Christmas come early

It's done.

When I say it's done, I mean we're actually done. It's crazy to be at this point. There are only a couple of loose ends; we're still waiting on a shower door (next Wednesday) from Kennesaw Glass and Julio is coming back on Friday to seal the grout in the new bathroom. That and lighting (just two cans) which will be put in tomorrow as well.

The contractors worked until 8:30pm last night, which made it a 12 hour day for them. As the evening set in, there was a palpable sense of excitement around the place; maybe it was me projecting, but everyone seemed to be happy that the job was wrapping up and that we'd finally made it through the finish line. Everyone seemed to be genuinely happy with their work, with what they did, and with what we did. It kinda felt like Christmas. And they do have reason to be happy with their work, the house looks absolutely amazing.

And they cleaned. Oh did they clean. I even got them to vacuum out the inside of the cabinets since many of them had debris in them. You can actually see the tile now, although it probably needs a good wet mop to really bring out the color. Hell the house is almost party ready as it stands now and we haven't even brought our stuff out from the Pod yet.

I think after the party is over we'll have a detailed post-mortem of everything we've done and a lot of pictures with a real, non-iphone camera.

Closing the door

Today we close on the mortgage at 4pm, provided there's no problems. I got my cashiers check and drivers license ready! Here's to hoping we get a big novelty check.

The past week has been nuts, hence the lack of updates. Things are taking form as we set up the new stuff. Last night Jesse helped me hang the tv and cut a couple holes in the drywall for the cabling, and with the sofa/coffee table set up it actually looks like we have a living room. We also set up our guest bedroom and stayed in there last night since the master bedroom is still a mess due to the bathroom renovation. The bathroom so far looks amazing; most of the tile is up on the wall. It should probably be done by tomorrow at the latest. I think I'm most excited about that bathroom; it's tiled top to bottom and we have dual shower heads.

The french doors got put in yesterday as well, laundry room door will probably go in today.

With that, we are just about finished. After the bathroom is done there is just a few odds and ends as well as paint touchups and then we're done, done, done. And just in time for our party, I might add. It's definitely a race to the finish line but it will definitely be worth it in the end.

Yesterday

What I did yesterday:

• sold our couch for asking price on craigslist
• returned giant bags of things to Home Depot that had been sitting around cluttering up the kitchen and living room, and both of these things gave me the funds to:
• buy more organizational crap at Home Depot AND:
• go to Kennesaw and buy the rest of the tile for our master bath remodel
• drive to Dallas (where I have never, never been before) to buy end tables for $15!
• brought all that crap back to the house
• taped and painted a chalkboard on the cabinet panel beside the fridge
• spray painted our end tables b-l-a-c-k  from the orangey pine color they were originally (before and after pic of that is on Nate's phone)
• cleared out the entire living room and kitchen (which was a big feat, trust me)
• swept the entire living room and kitchen

The end.  Nate put together some furniture while I did that stuff.  Our remaining tile and wallpaper (short by two feet on both counts originally) showed up, so the guys are starting work again today.  This round, they're doing the following:

• exterior paint (which I need to go buy ASAP because they decided the conditions were right for that today) - pressure wash, trim, shutters, etc.
• installing a new door from the laundry room to the patio and cutting out/installing a dog door for that
• installing french doors to the patio
• putting in the final toekick (goes around the island in the kitchen)
• shelves for my bathroom 
• finishing the wallpaper and backsplash
• demolishing the tiny master bath
• tiling it and installing new fixtures

When that's done, the only things we'll have left to do are the basement refinishing and adding a garage instead of the car port that's currently there.

Think we'll save those for the new year.

I was working on this stuff from 9 am to 11 pm yesterday, and I'm worn. out.  The days before that had me on my feet on that porcelain floor for hours and in the car port painting more furniture for hours and all I know is that my hamstrings SCREAM every time I sit down.  It's strange.

There aren't updates right now 'cause we're in the serious final push; I'm really looking forward, though, to having some time just before Christmas to sit down and write about everything that's been happening in the last month or so.  And BeforeAndAfters.  Ohhhh my goodness, can't wait to do BeforeAndAfters.

