Tim and I are squeezed into the two back rooms of our house that we now lovingly call our suite. Those two small rooms along with the use of the original kitchen became the home where we would live during our renovation. The vision of what this home could be was created when we first saw it and then subsequently purchased in April 2018. Knowing that the bones of this pre-1960 home were very solid and the layout was manageable, the location was perfect. Near two of our two grown children and their families and one level living would serve us well. We were ready to make the move and knew the day would come that we would be renovating the house to suit our needs.

I drew up plans along with Tim on what we wanted and dreamed. We are moving the kitchen to the dining room, the dining room will be located where the foyer was located and all will be open to a great room space. A total transformation, excitement isn’t even a strong enough word to express our feelings. I close my eyes and can see it all finished, Tim closes his eyes and sees what is there. Praying that my vision in my head will match Tim’s dreams.

The week has come for the beginning of the renovation, thankfully and coincidently our son, Jake, was moving out to an apartment of his own (that’s a story for another day). So getting rid of the couches and lazy boy double recliner along with his bedroom set, and other items made clearing out the main living area of the house not as hard as I thought. We did take advantage of every nook and cranny for the furniture that was left for us to move out. Thankfully we have strong boys who lent a hand.

However, being a person that hates to impose on anyone, Tim decided to leave the 120″ dining room table and 8 chairs for him and I to break down and move. In the evening prior to the beginning of the renovation, we tackled it. Once we removed the two leaves in the table, Tim and I flipped the enormous and heavy table over on it’s top and unscrewed the legs, removed them and put them in the third bedroom. Then the difficult process of turning the table on its side, with the blanket underneath so it would slide through the opening to the foyer then on through the narrow hallway and to position it in the bedroom so that we could still get into the bedroom, well somewhat. We did it together with very few mumbling sounds under our breath and if there was any it was one was tugging the dining table too quickly through the house and the other one trying to keep the blanket under the table so the floors wouldn’t scratch the table. We didn’t worry about the floors since they were going to be gone in less than a week’s time.

During that weekend, I realized I actually had no clue how much STUFF we had collected from just living here less than a year. Yes, some of it we moved from our large family home over a two years ago. Even though we downsized, it is quite apparent that we still have too many things. But it felt good to see the large blank space that was left for our contractor to come in and transform. So excited to get started. It would be hard to sleep knowing that tomorrow would come and so would the unknown of living through a true renovation.

Heading in the Right Direction…

Here we are one week down and things are going very well. I tried to stay at our house in Delaware where the beautiful views of the water soothe the most anxious. However, with decisions to be made, I headed back to Maryland. I was also happy to get back to where all the work was going on. It gives me comfort to know that I could see the progress as it went along and also I would be accessible to the contractors when decisions needed to be made. Of course, Tim and I make changes, not daily but there have been a few. We added a few recessed lights, an outlet or two (never can have too many). So what actually took place during that first week…

The wall between the foyer and the living/dining room was removed making for a dramatic change. Thankfully Bryan and his crew were able to save the beautiful old wainscoting for some decorative elements in the design of the new space. Before, I couldn’t see nor hear anyone coming to the front door since the only opening to the main living area was a 30″ wide opening which was the original outside door to the house. Now this “great room” will offer me the comfort of knowing and hearing who is coming by. Yes, there are gadgets like Nest and Ring that will allow us to see people coming by and on the porch; however, I am still old fashioned and love to hear the knock on the door and see who actually is stopping by, which is normally our children. I couldn’t be happier when the grandkids and children stop by. They are my greatest joy!

Next, the flooring was ripped up throughout. Under the laminate in the foyer, was Heart Pine which was in gorgeous condition, what was not so gorgeous was what was under the laminate in the dining/living room area. Ugly old whitish vinyl tile with an abstract design. In a perfect world, we would install Heart Pine flooring over the old vinyl tile; however, it proved to be cost prohibitive and difficult to find since it would need to be purchased reclaimed. So Tim and I decided on a waterproof laminate flooring. We think we know what we want to purchase; however, we are still looking.

