Monday, July 8, 2019

Real Life Is Messy

Thank you so much for your sweet comments on my last post.
You all are so supportive. I love that you responded to the real of real life.  

I don't know about you but our processing system may not be the same as other peoples so it may seem that we are being precipitous as you read this post. 
We stayed home this past weekend and spent the holiday weekend working our little tushes off. 
Since we thought we might be getting a house, we started taking care of all the little repairs that get pushed to the side. 

The painter repaired and painted anything that was on the second story. Bill touched up the paint on the first story. 
It looks great! 


I resumed the great grout cleaning project. This time in the garden room. 


If you have been with me a while, you know how much we love our garden room. 


In the process of tile cleaning, I noticed that the wall behind the molding was squishy. 
Bill pulled it all off, cleaned it out, and sprayed it with bleach. The studs are not squishy. Thank heavens. He's got everything he needs to finish this repair. 


I also did some work on the rock border in the back yard. 
I'd had some perennials that needed to be planted. I bought them a day before we saw the red brick ranch for sale. They've been sitting waiting for me to get them in the ground. 
I worked on straightening up the rocks which settle every few years. 
I planted some turks cap and heuchera to add some more color and texture to my shady back yard. 
We also need to figure out some sort of grass for under the trees. 
We were waiting to hear if the first buyers on the house were going to pull out of their option. 
The fact that the title company cashed our checks last Wednesday lead us to that conclusion. 
We were trying to be realistic either way. 
At five o'clock on the 4th of July, Bill re-read the email and realized that we wouldn't hear anything until the next day. 
When we realized that we weren't going to hear anything, we got cleaned up and went out for Mexican food. 

The next morning, we were still in "we might be listing this house" mode. 
I started painting the laundry room shelves. 


Bill took down a shelf in the game room. 
We hung it up in the 90s when high shelves were all the rage. 


Thank heavens we had the paint to cover up where the brackets were. 


The color is Gray Owl. It looks beige doesn't it? 
About that time we heard that we didn't get the house. I have to say, it took the wind out of our sails.
We resumed our chores in a different frame of mind. Now we were staying for a while. 
Bill called the plumber to install a new kitchen faucet. We'd had it for a few weeks but we weren't sure we were keeping it if we moved. 

He began to list other things that would get our house in tip top shape. 

We talked about windows and floors. 
When looking on-line at houses, I noticed that houses with tile floors don't look great. 
In the last two weeks as I thought about selling our house, I began to get concerned that our floors would be an issue. I spent quite a bit of time cleaning the grout last week. It was better but it still didn't look great. Our tile floors were a DIY and we didn't do the best job. It was 500 square feet and we got exhausted near the end. 
The grout lines were always terrible. 
I was afraid that we would have to be provided a flooring allowance to future buyers. 
I'd rather enjoy our floors now. 
With dogs, cats and teens, the tile was what we needed to do at the time but I never loved those floors. Especially in the winter. I thought they were cold. I always had trouble placing the Christmas tree. It's the little things. 
Bill called the guy who built our fence and repaired our retaining wall. He came by and took the job of removing our tile. I'm so thankful for people with the strength and the tools to get a job done. 
I've dreaded having these removed ever since we put them in. 
We had a very late pizza lunch - (comfort food) and slowed our pace way down. 
We decided to look for new floors the next morning. 


On Saturday morning we went to Floor and Decor. We picked out a 12 x 24 inch tile for our downstairs bathroom. 
I get to pick out a new vanity with a counter and sink. The tile will go under the vanity this time. The vanity can look a little more like a piece of furniture now. I'll shop Seconds and Surplus for that. 
We ate a late lunch at Lazy Dog. If you have one near you, the candied bacon is delicious. 
So are the deep fried deviled eggs. 

Our church is closed on 4th of July weekend so we began the deconstruction process of our living room. 


I'll admit that I was nervous about this. I wanted to call and cancel but I kept telling myself that the mess will be worth it in order to get the floors of our dreams. 


