Confessions from a Construction Zone

A few days ago, Joe, one of the North Shore Construction team, asked if I was tired of living in a construction zone? Hmmm. Not really. But what am I feeling?

One day I counted 10 men working at our house ... that was a tough day, worse because it rained, but that was temporary.  No, having all the workmen here from 8:00am to 5:00pm or so, every single day (sometimes even on Saturday), no that doesn't really bother me.

 

When our dog, Louie, started limping over the weekend we got really worried.  But, we took him to the vet on Monday and she fixed him up.  Turns out it was a bee sting. We think it happened in our new back yard. That was scary and he was pretty pitiful with that "cone of shame" he had to wear.  And though his bee sting was at least partially due to all the construction debris back there, I had faith that he would be OK so no, that was OK too.

 

 

The frequent bad news about the condition of the house is unnerving.  Like when Nate and Joe discovered a large area of old termite damage that had been repaired but not very well ... that was an "Oh, my gosh!" moment for sure.  But we have a very capable crew here, on the premises 8 to 5 everyday and they fixed it in no time! Contractor Chris said their motto is, "Find it, fix it, move on." And they did just that. Take that, termites! And never, never come back!

 

 

I will admit it is bothersome and somewhat claustrophobic to still have packing boxes everywhere after four weeks, and to be confined to five rooms. But there is nothing we can do about it except wait ... And, THAT'S IT!

 

 

For me, it's not the waiting so much as it is the inability to DO anything. We can't unpack more - nowhere to put it.  We can't paint anything - all those boxes and furniture that we can't put in place are in the way AND the constant traffic in the house causes more and more damage anyway. We dare not clean - before you finish it needs it again.

 

 

Can't decorate - everything is temporary - the living room will get different paint and therefore everything in there will change. The den is just uninhabitable. We will need some new things for the master suite but it is also uninhabitable. Our youngest will be coming home from his first year of college in less than three weeks - his room is storage right now - can't do much there. UGH!

 

 

 

I am sure everyone is different and everyone who has undergone a remodeling project has had frustrations.  But for me, the hardest part is having so much to do and yet not being able to do anything.

 

I once had a pastor who warned us never pray for patience. Because if you need to become more patient, the only way to learn how is to be put to the test.

 

"God, honest, I didn't ask for patience?"





 

Mission: Renovation

I don't think it matters how old your house is, there are always remodeling projects and updating to be done.  We have two immediate renovation projects for our new/old house.  The first is the master bathroom, closet, 2nd floor laundry room reconfiguration.  The second project is the exterior which includes new window sashes and siding (more about that in a future post).





Our house originally had porches on both the first and second floors all the way across the back.  Oh, do I wish I could have seen that! Both porches were eventually enclosed to become part of the interior of the house.  The second floor porch was enclosed, as it was, less than six feet deep. See the funky glass blocks and windows in the photo above? In one third there is a laundry room that is only accessible by going through the master bedroom, and in the remaining two thirds there is a rather unfortunate long, skinny bathroom. See below:

 

 

Our plan is to convert the existing laundry room, which is directly behind the master bedroom, into a closet. Also, we will be removing the wall that is between the bathroom and a very small bedroom (the far right side of the pictures above). We will construct a new wall that makes the bathroom bigger and makes that very small bedroom even smaller.  The bedroom will then become the new laundry room and it will be accessible from the 2nd floor hall. A must with adult children who visit or live here part time.  

       

Laundry Room

           

 

Small Bedroom

 

I know what you're thinking ... is it really a good choice to eliminate a bedroom when you think about resale?  Well, my thought is that this house is less than 2500 square feet to begin with and a family with three or more children, who require four bedrooms, would likely be looking for more overall square footage.  Also, the bedroom that we are eliminating would only be suitable for a baby or a small child. So a family with several children would soon outgrow that small room anyway. We will still have three bedrooms and an office but with a much better master suite with actual closet space which is a rarity in these old houses. Are you convinced?