How is it December???: Renovation Week One Thousand
The grey, damp cold is starting to creep in here and we are finally starting to see the faintest of lights at the end of this seemingly endless tunnel. I feel like we have been renovating this house for years. Every time we think it's almost over, something happens and our schedule gets pushed back another week or two...or four. I am tired. Mostly I am tired of living in chaos and out of boxes and back and forth from house to house; but also, my energy for this massive project is waning. I am a tidy person - and I'll be honest - a little compulsively organized, and this experience has been a true test of my patience (I may be on the verge of failing that test).
I last left you in Florida, taking care of my Dad post surgery, and itching to get back to work and finish the house. That was an entire month ago (how is that even possible??) and we are still weeks from being done. Time is a blurry whirlwind of sanding and scraping paint and trying to find the energy at the end of each chilly day to crochet or bead or post an update; it all blends together. Whenever I sit down in front of the computer, coffee in hand, ready to knock out a post, I talk myself out of it. I think to myself, "I should probably just get that cabinet painted...If I start sanding now, maybe I can start caulking this afternoon..." I get up from the computer, get to work on the house, and leave you all hanging in the dark. I try to remind myself when I start feeling guilty about neglecting the website and all of my projects that life will not always be like this. One day (God, I hope very soon) our house will not be a construction zone. We will have luxuries like furniture and a clean dust-free floor, and a kitchen sink that isn't covered with plastic caked in dust. One day we will be able to find what we are looking for because it will be on a shelf where it belongs and not in box number 37 on the bottom of the pile in the back of the storage room. Sometimes these little reminders help; sometimes it is just too much to handle and I explode in tears. (side note: take it from a person who has moved too many times to count - ALWAYS take the time to make a box inventory. You never know how long you'll be living out of boxes, and it really helps you stay ever so slightly sane if you at least know which number box something is in. Trust.)
If I really think about it, we are actually almost done. The to-do list keeps shrinking, but it feels like the smaller the list gets, the slower the progress. The only big ticket tasks remaining on the list are finishing the kitchen cabinets, and resurfacing the floors in the main part of the house. Sounds easy enough, but they are both big tasks that take a lot of time, and we have had some issues with the floors (I will explain that another day - I can't bring myself to relive that this morning). It is also getting increasingly colder as the year creeps on, so our outdoor work time is limited, as I am a Floridian and a weenie when it comes to temperatures below 65 degrees.
So, now that I have whined and complained for three paragraphs, you are probably wondering what we have actually accomplished in the last month. When I arrived home from Florida, Adam had finished painting the living room and had completely transformed the bathroom (which I was super grateful for not having to help with, as it was in rough shape). We have since finished the ceilings, painted the kitchen, and begun tackling the kitchen cabinets, which has been a much bigger project than expected. We have also taken on some tiny side projects like refinishing our newly purchased dresser and making a cabinet door to hide an unsightly spot in the bathroom (I've added some process photos below). It is projects like these that make me feel good about the whole process, and keep me going. Short, rewarding tasks that add a touch of our own creativity and personality, and show how much love is going into this house. I can look around and know how much of our own hard work helped make this house beautiful. I am so grateful for what we have and what we are able to accomplish ourselves, and at the end of the day - no matter how frustrating or stressful - I love being here.
