Thursday, August 28, 2014

Home Reno - A 72 Part Series - Part 1

I'm starting to breathe again.
I've been holding my breath for the past two months.
Things are falling into place
and life is returning to normal.

Was the home reno worth it?
Ummm, ask me next year,
it's still too fresh.



Let's start at the beginning.
The floor.

Why did we decide to get new flooring, you ask?
Because my dog threw up one morning.
Just one little pile of dog kibble vomit on my carpet
sent me into a tailspin
and I knew I couldn't take it one more day.

Did I save money for this and plan out every detail
and make lists and create inspiration boards on Pinterest
like any normal person would do?

No.
No I did not.

I cleaned up the dog vomit and then called
my friend, Phillip,  that is a tile layer 
and asked him to come and give me 
an estimate on new flooring.
I thought if I had an estimate,
then we could start budgeting for it.

And he came that same day.
And then he said the strangest thing.
He said that he could start ripping out all the flooring 
the following day.

And then I said the strangest thing.
I said ok.
Just like that.
"Okay".

You should also know that all this happened 
while Brian was at work and had no idea what was happening.
I am not a good wife, I know this.
So just shut up about it.
Something just took over and made me say "ok".
 .
When Brian came home I just
told him about my day and then said,
"Oh, and we're getting new flooring tomorrow."
And he said, "Okay."
Because he's awesome like that.

So that afternoon
I ran to the tile store and picked out my tile.

I went with Vintage oak tile plank flooring.
 I am a lover of hard wood floors 
but not only was it not in our budget,
it also wasn't practical for us.

 
 And so the very next morning at 5:30 am
Phillip came and ripped out my flooring.



 See those nice big cracks in my foundation?
That was a pleasant surprise.

Every inch of carpet, tile, and 
Pergo was ripped out of our entire house.
Yes, we had four different types of flooring.
Totally normal, right?

Most of our furniture was moved onto
the back patio.
Which was awesome because
we are in the middle of the monsoon season
and we had rain and huge dust storms
the entire time they were here.

And, in case you don't live in Phoenix,
and aren't familiar with our dust storms,
they roll in like this.

 

The fun never stops.

Phillip estimated the job would take 
one and half weeks.
Due to several issues,
(foundation cracks and wonky walls)
it took just over two weeks.

Two weeks is a really long time,
did you know that?

For the first week,
we lived in our bedroom.
Only our bedroom.
I am grateful to have a door in our master
that leads out to our back patio.
Because that's where our clothes were.
And everything else we owned.

We lived off of fast food and 
turkey, mustard and dust sandwiches 
that I made in the bathroom.




And I didn't make my bed the entire time
that we lived in here.
And the sheets were covered in dust
and I didn't have access to my washer and dryer.

This was the hardest part for Brian
because the only television we could use
was a 12 incher.
And he hated every single second of this part.
Even though he was at work for 8 hours a day
and got to leave the house
while I just sat on the bed every day
praying I had enough underwear to last me
through all this.

Meanwhile, in the rest of the house,
tile was being laid.




 
And then it was time for them to move to the bedrooms.
Which was exciting because that meant
that we got to camp out in the dining room
and I could wash my underwear
and use the refrigerator.

(Handy Tip: Always throw out your leftover
baked beans if you're not going to be using your refrigerator
for a week.  It took two days to get rid of that smell.)


Cozy, right?

The hallway, bathroom and bedrooms took another week.
And as much as I love Phillip,
I wanted him to go away and leave me alone.
I know the feeling was mutual.
(I still love you Phillip!)

Let's just leave off there for now.
Part 2 involves
more rash decisions,
bad paint choices,
and pocket door mayhem.

xxx-ooo

Holly

 














9 comments:

TARYTERRE said...

The good part is you survived. The floor looks awesome.

just call me jo said...

I can't wait for the next of the 71 posts. I will always love your humor. I'd have never made it past week two.

LALA said...

the bedroom in the kitchen scene reminded me of my 1st husband & I when we moved to Albuquerque... for about 3 months(or so) we lived in a studio apt... fortunately the dogs weren't with us... well, we only had one dog at that point and she was re-homed temporarily... When you're young & in love it doesn't matter where you live/eat/sleep... so it shouldn't have been a big deal for you guys! ;-)

Ann said...

Now I know why we haven't heard from you in a while. Don't envy you one bit ... all that mess and chaos. Hope you love, love, love the result. That tile is nice!

Kris said...

Oh Holly, where do I begin? First, I have to say, it looks amazingly beautiful! And you will so be glad you did it!
I would have pulled my hair out. Every single hair!!! When we did out stuff here a few years ago, I nearly lost it. I am not good with that sort of thing. But now we desperately need our carpets removed, and I don't want more carpet! So I live vicariously through you!
I also just saw your previous post on the paint SNAFU. I CRACKED up! Oh gosh, ask me about the green couch snafu I had!!!
Love ya kid!
Kris

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

Puh-leeze, puh-leeze, puh-leeze...
DONT drink that nasty, horrid, tasteless
DietKoke anymoe... or you WILL git liver
DIEsease from which there aint no cure.

Puh-leeze STOP.
See my teeth?
See my body?
See my physique?
Those come from...
you guessed it...
mocha cappuccino/milk;
eat puh-lenty of carrots/broccoli
eat puh-lenty of deer, pasta, beans, tomatoes, sawce, cottage cheese...
Dont croak before
you're 101, promise?

I love you, ya georgeous girl.
trustNjesus.
ALWAYS.
cya Upstairs someday...

Unknown said...

PS those provide iron (strong muscles), calcium (strong bones), protein (NRG), VitSee and lottsa bawls [in the cranium] to go far... all-the-way-up to Seventh-Heaven. Im definitely praying for you, girly. Meet me Upstairs for a Big-Ol beer and we'll tok bout celebrating our eternal resurrection at the RongWayPub.

Love ya, babe.
Cya soon...

Unknown said...

Puh-leeze, puh-leeze, puh-leeze...
DONT drink that nasty, horrid, tasteless
DietKoke anymoe... or you WILL git liver
DIEsease from which there aint no cure.

Puh-leeze STOP.
See my teeth?
See my body?
See my physique?
Those come from...
you guessed it...
mocha cappuccino/milk;
eat puh-lenty of carrots/broccoli
eat puh-lenty of deer, pasta, beans, tomatoes, sawce, cottage cheese...
Dont croak before
you're 101, promise?

I love you, ya georgeous girl.
trustNjesus.
ALWAYS.
cya Upstairs someday...