Renovations Made Easy

Just kidding. This title is total click bait. There is literally no such thing as an easy home renovation. If you didn't know, we are moving. Soon. Soon-ish? Ok it's been a year in the making. Renovations are a lot of work. And while moving will create a space for us to foster more of the things that matter most to us, getting to that season has proven to be a test of "enjoying the journey".

First you should know I am NOT a HGTV person by any stretch of the matter. Not my interest, strength, or even much of my curiosity. No particular reason. It's just not my jam. Give me a TV show about the mental health effects of ayahuasca and you've got my attention peaked. So my childhood house is nearly 40 years old and very minimally updated. So when we made the decision to move, we knew the house would need some work. "Some" was a cute understatement looking back now. We started thinking it just need a fresh coat of paint and some new carpet... and 3 months in, we realized there was a LOT more. I mean, the septic tank had NEVER been pumped. That's one impressive septic tank. Forty years of 5 people using it, and it was still doing it's thing. It was pretty damn close to NOT doing its thing. But hey... like The Price is Right, you just cant go over and you're golden.

But let's back track. When we decided to move, I took on the role as General Contractor. One of the many blessings in my life is that family members are realtors and landlords. They have bought, sold and renovated MANY houses. So we had the unofficial and secret "Angie's List" of people to contact. I would call companies with no current availability, but the mention of my family members and VOILA... next day appointments. What a lesson in cultivating meaningful and positive professional relationships. I want to learn more about how they have done that, because that's some VIP stuff right there! But just because we knew some great companies, didn't mean this would be easy. It has definitely been a labor of love. So I am excited and proud to share the skills I've learned along the way. And share some very satisfying before and after pictures.

Warning- This post is only the BEFORE pictures. Bummer! Right? I gotta get you to come back and read again! More clickbait stuff. #sorrynotsorry. But like everything worthwhile in life, waiting creates excitement. . And these before pictures are EXCITING.... and hilarious. So let's get transported back to the 1980s.

Hellllllooooo old kitchen.

Who remembers that corded phone? I begggggged my mom to buy that phone for me. And when she finally caved, I had to McGuyver it somehow into my room that didnt have a phone jack. Ooooo kids these days have it so easy. My bestie and I would spend HOURSSSSS on the phone together, watching TV. Not talking. Just watching TV together. Maybe even not the same show. Not really sure why we did that.... we lived 2 miles apart. We could have just gotten together. Anyway, point. This kitchen. Those laminate floors look goooood for 40 years of wear and tear.

Now I'm really laid back. Not much feels ESSENTIAL. But I had three non-negotiables when it came to this house. And my husband had two.

1) I wanted to keep the double ovens. Double ovens = double challahs (challot if I'm being grammatically correct for my Jewish peeps out there). Double cooking, double pizza. So that was NOT changing.

2) The wall between the kitchen and the living room HAD to go. Maybe it's the interpreter in me, or just my love for clear visuals, but I did not want an obstructed view. It felt closed off and less welcoming. Jeff 1000000% agreed. And this was one of his two non-negotiables too.

This wall.... and doors

3) NOTHING could go where my parents had it. Not the living room furniture, not the beds, not anything. I mean, you get me right? Sleeping in a bedroom, in the same place my parents had a bed just felt a little too odd for me. I guess I'll save this weird me issue for therapy.

Lastly, the only non-negotiable left was Jeff's one need. He wanted a hood range that vented outside. No ifs ands or buts. Mainly because he is tried of the fire alarm screaming at me every time I cook bacon. Our current draft down system really doesn't do much. So I'd need to figure out who's in responsible for putting a hole in the wall and running a venting system outside.

That's it. Everything else, well.... who cares. Ok that's a lie. Stuff needed to be updated so there was time and effort put into that but the look and feel of what needed to happen was very open to any and all ideas.

Now the work begins. You actually have to start to make progress. And I had NO idea where to start. Everything needed help. So my best guess was to make a list. So here's what we started with:

-Kitchen needs updating (cabinets, appliances, countertops, pantry, new design?)

-Septic has never been checked. Where is the septic anyway?

