Don't get too excited. The picture above is my pipe dream - hopefully soon a reality. The before picture is the current state of our living room floor - filthy and stripped bare. The after picture is of our master bedroom floor, which was already refinished when we moved in a few years ago, but the model of what we hope the rest of the floors will look like when the job is finally completed.Meanwhile my life is in chaos because my house is in a total fuckin' shambles. I want to move somewhere far, far away. To a place where all the rooms make sense. Where the kitchen is the kitchen and the living room doesn't echo and give me splinters.
What feels like an eternity has passed since my darling decided to rip out the nasty carpets in our house. It was a spur of the moment decision even though we have always planned to refinish the floors in our house. We just hadn't planned to start ripping up carpet that very second.
He is not typically a man of action. In fact most of the time he mainly stays very still, so I don't know what came over him. At the time (Labor Day weekend) because he was supposed to be simply shampooing the carpets, I was thoroughly prepared for a carpet cleaning project. We moved all of the furniture and breakable items out of the way and created a situation that I thought would be temporary, like for one day.
I left him alone with the shampoo-er machine for less than 5 minutes and returned to find him wild-eyed and grinning, on his hands and knees, looking up at me and barking proudly "Look at this! - These floors are perfect, why didn't we do this before??"
Because you need a plan crazyman.
To be honest, at first I was kind of excited to finally get the wheels in motion, but that was a few weeks ago and at this point I am tired of living like an animal. Meanwhile, the estimates have all come in, a deposit has been paid and the job has been scheduled - in another 4 weeks.
So I am writing to you now from a cramped space that I have carved out for myself in the office by moving several large piles of crap. I'm going to post some pictures tonight and reassure you that I haven't dropped off the face of the planet. It's just difficult to get in the post writing zone when I'm drowning underneath all of the crap piles.
Here is what used to be my kitchen, filled with all of the crap from what used to be the dining room and some of the crap that used to be the living room... and some other crap that I have just started piling on top of it because I have no fucking idea where to put it anymore...
Here is what used to be the entry way filled with more of some of the crap that used to be in the living room. We have to tilt the pizza boxes to get them through the door. What? You think I'm going to try to cook something in this shithole?
Here is what used to be the entry way filled with more of some of the crap that used to be in the living room. We have to tilt the pizza boxes to get them through the door. What? You think I'm going to try to cook something in this shithole?
Here is some of the crap I had to move to get into the office, including the ever present shop vac... like those American Express ads, it's everywhere I want to be...
Here is one of the few rooms in the house I can stand to be in... our lovely empty dining room...
15 comments:
This post was wonderful, but the labels have me spitting in my keyboard!
Oooooooooh what fun! Renovating is a well, it's not the best job ever.
Hope it gets done, and by somebody other than you! ;)
I'm glad SkyDad pointed out the labels! Good stuff, Maynard.
My wife wants new floors. We have a tiny, tiny little house in a bad, bad neighborhood, so to do the floors we'd have to move things outside and hire a goon to stand over them while the floors were being redone... Thankfully hired goons are cheap hereabouts.
That shine "floors" me. Na Na Naaaaa.
I feel for you...that would make me INSANE! Hopefully it'll all go by quickly..and hey! Then you'll have GORGEOUS floors!
I feel for you too. I don't deal well with even slight disorder, let alone total effing chaos. I hope this goes smoothly for you!
Lady, you have really nice stuff in your piles of crap..that swirly vase thingie on the counter makes me smile..you should have a crap - I mean yard - sale..i would travel and buy it..I swear.
I know the feeling...felt like pulling all of my hair out during the bathroom remodel. But your new floors are going to look GREAT! Can't wait to see them done.
I remember right after the tornado when we had people working on our house, it was crazy. everything was all over the place and I'd come home from work to find huge muddy footprints on my comforter. Why was anyone standing on my bed? Hang in there. It's only 4 weeks right? Oh yeah, that's a long time.
When you're done, could you travel up north and do our floors? I mean, you'll have all that valuable experience. Plus, I don't want to do it.
Skydad - thanks! glad you liked it - I thought I was being lazy with the labels and just used what came up when I typed some cuss words.
Sparsley - This is really the most serious thing we've ever done - and it's no big deal except that we moved the furniture too soon. Trust me we have hired someone to do all of the stuff that requires any skills.
Chris - Maybe you can rent one of those Pods thingys to store your stuff - or just get a couple of rooms done at a time. Our job is 4 rooms and they say it'll take 4 days to complete. We did all the demo ourselves.
Dr. Zibbs - that floor is everything I'm hoping and dreaming for in the rest of the house.
Michelle - I think it'll all turn out OK - but it's hard to keep living like this...
CDP - it's not like my house is normally all that clean and tidy - but this is ridiculous.
Linka - you have excellent taste my dear - my best friend Amy gave me that vase for my birthday a few years ago.
Renwoman - I know you are the last person I could bitch too since you just lived without an entire bathroom earlier this summer.
Churlita - this is a self imposed disaster area - thank god. Why would someone walk on your bedding? Weird.
Chris - I would imagine we are the last people you would want to do work on your house. Although I might be swayed to help do some demo work in exchange for one of your beautiful a hand carved fishies.
Wow, I am so impressed at the quick action your dear hubby has shown. Well, it could be worse, you could have that mess AND your brother-in-law living with you. ;-)
I just hired a crew to come next week and lay carpet in 4 bedrooms, an office, a hall and stairway. They said ALL I have to do is remove everything from the floor in the closets and everything from the tops of the furniture- oh, and strip the beds of all linens.- Just stack it all in the bathtub they said. WTF?
If I were you, I'd stand in that dining room as much as possible or sit on a throw pillow just to keep your sanity.
It's so stressful living through a renovation, especially a kitchen or bathroom. It ends up being worth it in the end, but oh god, it's tough to endure.
But you're just doing your living room floor right? 4 weeks is a pretty long time to wait, so if I were you, I'd sweep up the floor and just move most things back into the living room, so I could live much more comfortably for a few weeks, then just move it all back out the day before the floor guys come.
Sure it's extra moving, but two adults can handle some room-to-room moving... especially to live in relative comfort for a month. :)
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