 |
| The transom of vintage leaded glass windows is now in. It separates the family room from the sunroom. It will be great to finally see how all the details, like the millwork and all the wood panels, look once everything is painted later! |
*Also, we have been posting exiting pictures and updates of the physical things happening, but some of you may be wondering how we are really doing with this long process. If you are not wondering, then stop reading after this sentence.
When May 1 rolls around, we will have been living in a two bedroom apartment for ten long months! It was fun at first, during the summer with the pool and all of the big exciting things happening at the house like demo work and framing.
However, now it is beyond frustrating. The apartment is trashed, it feels like an episode of Hoarders in here, with the growing stack of things closing in on us, and the dog is about to break his legs or back from going up and down the steep stairs every day. The weather isn't helping one bit either, because there is no escape from this tiny box.
I know, I know, it could be a lot worse and we have a roof and food and beds and all kinds of blessings. We just didn't really set ourselves up to be in this position for a whole year. Waa waa waa. We were thinking more like maximum six months. So psychologically, it is frustrating, even though the situation really isn't that bad. It just feels like we moved back in time ten years, to college living, but we are adults now, with jobs, so something doesn't feel right.
The kids are still getting along pretty well in their shared room, and there is no time wasted on cleaning anything because, lets face it - who really cares anymore in this place.
As for the actual remodelling (turned completely brand new house) project - I don't think we would complain about the actual process of remodeling a house, or the pre-work that goes into it. We probably wouldn't really hesitate doing it again, and we have learned a TON. All the research, shopping, making decisions, etc. is not a problem and we could do that again pretty easily.
Also, the actual craftsmanship of everything going into the house is great, and the quality is much better than what we would be getting if we had bought an already existing home. So, that is a good thing to have in the back of our minds. Plus, we are getting pretty close to exactly what we want, and what meets our needs. These are the things we try to remember. It does help to see what happens everyday (and one of us is there literally everyday, mostly D). We saw what is behind the walls and how things are being constructed. We know things are being done right, and we will have that piece of mind, instead of wondering what corners were cut.
What we would like to have had happen differently is the timeline. The project has been poorly coordinated and things that don't involve the subcontracted trades are moving extremely slow, because of the builder's small crew. As the time moves on, month after month, we write rent check after rent check, which is a killer when there is a construction loan out there to pay too. We honestly still cannot say that we have a tentative move in date. Again, frustrating!
Both of us like to be in control of situations, and this one is somewhat out of our control right now as the final details get worked out. The only reason I think we are not freaking out completely is because we knew there would be roadblocks along the way (which there are daily, no joke). This timeline roadblock just has become the biggest one. Luckily, we are super busy with a million other things, like work and school and kids activities. So we can't really dwell on all the obstacles for very long.
So, overall, we are doing alright. We have just learned a lot about patience over the last ten months. Hopefully we have a little bit more in us, to get through the next couple months.
No comments:
Post a Comment