The drywall on the outer perimeter walls were next to be removed. I never knew that they would remove the drywall about half way down and to the floor. I guess it’s for ease to install new wiring and plumbing. Now this enormous room was looking, well bare, except for a brick flu from the original furnace which is still located in the crawl space and the brick and granite tile fireplace. Both had to go… so a mason came by, 3 generations of men, a grandad, father and son worked on removing the flu from the top of the roof to below the floor and the brick surround to the fireplace. The eldest installed cinder block in the fireplace opening since the range will be going in it’s place. It’s great to see that some young people are still interested in the studying and being a mason. Such a great skill, one we desperately need.

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A New Week Began with a Snow Day

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As gloomy and cold a winter can be, I really didn’t mind having a snow day for all of us including the workers. Looking out and watching the very gray scenery turn to white, snowflakes clinging to the leafless trees was almost mesmerizing. The winter turned from gloomy to an aura of newness. My thought is always, if it has to be cold, it should snow. The weathermen forecasted 3-6″, we actually got about 9″ of the fluffy white stuff and what a joy to see. Thank you Lord for this uplifting day.

The snow day lasted just that, one day. Tuesday Bryan and his crew, Sean and Rob along with the electrical contractor started opening the ceiling for recessed lights, pendants and a chandelier. I could hear a lot of sawing and hammering in my office. To me it is the sweet sound of progress. By the end of the day, huge holes in the ceiling with wires coming down and all the outlets were set for the kitchen and island. Just one more thought Tim and I had, more recessed lighting in the area near the steps for the upper bedroom. Bryan was more than happy to accommodate. When we first thought of adding lighting, we thought two standard recessed lights and one eyeball light to make our beautiful heavy pine 8′ wide English style bookcase a focal point. It’s a family favorite, in fact, both our daughter and daughter-in-law have claimed it whenever we want to get rid of it or I die whichever comes first, guess Katrina, our oldest will have to wait a long, very long time for it but she can have it when I am dead and buried many years from now. Not to get off on a tangent but wanted you to know just how amazing this piece of furniture is and that if we didn’t have anything else at all, we would have this piece. Now back to the thought at hand. Our contractor, Bryan suggested two eyeball lights instead of a single centered one, just in case we ever got rid of the bookcase (God forbid). However if we ever did sell the house, we could convert those eyeball lights to regular recessed lights. Great idea, so we went with it. Thus the original house had no recessed lights will now be graced with 14 recessed lights. Woo Hoo! The vision is coming alive.

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The Plumber has come…

Holes in the ceiling and now in the floor, electric and hot and cold water tubing (I am guessing they no longer using copper pipe, which I guess it a good thing). I am going with it since no one asked me, but then again why would someone ask me who knows absolutely nothing about the inner workings of plumbing. While working in my office on a listing presentation, did I mention that I am a realtor and loving it, they told me that there would be no water so don’t use the toilet or the sink. Of course that’s when my body told me that I had to go to the bathroom. Why does that always happen? When you are told you can’t use the water, you have to use the water. Well, I went with the whole idea, if’s it’s yellow let it mellow. So thankful that’s all it was if you know what I mean.

Nothing else really interesting happened that day, well let’s not say nothing. One of the guys at the end of the day found a live extension cord in the bathtub with the water running. Thankfully no one decided to get into the tub while the water was on and the live cord was in it or we may have had a major catastrophe; however, it was averted and the extension cord was unplugged before pulling it out of the tub. Thank you for common sense. I went to the master bath where that extension cord was and thought it was colder than normal. I didn’t notice anything different when I walked into the bedroom/master bath. Then, I felt a cold stiff breeze, I turned and there it was a wide open window! The window sits over the tub, where that dang electrical cord was. Guess they forgot to close the window, oh well. Things could have been worse, much worse. The water was back on and the electricity was working so I had heat and lights. All was good.

By the end of the day, the County was called to come in and inspect the electrical and plumbing. Fingers crossed it all passes.

It’s all in a day’s work…

Today I realized that I love the contractors we hired, always so tidy when they leave. I don’t even feel like I need to go behind them to sweep and clean up. It’s a relief. And it really does make a difference especially when you are living in the transformation.

The County inspector came by today and check on the wiring behind the walls. We passed, of course, so it was time to hang sheetrock over all the electrical. A new electrical panel, new wiring, new plumbing, everything old is becoming new again.