We painstakingly took off the baseboards in an effort to save them. 
If you remember, I just repainted them last week. 
 I realized more slowly than Bill that the new floor wouldn't be as thick and that that there would be a line on the wall where the old molding was chalked. 
Bill wants to redo the base boards with thicker molding anyway. 
All that painting and grout cleaning gone to waste. 

Exhaustion last night kept nervous Nelly at bay.
I cleaned up the kitchen and garden room so it will be our sanctuary over the course of the next three days.  

Bill said that we were getting rid of the piano. He doesn't play and somehow we got custody of it when the family sold his mom's big house. 


He couldn't find a single neighbor home to help move it to the garage. 
By some miracle we got it out to there but now what do we do with it? 
Nobody wants big pianos anymore.  
I'm excited to have some wall space free in that corner of the living room. 


The crew has been here about 3.5 hours. Almost all of the tile is gone and on their trailer so it can be hauled away. 
There is a lot of mastic. There is a clear distinction between where we started tiling and where we finished. There is not as much mastic on the other side of the room. 


I do not like having the house torn up. This is going to take weeks to put back together but getting wood floors will be worth it. 
We were so disappointed about losing the house. It's original hardwood floors were a big selling point for us. Our friend thought we should wait a week to think about what we wanted to do going forward. We wanted wood floors 13 years ago. We couldn't afford them then. Now we can and we will enjoy them for as long as we live here. 
I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see those tiles removed. It's such a relief. 
It's such a relief that someone else is doing it rather than Bill and I. 
Although, this may seem like a rushed decision, it's really not since we looked at flooring in January. Losing the house just gave us the push we needed in order to get this done. 
Thanks for stopping in. 
I appreciate all of you. 
Katie

8 comments :

  1. I agree with your thinking about the fact that you should go ahead with your new wood floors and enjoy them yourself! They will be wonderful and you won't feel neglected if you stay for a bit at your present house. We're having work done in our crawl space removing old insulation and some repairs, so the basement is totally unusable right now. I can't do much in the upstairs either, so I'm trying to be patient. Workmen in the house is difficult, but beats doing the work ourselves. Can't wait to see the floors!

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  2. Katie,
    Once again, I have loved this post!! I really enjoyed reading a post about "Real Life"!! I can't wait to see the new floors as I am sure that you feel the same!! I will be curious to see what you think about your current house once the floors that you have wanted for so long are in....Thanks so much for sharing your journey....
    Hugs,
    Deb

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  3. You have had ups and downs with this process. I enjoy reading about real life stories. You have been working hard. Hang in there. Can't wait to see the new floors.

    Cindy

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  4. Keep up the good work - and if for some reason you don't end up moving - you will enjoy all your efforts.

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  5. I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and I just know that you are going to find another house that will be meant to be yours. We just went through this buying a little condo in Florida. I had my heart set on a particular apartment - nothing compared to it, and I had to have it! But.....it wasn't meant to be, and a few months later, we found a place that is perfect for us. You will, too. With all the great improvements you are making to your current home, you will enjoy living there while you wait for your dream home! And, I know that this is a post about homes, but I'm stuck on those deep-fried deviled eggs! I can't even imagine what they're like! Sounds delicious, though!

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  6. I cannot tell you how much I admire you for this huge reno job -- and doing it so fast. I'm glad you have the floor of your dreams and that you will be able to enjoy it -- at least for awhile, although it's bitterly disappointing about the other house. But as Amy said, I do things happen for a reason we don't always understand. And at least you'll be able to enjoy your home in a wonderful, brand-new way, at least for awhile. And when you DO find the new home -- it will be just right for you. Homes are too expensive to just "settle." And you want to be where you can settle forever.

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  7. What a big job! But you seem to be on top of it! Love reading about it.

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  8. How wonderful that you and your husband will get to really enjoy your home now with the new wood flooring, Katie!!! We lost that first house and I cried for a week straight. Charles was bummed, too, but there are other great homes out there... <3 Still... I know how you feel. (insert: big hug!!!)

    Glad you will have new floors soon and I'll be sharing your post tonight at Share Your Style #216. Hope a bunch of folks will stop by!

    Happy remodeling hugs,
    Barb :)

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