So one of the less glamorous aspects of the constant renovation is that often there is tension, panic, frustration and even disappointment.
All of these ingredients can, by themselves, lead to arguing and rumblings and a general feeling of dissatisfaction.
The upswing is always that when a job is finished or going well, there is a sense of bonding and accomplishment. Shared adversary seems to bring about a real solid sense of love (or a solid sense of lack depending on the couple.)
More than one couple has ended over renovation fuelled troubles and my husband and I consider ourselves very fortunate in that we have 'survived' each other and will likely continue to survive. For us, for many reasons, this stuff is sometimes stressful and trying but not exactly the biggest thing we've ever had to endure. It is also how we are making our way in this world. We both have our eyes on the prize and one day we hope to build our own home, mortgage free. Wish us luck!
So, here we are again, in a house that is not quite a home. In a 1/2 done world of making-do and catching up when we can. Big messes, little messes, shabby attempts to mix is up a little where we can. Injections of fun and marathon building sessions.
I used to watch HGTV and think "that is so awesome! look at that transformation!" without a clue about what was happening behind the scenes. It's not just dusty, it's itchy and toxic. It's not just messy, it's never-ending mess that seems to float down from the ceiling for months. It's giant garbage bins, heavy loads of sharp and wobbly scraps of old and terribly gross-dirty items. It's random cuts and gauges on your fingers and arms. It's sore achy bones and no where to sit because you have had to move all your furniture out of the living room into the kitchen for the 3rd time this year. Lunch will be a minute hun I have to climb under the dining room table to get to the fridge.
Yeah that toilet from 1979? I'm carrying it like a baby down a flight of stairs hoping whatever just dripped on my leg was 'fresh' and avoiding eye contact with the giant yawning, flapping seat. It's happened. It has happened more than once. Let me tell you boys and girls sometimes it's not fresh and sometimes you just sledgehammered your shower in a frenzy of excitement without realizing it would not be back for weeks (days? hahah right!), yes weeks! Ty Pennington is no where in sight and you are only in the first leg of what will be a huge effort to "get your life back" followed by a period of "recovery" that will span months.
So here are some after shots of my kitchen.
Wasabi green island (kijiji 100.00, paint 60.00) with new butcher block from ikea (sale price 120.00)
Microwave was built-in for the sale of the house, we don't normally have one in the house. That space used to be occupied by assorted kid stuff but the microwave fit really nicely.
We used remnants from our bathroom tile job to do the backsplash in the kitchen. We got a dishwasher and stove from kijiji for 500.00 although the stove needed repairs. New kitchen faucet from Canadian Tire from one of those one day blow-out sales. I believe it is a delta with a pull-out sprayer for 50.00.
Inside view of the door that was installed to replace a window and now gives us a perfectly wonderful escape route to the deck on the other side. The header above the door was a bit big for my taste but it fit over all the demolition scars and felt right scale-wise for the cabinetry. Basically I didn't want to patch 3 inches of drywall so we just covered it up and this was what was required for that. Done!
Here is the view from the kitchen to the dining room. Kids are eating spaghetti and I'm swooning over my 'found' pendant. Famously free because I wore it as a hat and did a little dance in the store. The owner had it priced at 10.00 but I knew it was worth more. It was worth a hat dance. I love people.
The floor is refinished here and to avoid a window treatment (strictly for privacy from the overlooking window on the neighbours house) I used some pantone colours projector sheets to create a bit of a stained glass effect on the top 1/2 of the windows.
Sadly I got to enjoy this stage of the home building adventure for about 3 weeks before we sold the thing or 5 years later!. Most of the rest of the time it was in chaos and not what I would call user-friendly.
Here are some more working shots. The old ikea butcher-block with an overhang, the shelf thing for kid junk, the irritating bar stool we always tripped on. The insulation I stared at for months. The dog dishes placed right where the kids could knock them over many times in a day. The empty dining room (for the 3rd time) getting refinished (we had moved into the basement for a few months). Yep. That's real reality for you.
Here are some more pictures of the fun.
There you have it. Evidence that my husband doesn't know how to change the toilet paper roll. These are some pretty classy pictures of the only bathroom in the house being ripped to shreds.
That last statement isn't totally true because we had a second bathroom downstairs but we also had guests living down there and we only had the use of it for 2 months. Plenty of time for a bathroom reno you say? We said that too. Anyway we made sure to get the toilet working before it was too late but the shower was another month down the road.
Here is the after.
Nice!
I got to enjoy this room for a full 6 months although the mirror and backsplash didn't make it until the last week before we put it on the market.
It's rough. This is what I'm saying. Do not approach this lightly. Keep your optimism because it will allow you to go forward and do things that you might not have gotten into if you had known what would happen. Just realize that part of this renovation journey is going to be a lot like a marathon or child birth. The sucky part is right before the best feeling you are ever gonna get flooding through your viens and in a couple of months you are going to get the tickle to do it again. At least you will if you are anything like the junkies we are.
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