-Mice are living their best life in this house. We should check that.

-Electrical updates.

-We don't have service at the house. We need Internet. Like really strong internet. I stream video for work.

-Floors and carpet are old and warnnnnn and dirty.

-A/C and heating. How old? The neighbor told us he pays nearly $500 to heat his house in the winter. That's crazy talk. Let's make sure we are operating efficiently.

-Painting.

-Add the in-law guest bathroom?

-Laundry room updates? Area for Reece to get ready?

-Has anyone checked to see if the chimney is safe?

-Lawn care is an understatement..... hello many many many overgrown weeds, trees, garden, dilapidated fence.

-Oh yes, we definitely need an actual working fence for the dogs.

-The garage door is rotting... let's look at that.

-The windows don't work and are cloudy.... hmmm are they even sealed? How long do windows last?

So the best I could do was start with the low hanging fruit. Chimney check and exterminator. Those are easy calls. Easy calls but complex answers. While the chimney isn't going to collapse at this time, it could use some work to make it safe for use. As for the exterminator, well he found the mice. They set up a nice little home in the original 1987 insulation in the attic. So an easy fix just became a much bigger problem. Time to evict the mice and get updated insulation.

Onwards to the outdoor jungle. And finding the septic tank.

You could barely get in the front door with those massive wannabe twin Christmas trees living their best life. And the rest is either growing upwards or outwards.

Let's look at the back yard:

Are there trolls living in there? Forest monsters? There is a fence hidden in there.... if you can even call one downed post of a 3-post fence a real fence. How the heck do we tackle this?

But hey! Luckily we found the septic tank before winter. When this house was 1st built in 1986 NO ONE thought it important to put in an access point. Meaning, in the middle of winter, when the ground was frozen, if we had a septic emergency, we could NOT get to the tank because the ground would be un-diggable. So what a win we started this project in summer! This septic tank deserves a moment of silence for its patriotisms. It lasted nearly 40 years without being touched ONCE. One of the baffles was on its llllasssssttt leg. So thank goodness we got this done. A broken baffle and an overflowing septic tank would have been a MESS both physically and financially.

Next, it was time to call around and see what we could do about the jungle and fence. This had to be done first since a fence was absolutely necessary since we have dogs. But the fence people couldn't even give us an estimate until the jungle was tamed.

Taming the jungle was a MUCH simpler process compared to the other work to come. Renovation the kitchen and downstairs floors was the biggest project of all.

To start this massive undertaking we choose to use a designer to help us best fit the space. While being a GC is fun, I definitely had my limitations. And measuring and deciding where each and every drawer, appliance, countertop would go was on a different level I didnt want. Why not lean on an expert and someone who does this for a living? Maggie at Reico was awesome.

We were told on many occasions to go look at homes. We spent many weekends driving around checking out open houses and taking pictures of aspects of kitchens we liked. Colors, hardware styles, sinks, cabinet detailing, placements, countertops, layouts, lighting. Supppppper helpful. Jeff and I got a sense of what looked good to us and what wasn't worth the investment.

Here's the game plan she designed:

Now since we were doing everything as cost effective as possible, we ordered the materials from Reico and had a licensed contractor do all of the assembly. That honestly saved us thousands of dollars.

We asked Reico to quote us the countertops, just to see what those numbers looked like. We had a countertop guy, but we shopped around for the best deals. And what Recio wanted for the materials alone, our countertop guy could do PLUS the install for less. Also our countertop guy rocked! We had some serious fun going to pick out the perfect slab. Hell, on Halloween I showed up as Trex. How you make people feel is everything, so why not laugh? The warehouse loved us after that and got the slabs fast.

We also spent a good amount of time surfing the web for appliances. We needed a refrigerator, stovetop, hood range, sink, microwave, and double ovens. And it's nice to shop around Christmas. Ohh the deals!

But now that we had some of the essential materials..... and no one to install it. Just kidding. We hired a licensed contractor who's a literal jack of all trades. William is THE guy! He was a recommendation from our secret Angie's List. William was initially hired for a few items... that turned into a LOT of items. Remember our non-negotiables list? Well the wall had to go.... the hood range had to vent outside and everything needed to be in different positions. He did it all! He has been the heart of this project. And his work is beautiful. In addition, when I don't not know what to do, William has been the guy to step up and help, or refer us to someone who can.