Quick pic of the tile for the master bath:

The marble mosaic at the top will be a 4-inch border that spans the room around chest height, the poorly-lit porcelain 8x12 underneath it (which is the same marble color as the broken mosaic) will be laid in a subway pattern around the entire room and shower stall, the dark grey mosaic will be a 4-inch border on the floor on all sides, and the cracked/broken mosaic will be the rest of our floor.  The whole room will be tiled and level, no divider between it and the shower stall.  We're installing a seamless glass door as the only divider.











It's gonna look like the tiniest freaking Roman spa you've ever seen.

Two weeks.

A crowning achievement

Today was a pretty good day. A REALLY good day, actually.

We found a contractor named Jose from Golden Touch Painting through our dear friend Ashley, who could not speak highly enough about him. We met with Jose a couple times last week, and he was a really cool guy. He's just one of those people that you instantly like when you meet him. The best part of the whole thing is, they have a crew. Which is pretty freaking thrilling, considering that Andrea and I are used to one guy puttering around the place doing what he can or what he feels like doing. Those days are now over.

Jose and his crew are completing everything that isn't electrical. Finishing up the kitchen, hooking up the disposal, doing the backsplash, finishing the bathroom, doing all the trim for the entire house. They started this morning at around 9am. We came back at around 5 and pretty much all the crown molding, baseboard, quarter round, and beadboard trim is in place. Doors too. It looks absolutely amazing. I can't tell you how much better crown makes a room look. So, I'll show you. They say they are going to be done by Tuesday, which totally blows my mind. Given the amount of progress they made today, I have no choice but to believe them.

Meanwhile, Waylyn Morgan is doing the electrical for the whole house (probably a familiar name for those of us who are South Cobb alumni.) He's been pretty great so far, and I'm really glad we got an actual electrician to redo our old wiring. There were a lot of potential pitfalls we could have fallen into and never known about. There was a lot of incorrect wire that had been run (thanks, former contractor!), oven wire was too small for current appliances, two prong outlets everywhere, not to mention the fuse box itself was both too small and a complete mess. All of that is fixed now, and he's also doing the rest of our lighting for us. So far we have recessed cans up in the master bedroom now, kitchen is coming soon. I really can't wait to see what the kitchen will look like all lit up; we'll have four different kinds of lighting in there. Recessed cans, pendant lights over the island and sink, under-cabinet lights, and LED strips just under the toekick.

So, we're busting our budget for labor like whoa. But I think it's worth it, since this thing is actually going to be finished next week before Thanksgiving. I don't think that has quite sunk in yet.

Here comes the BACKspLASH. Was that a good one, Nate?

So the team of three contractors we brought in for an estimate gave us the estimate.  Steep.  Lots steep.  We're gonna try with a couple other folks that friends have referred to us, but time is such a stressful factor here.  Couple days to get somebody in there, an hour of eating crow while we look over HOW MUCH was left unfinished, and then a day or two to wait for an estimate.  Assuming they can start right away.
So we're also going to go over the list and see if we can bring these guys in to do the jobs they gave us fair prices on and find others to do the rest.  Scrambling for solutions, that's the phrase I'm gonna use.
They quoted us $380 to install the backsplash.  This backsplash right here.

 



Hot secks, right?
And while I'm DYING to see this stuff actually up on the wall, for $380 . . . I can distinctly remember Nathan talking about how he was so excited to install it himself.  Yep, definitely remember that.

I hit a high point yesterday with the stress.  Today's a lot better.  I'm starting to really adjust to the fact that, at best, we'll be moving IN around Thanksgiving.  Not exactly settled or cooking dinner for anyone just yet.

But this year will be the happiest Christmas party we've ever thrown.  And in the meantime, I'm gonna try and enjoy the holidays no matter what else gets chucked at us. 

"For next time."

Hah, Nathan.  Right.
I'm about convinced that I'm gonna have babies in this house just so I won't have to move and do this all over again any time soon.

Don't believe that though, Clay and Paula.  We still want y'all to come over sometime before Christmas and look this place up and down.