So, the whole upstair’s carpet has been yanked out except for the room where the cats are safely tucked into and the room where all the furniture is hanging out. Even our balcony is being used to warehouse our washer and dryer. Yikes!
Once the layers of underlay were lifted, unfortunately, visibly and much to our chagrin, specialists have to be called in and level our entire upstairs with paper, metal lath and cement. Clearly, this is putting a dent in our budget and time span. There is always at least one hiccup that causes a delay and requires more investment, even on HGTV fixer uppers.
Originally, each room was going to be done one at a time. This was perfect for convenience. Now it seems while the crew is trying to fix our very own tower of Pisa plus uneven substructure, the flooring team will rip out and start on the downstairs. In this scenario, there is no where to hide except the sun room where we decided (thankfully) to keep what we had.
Last night I slept in the den with our electric fireplace on. Very cozy. I stayed up late “watching” reality TV as a backdrop but mostly reading decor books, filling my head with more improvements or creative and inventive fixes, till I felt it was time to turn in. Since our master is unusable, my hard working husband slept in a twin bed in V’s room. After a pretty poor evening of what here and there we could call sleep, I have decided to move into the back room where M and J usually stay, just for the evenings till we get our quarters back.
I visit and feed the cats at least twice a day. Eventually, they will have to be moved so we can float a new floor in there too. Good luck to me getting scratchy, easily perturbed and uncooperative Cappucina the cat to a new, protected area where all feline furry friends will be out of harm’s way. One never knows if the front door will be carelessly left open, so I am staying home and canceling everything. Somehow, our empty nest dog, Cindi, sleeps through the sawing, pounding and nail gun noise if I am with her but gets super anxious if I am not around. I need to babysit the pets and reassure them, as they know not what is happening.
It is an interesting remodel, at least our twelfth as a couple if I am counting right and including landscaping projects. Probably if we had a thirteenth, we’d have a nervous breakdown. I forgot everything takes twice as long as everyone tells you and costs twice as much as you budgeted and planned for. We are trying to take it all in stride but instead of wanting our two front teeth for Christmas, we just want to be able to have two new floors. Back in the day, someone came up with the quote, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” We must be Hercules and the Amazon queen.
Priorities become apparent during a remodel. Especially since you have to do one thing before another or you are backtracking and messing up the logical sequence of construction and prior work. We will have patched up walls and ceilings for the holidays, no decor, fresh paint or colored lights because it is what it is and after all – all that really matters is our chickadees will be home, we will be together and it will all be worth it in the end.