Next up was the electrical work. And if you've been reading the blog for a little while now, you'll know the story behind our amazing electrician.

Blog Post About Our Electrician

So now I'm managing/coordinating: an electrician, licensed contractor, the countertop guy, appliance purchase, and cabinet designer. All wanting their project to be my sole focus. HA. I definitely learned more people skills during this time. So while I was making these guys happy, time to add in a few more-

1) Austin and Jessica for our windows.

2) Mary for our rotting garage door repair.

3) Ahmed our flooring and tile material company.

4) Rob, the kindest installer for floors and tile.

5) A plumber. A different guy came every time from the company.

6) Shane. A second electrician because my 1st one retired.

Whoever said, "you can't do life alone" was totally right. This labor of love has been a great test in building relationships and finding balance when pulled by any or all of the people listed above. Everyone wants to feel important. Myself included. So wanting to make everyone feel appreciated and respected has always been the game plan. Acts of kindness (donuts and coffee go a long way), responding to texts quickly, allowing contractors to communicate directly, and being a constant presence at the project site has been incredibly important!

I think a renovation teaches anyone time management, the ability to prioritize, discernment, and a healthy dose of patience.

We decided to X the in-law suite bathroom renovation. Because while a bathroom in the guest room would have been SO nice for our family coming in from out of town, the amount of time and money didn't jive. Ahhh one item (although this would have been more like 50 items) off the list. How freeing! Buttttt.... I can never help myself. Took an item off the list, but I added one on. One surprise had to happen.

Jeff and I both hated the downstairs bathroom. Ok hate is a strong word. It was dated and falling apart. But again, priorities. To fully gut and redo this bathroom would have been THOUSANDS. And although there was a healthy budget, restraint needed to happen. Butttttt DIY craftiness, paired with amazing contractors... equals a good solution. Not to mention Christmas was around the corner, so what better gift to my amazing hubby than to change the bathroom! He was bummed to let that project fall off the list, and I liveeeee to surprise him. (I surprised him good for his birthday one month after this epic Christmas gift too)

Read about Jeff's Bday Surprise

The Old Bathroom

It took a bit of sneakiness from me and the contractors since Jeff also visited the project often to see the progress. On one occasion we showed up with my brother and sister-in-law, who very quickly closed the door and distracted Jeff away. Oh thank goodness for Yang!

On Christmas morning Jeff had a BIG old box under the tree. When he opened it there was an absurd amount of tissue paper. And under the tissue paper was a small cardboard note card that said- "Check your text messages." So while he was sifting through a party of tissue paper, I was texting him this video of the finished bathroom.

His surprise was 100% genuine. He had zero clue I was making this happen. And with help from William, Amazon, our countertop guy and family (Thanks again Yang) this bathroom cost me under 1,000 bucks!

Now, you are probably wondering, who are all of these amazing companies and people! I promise a full list of contractors, products and companies.... and after pictures once the entire job is complete! I can't go sharing my dream team while I still need them. I'm 10000% selfish right now. Buttttt with a move in date in June, the suspense wont last long!

We are super thankful for the help, guidance, support and insight from so many. And the BEST bit of advice was 10000000% to NOT live here while the renovation happened. Back in September a truck was secured and boxes were being packed. Three days before moving we changed our minds. I am SO glad we did. This project has been a long time coming. From June 2022 when we first were presented the idea until now. It almost doesn't feel real. I am still calling this Dad's house. It's as weird as getting a card on Mother's Day addressed to MOM and that meaning me! Recent life has been full of many new chapters. I'm loving new chapters. They give us the freedom to start fresh, create new paths, and change old ways. I've always heard a fresh coat of paint can really make a difference. This project has helped me understand that saying so much more.

Excited to move forward. Excited for Reece to grow up in my childhood bedroom. Excited to show you the final product.

Hang tight, it's coming!

The face you make after the 32398102 trip to look at flooring and tiles.