricey) and the cut was almost an inch deep. Poor doggie. But she is almost better now and getting the stiches out tomorrow.

And Rachel is coming to visit this weekend!! YAY!! We will spend some time together and go to the Crawl for Cancer on Sat night. There are still 2 openings on the team if anyone wants to drink on Saturday afternoon for a good cause!!

The Lowest Point...

My contractor showed me one of their favorite charts yesterday... It shows the level of excitement at each stage in the remodel process. Turns out, I am in the middle of the lowest part of the whole process, and I can really feel it. This past week included a small melt down, but at least I know it was because I am at the lowest point... If I can figure out how to scan that chart in, I will share it with everyone!!

We had a cabinet crisis this week. After they started putting the cabinets in, I noticed that the doors and drawers were not what I ordered... Turns out what I ordered didn't actually exist so the cabinet guy filled in with something similar... but oh so not the same! After some kicking and screaming (and yelling too), we figured it all out and the doors and drawers will ultimately be what I want.

So, the boxes are almost in (and being installed in this picture):

Here are the cabinets on the sink wall. The last cabinet on the top row is getting replaced (the left one is 24" and the right one is 21" -- those aren't the same number, right?):

And here are the cabinets on the opposite wall. My pantry will be pretty cool because those shelves on the bottom swing out and then there are more shelves behind!!

And in bathroom news, the tiling might actually start tomorrow. Kinda thought it would be done by now, but no. Here is the tile I picked. The multicolor mosaic is being used as the shower floor and also as a trim / border around the shower area. I am using 18" and 6" tiles on the floor in the color of this 6" tile:

And about a week ago, I thought the master bath vanity wasn't coming until late September, which was a bummer since that meant no place to brush my teeth... But then I found out that it was actually on the truck and it is in my garage right now:

One small problem... It is damaged. So I have to call and insist they give me a bunch of cash to fix it, or take it back and send me another one... oh man, my head hurts...



If this really is the lowest part, then it can only be up from here, right? Target completion is Aug 22nd - just over 3 weeks to go. From now on, there will be like 4 people working on my place at all times. I hope this time goes fast!!!

There ARE cabinets in those boxes...

Yesterday, my presents were opened and there really are cabinets in those boxes!! Sorry the flash didn't work too well, but there are starting to be cabinets in my kitchen. The counter top template people are coming out on Friday so that means the cabinets will all be in place by then!!!
Here is a closer image of one of the cabinets. I still need to pick out the door pulls, but I think I am really going to like these!
I decided to take one more picture of the hall bath in all its destruction / glory. Concrete walls to hold on the tile - crazy!! But this should turn out super cute when we are all done!

And progress (just a tiny bit) has been made in the master bath - the shower pan has been poured. It takes a few days to set, and then the major tiling can begin!

Kitchens and bathrooms - oh my! Hopefully lots more changes are coming in the next few days!!!

Wood to go with the Walls!

Over the last couple of days, my house has gotten a few pretty major deliveries!!! My living room is now home to my kitchen cabinets - still in boxes!!! And see those blue/black/metal things? Those are the stilts that the drywall guy used while texturing the ceiling - kinda like my own little circus!

And I had 1200 square feet of flooring delivered!! Here is just some of it!!

And my new bedroom has the rest of it: And lastly, the texturing is almost done, and I couldn't be happier about the way it turned out! Unfortunately, I don't think you can see too much from this picture, but it's the thought that counts, right??
The texture guys got a little behind schedule, but there were 2 of them getting after it today so I think we should be done with walls by the end of the day! The kitchen cabinets will start to be hung either later today or next week! I guess this means I will have to post more to keep up with everything!! YAY!!

And who's jealous - I get to go to the zoo tomorrow with Laura and Ruthie. Neener neener.

Might even be more fun than horse back riding with my mom last Saturday:

But maybe not... I haven't been horse back riding since a trip to Mexico when I was 21! It was the perfect weather to be on a horse in the mountains last weekend...

Sadie is Silly...

Sadie and I were driving back from my mom's cabin on Saturday and Sadie just couldn't get comfortable. She kept getting up and moving around...

Anyway, she finally decided to sit in my laundry basket!! That was full of clean laundry!! As I was driving down the road, I took these pictures. What a funny dog!

WALLS!!!

I seriously can't believe it!! Almost 3 months since we started tearing down walls, and I have walls again!! This means all of the plumbing and electrical is pretty much done and the work can start moving right along, with fun changes!! I was out of town for work this week and it was so nice to come home to see real drywall. The plan is for the drywaller to be done texturing on Wednesday. So a messy few days ahead, but I can handle it!


Here is the view from the front. Notice the second arch way - that was my mom's idea. I didn't like it at first, but I really like it in this picture!!

And I have walls in the bathroom! This was probably my favorite part because now I can see where the shower will really be, where the tub is, etc.

Like the new window too? It is frosted on the bottom, but clear on the top! There is one window in my neighbors house that has a good "view" but with some nice curtains or perhaps standing in the right spots, this should not be a problem!

And this is my upstairs laundry room - my washer and dryer will be where the stool is. Don't worry, the orange pant is not going to stay...

And here is a good shot of the hall bath as they start the demolition. In the old days, they used to put concrete (almost called it cement and then thought of Laura) on the walls a few inches thick and then attach the tile to that! This means that a ton of concrete coming off the walls. I am glad to be rid of the ugly tile though!!

I also decided to put a window in the garage/shed room. This will make it much easier to see inside and I think it will be a great room for Sadie to hang out it in!!

A productive work week for sure! This week, the cabinets are being delivered on Tuesday and should be up by the end of the week! And my hardwood flooring should be here soon too! I also ordered a BUNCH of tile and the tile guys are starting tomorrow!! More pictures soon, I promise!

I Have A New Favorite Color!!

It is called Craftsman Brown from Sherwin Williams, and it is the color that my house has been painted!!! YAY! No more ugly wall for me!!

There is still a lot more to do and the painters will be at my house for a few more days, but that is ok by me because it is looking really good! I actually drove past my house on the way home the other day because I didn't recognize it!!

This picture is the only part that has both the trim and the accent color on it. I really like the way the colors look together:

And here is the front porch, zoomed a little to see the color better:

Since I don't get to have brick color on the outside, I am adding more brick color to the inside! Unfortunately the flash didn't work right, but this is the wall in my kitchen and they are exposing the brick that was under the plaster:

And BRING ON THE DRYWALL! My house is framed and electrified and plumbed and we are ready for drywall! Should start today or tomorrow and then we can rock and roll! After drywall is tile and cabinets - FUN!

From the bathroom - you can see the electrical and plumbing in the walls:

And lastly the kitchen that will start to take shape soon!

Some progress is better than none! As things develop over the next couple of weeks, I should be able to post more changes. I asked my contractor when he wanted my appliances delivered and he said the last week in July! That means that sometime THIS month, I will have my kitchen almost set!! Weird to think about - what would I do with a full size fridge?

I'm off to LA on Thursday to spend a long weekend with my sister - I cannot WAIT - beach here I come!!