The joy of remodeling

 We finally started the remodel process.

I saved up enough to do the fireplace but not much more than that. Frank realized that having me do the remodel as I saved up enough money was not only going to take years but also meant we'd have to live with some of our house being a mess while I saved up.

For example, when I put in the new fireplace, it will mess up the carpet/floor. But that wouldn't be able to be repaired until I saved enough to do the floors/island/kitchen which all had to happen at the same time.

He finally decided it wasn't worth the hassle and said we should just bite the bullet and do the whole remodel at once. It was exciting but also a bit scary because it's a lot of stuff.

I've always kept a list of a lots of things I'd like to change about the house and I've never told him the whole list since I figured I'd do it gradually. Well, now I laid it all out:

• New tile in entryway
• New light fixtures: entryway, over stairway to basement, kitchen, dining area and laundry
• New/remodeled gas fireplace with changed surround
• Hardwood floors to match front room throughout main floor/hall/stairs to basement
• New kitchen cabinets
• New countertop/backsplash
• Shiplap on ceiling of kitchen
• New double oven and microwave, cooktop, vent hood
• New tile in laundry room
• New cabinets in laundry room, countertop, backsplash
• Paint
• Added during the process: new doors/trim (something I've always wanted but figured I'd wait...seemed like the right time to bring it up)
• I also decided I needed to repaint my secretary since the red no longer went with the room.

Some things went smoothly and some did not. It was definitely a bit stressful and expensive!

We moved out kitchen table into the pantry along with the microwave and toaster. This is where we did all of our eating/making food.  We ate out less than I thought we would but mostly because we were just exhausted so going out sounded too hard and we'd rather eat cereal or cheese sandwiches.

We wanted to keep the sink in the laundry room so we'd have a decent access to water/dish washing etc. But we had to remove the cabinet beneath that sink in order to remove all the old tile. So Frank put a piece of wood to hold it up once the tile was out. It was not beautiful but it worked!

We decided to wait til the kitchen was complete before starting the laundry room. That way we always had a sink.

Every room in the house suffered.

Bedrooms became storage spaces. All of my plants had to be relocated. Furniture had to come away from walls for painting and moved in and out of rooms as floors were done.