Posted by jsexton – October 30, 2006 10:28 PM
I've read plenty of stories about all the stress that occurs when a family does a big home renovation. I've even experienced a few big projects first hand. Throughout them we've maintained a pretty good degree of sanity and humor.
So why should this project be different? Oh, I don't know, maybe because we have two school-age kids and are juggling multiple schedules, a myriad of activities from birthday parties and violin lessons to sports practices and scouts. And we have moved much of our life into the 15' X 28' family room. It is now filled with four people, one dog, three instruments (one a piano), a 1930s Hoosier, three computers, two printers, two sofas, one overstuffed chair, an oversized ottoman, a kitchen table with four chairs, one microwave, a toaster oven, a toaster, a crock pot, two armoires, one desk, and ΒΌ of a kitchen (only the essentials, please) all crammed in. This is where we live now. All this is to say, it's one thing to read about major home renovations, and it's another to live through it.
The jam-packed family room. That's Mackenzie and Maggie in the upper left, playing on the computer.
I thought I was pretty relaxed about the whole thing. We were relatively organized despite the amount of furniture and sundry items in the rooms not being worked on. I had visions of quaint, cozy meals made in the crock pot on the hearth. And family movie nights all piled on the couch together. Most of those dreams vanished in the morning rush as we tripped over each other, backpacks, the dog, and went outside to reset the breaker (again) when too many appliances plugged into one outlet caused the circuit to pop. And then there were the dirty dishes (thank goodness I haven't used the ill-fated crock pot yet). Washing them in the bathroom sinks is less than ideal. Size alone is a deterrent (these are small sinks). Then there is schlepping the dishes upstairs and back down again. That is one of the bigger pains.
I'm not complaining. Well, not much anyway. I'm very excited about this kitchen/downstairs update. When all is said and done, our home will be much more open, efficient and user friendly. We are truly blessed to be able to do this project. Now all we have to do is survive it.
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Take heart. Yours looks so much cleaner than mine does. We've got the bedroom, library, bathroom and kitchen spread out between the front parlor, back parlor and dining room. Seems like I should have more than enough room, but... And the mess; plaster dust was first, cleaned it, sanding the floor next, cleaned it. Now we are at the dust from mudding the bedroom and more sawing and drilling in the kitchen.
Our crew brings their dogs along, so dog hair. Our 3 cats are less than happy with the dogs, so cat hair. I'm so tired of dusting it all. It so amazes me that I can use the swifter in the PM of one day, and coming home from work, it looks like I never touched it.
We however have the same toaster/microwave set up. It's kind of fun at dinner, makes serving a whole lot easier.
The sink I'm using is a cement wash sink out on the porch. After doing dishes in it for the first 2 weeks, we switched to paper plates. What a back breaker, bending over that sink. And the husband keeps promising to take turns washing (mainly silverware and cups) but somehow it's always "I was going to do that today." and I've already finished them.
Wow is all this too much information! I am really enjoying reading your blog. Can't you tell?
And a final question - here in CA almost all the contractors and their crews bring along their personal dogs to the job site. Does that happen back there?
Joyce
Posted by Joyce lund – October 31, 2006 1:04 PM
Hi Joyce, sounds like you have a big mess on your hands! It is starting to feel normal to us. We too switched to paper plates. Much, much easier.
On the dogs front: none of our contractors have brought their dogs along. Though I will say we have friends in Knoxville who just finished a bathroom remodel, and their contractors, who happen to be twins, brought both of their dogs to the job.
Posted by Jim Sexton – October 31, 2006 1:37 PM
Hi, Jim & Gretchen. I am going through the same process right here in Knoxville, although I'm using different people than you. Our crew is also very good, friendly, and clean up at the end of each day. No dust problems for us -- the guys put up plastic and really sealed the kitchen well during sheetrock/drywall (I have no idea what the difference is) and mudding. We have tile floors so no problem with sanding floors at least, and they are doing all the cabinet sanding outside so it stays out. Our dining room or living room because they are impassable at this point with all the things we needed to store, plus some of the family room. We're one month into the construction with one more to go (hopefully -- if the quartz countertops are on time).
I do feel guilty adding so much to the landfills -- we've always been very consciencious about recycling, composting, etc. But sanity requires use of paper and plastic -- and lots of restaurant visits, since all we have is a refrigerator, coffee pot, and toaster. Pizza Kitchen knows us quite well!! Perhaps we'll run into you somewhere -- just look for the frazzled mom with 2 kids runing from soccer to ice skating/ hockey!
