Meeting Deadlines

When we closed on this house at the end of September of 2016, Chris said we would be moved in and the house would be finished by the end of December 2016. Boy did he underestimate the work this house entailed. 

We moved in to the house on April 30, 2017 and the downstairs had plywood floors, walls freshly drywalled without primer, and some electrical outlets and switches. Drywall dust was everywhere. 

Somehow we lasted for 6 whole weeks without a kitchen sink, let alone a kitchen, and got by with a microwave and fridge in our garage. Those were cold mornings that were spent pouring cereal for the kids in paper bowls on folding tables amidst our stacked up furniture in our garage. What an adventure that was. 

As hard as living without the downstairs was, I have to admit that the excitement of the new adventure outweighed the anxiety of living with drywall dust and no kitchen. Plus, we were finally all together again. From August 2016 through April 2017 Chris spent every waking moment at the farm and the kids and I were usually at the rental house 25 minutes away. Living without a kitchen was a small price to pay to have Chris come home to us every night. 

When we signed papers for the renovation loan with the bank on September 30, 2016, we signed something saying we would have it all finished by September 30, 2017. Obviously we needed more time and the bank gave us an extension. Our second deadline was April 30, 2018. With only touch ups left, we contacted the bank to say we were finished in time for the deadline and they scheduled the inspection. The inspection was this morning, on May 7, at 9 AM. 

Below are photos I took this morning at sunrise. 

We still have more to do, but what we told the bank we would do is now done. 

Chris is building a door for the entrance to the master bath - he's building it out of the walnut from our barn. It will be amazing.

We have a door that we will put here for the closet that is a door original to the house. We just need to clean it up and hang it.

Notice the missing backsplash in the kitchen? We are also missing open shelving and then we decided to take the microwave out and put a walnut covered hood up, plus a pot filler over the stove. Cannot wait for those changes!

Chris and I designed the island as we did the other kitchen cabinets. Chris built the island out of the walnut scraps of wood we found in our old barn. It's pretty cool to have a piece of history of the house in our kitchen!

As you can see, we have a lot more work to do in the mud room, but for now it's looking a little cleaner now that the walls are painted.

My pink laundry room and entrance to the basement is starting to take shape. We bought some retro penny tile for the floor and then we can trim out the space and build more cabinets for the side of the stacked w/d.

These back panels on the island pop open so we can use the empty space for storage.

The door we used to go between our kitchen and mud room was the former back door that is original to the house. I love the old look of it and how much character it adds to the space! The rug beneath it, along with the rug we have under the piano are mid-century rugs I found at an antique store.

And for our guests who have nervously watched their kids use our stairs without a banister, and for those who have had to witness Cecily tumble down them due to lack of carpet and handrail, here is an exciting change! The handrail is finally up!

Well, it took us 19 months, but I think it is safe to say that our house remodel is about done. And now to sleep. For a long time.