We are making what I call less impactful progress but it will make a huge difference when the space is finished. The ceiling which was a stucco before has been sanded down and a 3/8″ sheetrock is now covering it. Over all, it will improve the insulation of the house and sound reduction. But more importantly it will look great and who doesn’t want that. This home is being transformed into the 21st Century.

As with any construction there is always those little things that happen and if you stand back and think about it, it has disaster written all over it and thankfully disaster is averted each time. This time is was the heat. We are here in Winter and it has been cool outside, in the 40’s, but at night it’s dipping into the high 20’s. So yesterday when the crew left I noticed that I was a little cool. For me, that’s a great thing at my age and stage of life; however, for our old black Lab, Dakota, and any other human it’s not very comfortable. I went over to turn up the heat and to my surprise the thermostat was not on, it wasn’t even just off…it was dead. I didn’t panic and just kept trying to press my fingers on the face of the thermostat thinking it was going to magically turn on, actually wishing it would. After a few minutes, I got frustrated and even though I try never to bother the contractor after hours, I thought of what the alternative would look like. By the next morning I would be under a million heavy blankets and I would have also hoisted our 90 lb. lab up in the bed with me to stay warm. Though, what really pushed me to contact Bryan was the thought that by morning we may have had frozen pipes and that, as you know, would have been tragic. So came the inevitable.

The electricians had installed a new electrical panel that day so hopefully they didn’t miss installing the HVAC into the panel. I reluctantly dialed Bryan’s number, he picked up and he said he would check with Dave, the electrician, and get back to me. He gave me the direction to not touch the breakers in the panel. And I didn’t. When it comes to electricity, this lady was not going against anyone’s orders. I waited patiently for Bryan’s return call which was very quick. He said that they had turned off the HVAC when they were labeling the new panel. Dave couldn’t hear the other electrician, James, over the sound of the furnace. So it was a quick fix, go to the panel and switch over the breakers to the furnace. All was right with the world. Warmth. Or so I thought. See, I grew up with and have always had a gas furnace. It’s an instantaneous thing, turn the furnace on, it’s on and warm air comes flowing in within minutes. Well, who knew that there was a delay between turning the breakers on for the HVAC and it actually pumping out warm air. I went over to the thermostat and there it was, it was on! Hurray for me. However, I didn’t hear it kick in and when I further studied the thermostat display I noticed something a little quirky – the word “wait” under my desired temperature, then I noticed the current temperature displayed a cool 56 degrees. Yes, even for me it was getting a little too cool. So I waited, like the display said. After about 5 long minutes, I started feeling a panic settling over me and made that dreaded call. Thinking to myself, how could I bother Bryan once and now I have to call him again, so unlike me.

I knew that Bryan wouldn’t mind, but I did. I am independent and like to stay that way. Thankfully, Bryan was patient with me and said that he didn’t know what was going on with the HVAC but would call the electrician once again and get back to me. In the meantime, as anyone would, I went back to the electrical panel and reset the breakers for the HVAC. I said to myself that if I reset it, all would be good and what could it hurt, right? Once I did that, I went back to the thermostat and that dang thing still said, “WAIT”. I was not happy. Thankfully that is when Bryan rang and said that unbeknownst to him, there is a delay feature with Heat Pumps and that it would take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes before the furnace would start pumping that warm wonderful air. He said to call him back should it not go on after 15 minutes. Wouldn’t you know it, the furnace would have probably already been running, except that I reset the those breakers. What was I thinking? The good thing was that 5 to 15 minutes is a short period of time. After just a few minutes, the beautiful sound of the forced warm air was going through the vents. Thank you Lord. Another learning experience, this one I will remember! And now instead of hoisting a 90 lb 10 1/2 year old Lab up on the bed with a mountain of blankets, I could enjoy another night of a simple sheet and light blanket and Dakota snoring on the floor at the end of the bed.

Tomorrow will be Friday, the snow the weatherman called for is already falling outside and I am sure to be awakened by news that either school has been cancelled or delayed. Boy, times sure have changed. Hopefully tomorrow will bring some more progress and not so much snow. I do love watching the beautiful snowflakes cover the snirt (snow dirt) and enjoy it when I can be cozy and cuddled up inside. However, tomorrow I have to walk a lot with a client and also I need to meet another agent at a house, so please snow, melt before I wake. Let life go on without you, at least for a day.