Posted by Sharon Toedte – November 2, 2006 11:36 AM
Hi Gretchen & Jim, Well it's good to know that we're not alone. We moved to our cottage on the lake last February and decided to do a whole house remodel. Before we moved in, we added a 2nd bathroom and redid a laundry room. once we moved, to save money we decided to stay in the house during the remodel. In making the move, we sold a lot of our things and still had to rent 3 storage units to store the rest our things. You see, we went from having two homes to one smaller home.Because we are living in the house, we decided with the help of a builder, to work on the house one section at a time, starting with the lake side of the house, tearing down one room and the roof off 1/2 of the house. Then we put on a 21x22 great room and redid the old living room as a master bedroom with a covered porch attached. During this time we were able to use the kitchen but had to put a sofa and other things in it. We ourselves watched TV in a 9x9 room and put 2 recliners and a tv and table and chest of drawers in there, talk about close quarters. Thankfully there is only the 2 of us plus our dog and cat. We also had to have a new well put in and new roof, windows and doors so the yard was also a mess with no grass. We were able to move into the two rooms in May and got over half of our things out of storage. Now for phase 2. We tore out the closets in two bedrooms and decided to use the 9x9 room we were watching TV in as a Master Bath so here we are tearing out closets more walls to make things work, so now it is a 9x12 room and keep in mind I have no clostets to keep clothes in,most of our clothes are still in storage. Sometimes it drives me crazy. Here it is Nov. and my husband has decided to do most of the work himself on this bathroom so it coming along, but taking much longer to do.
Then, after this it is the kitchen and guest bedroom, and believe me that is going to be a major remodel. As with every room, we will go down to the studs and move a wall, to make the kitchen a little bigger and more efficient. Who knows where I will cook, etc. I too will use paper plates. And yes, the dust is terrible. I know the house will be nice when it is finished but, oh my, getting there is another thing. If a couple can stay together during all this, it's a miracle to me. Oh and by the way, we did have one contractor bring their dog, the electrition brought brown lab. I didn't know this was common.
Posted by Karen W. – November 4, 2006 12:19 PM
We are about to enter our third month of kitchen remodeling. I'm keeping a photographic diary. Our situation is a bit unusual. My husband, a Physician Assistant, earned the gratitude of a female designer/contractor when he helped her and her husband through a very rough patch during her husband's illness. She wanted to show her appreciation by remodeling the kitchen for a pittance. She told us that it would cost us $4500 plus the purchase of two new appliances...a fridge and a dishwasher. As a contractor she was able to get extremely good deals on things and is, supposedly, going to be providing us with a stainless steel Viking range, Viking fridge and Viking dishwasher, granite countertops and an embossed tin ceiling. Another patient of my husband's provided distressed oak flooring for free. All of this *sounds* pretty good, but what had been touted to us as being a two week project (after demolition had been completed) is going on its third month. We still don't have all the cabinetry, no counters, no stove or sink...and there's a lot of sweat equity in the project. We're doing all the labor ourselves. Our contractor/designer seems to get more squirrely by the week, and has moved in with us while she's here working. She leaves for several days a week to return to her home which is a 5-hour drive away. When she's here, she behaves as if the house is hers. She's busied herself with little projects in other parts of the house, while the kitchen remains undone, and has even taken all the art off all of our walls and rearranged it to her liking...in many cases adding nail holes where there were none. She has decided that I give off "bad vibes" and doesn't want me around when she is working at the house, and so my husband and I have been staying at my mother's, in the interest of getting the job done more quickly. When he isn't at work, he goes to the house and helps the woman doing whatever it is that she needs done. When she isn't there, he and I work together doing whatever we can to get things done. The problem is, she will often re-do what we've done upon her return. At this point, she has us over a barrel. If we offend her and she walks off the job, we're left with an unfinished kitchen, and the money we've given her (in excess of $12,000) will be lost. We have no written contract with her, by the way...she was, we thought, a "friend".
This is the sort of thing you don't see on the HGTV remodels. They really should do a series on remodeling horror stories.
Posted by Deborah – November 8, 2006 7:45 AM
Hello! My husband and I are interested in finding out how to get into a big remodeling mess like yours. We are only in the thought process and will not have adequate funding for another 2-3 years. What we would like to do is enclose our garage and open up our garage storage to the backyard because the outer fence is really too narrow to bring large items through that way. We would like to expand our kitchen to include the space we currently use as a screened AZ room that just gets way too dusty and is unusable during monsoon season. Another thing we would like to do is add a new master bedroom and bathroom on top of our existing master bedroom and bathroom. Where do we start? How much should we take on at once and still live in our house at the same time? Our house is in Arizona and we have very little knowledge or skills regarding construction, carpentry, paperwork, resources, building codes, etc. Advice?
Posted by S. Davis – November 9, 2006 4:09 PM
Hi Gretchen! I'm finishing a kitchen renovation though not as extensive as yours. Remarkably, the process went smoothly and we were able to use our stove and fridge in a relative short period of time. After the countertops were installed we had use of the sink and dishwasher as well - just in time for the holidays. Of course, now we have to fix up and paint the dining room and living room, then the foyer. See what I mean? It never ends! While I was without the dishwasher, I do admit to giving my husband nasty looks whenever he used an extra plate or fork. Happiness is a working dishwasher. I love your blog. It gives a lot of practical advice and touches on decisions you may not think of. Be brave, the end is almoat near!
Posted by Margaret Keane – November 14, 2006 3:56 PM
