#20 - What is that SMELL?!
It's been a holding pattern for a while, but boy did things break loose yesterday! The best part is that we didn't know that would happen until Thursday! Sometimes it's a lot easier when it just happens instead of having to live through the anticipation.
I keep likening this whole process to Christmas. On April 17, I don't have any thoughts or excitement about Christmas. (Everyone else in the world feels this way except for my friend Beth) It's easy to wait when it's so far away and not even on the radar. On December 17 I am an absolute fruitcake nutcase filled with butterflies and eagerness and excitement because I LOVE CHRISTMAS! The anticipation nearly gives me an adrenaline overload every single year.
And now IT SEEMS LIKE we're getting so close that I can't even put away my laundry anymore. I'm like, "WHO even CARES! I'm moving into my new room, basically tomorrow! I'll just pile this laundry on top of my dresser!!!" This is 100% irrational. It's actually still going to be a while. Our most commonly received question is "When do they think they'll be done." And the answer is there isn't really a "they." Each trade is a separate entity and we (Matt) are the project manager. So "they" is actually "we" and we don't really know exactly when we'll be finished. There are a some things we'll still hire out (moving the gas line, installing drywall), and a lot of things that we'll do ourselves (painting, installing flooring and trim, installing bathroom fixtures, hanging siding, soffits and fascia board outside).
So Thursday, all I knew is that the electrician would be here to connect the light switches; and we thought he'd be here Thursday, but as it turned out, he came on Friday. On Thursday, we also learned that the power company, the framing inspector AND the insulation company would also be here on Friday. We knew none of this when we woke up on Thursday. It was nowhere on our radar.
But at 8:30 Friday morning (Matt's scheduled day off), the insulation company rolled in, I left to take the kids to school, got home 25 minutes later and the electrician was here, the inspector came around 1:00, and the power company came to move the service from above ground to underground! Matt also placed an order for all of the supplies we'll need to close up the eaves.
Insulation took ONE DAY. Hallelujah! So, now it looks like Pink Panther came for a visit and it SMELLS like he brought a non-housebroken friend along with him. That insulation stinks something awful. It's g-r-o-s-s!! Sorry but there's really no other way to describe it...it smells like pee. It is NOT pleasant. Bring on the drywall!
Current status is:
-(most) lights are working
-building is insulated
-fascia and soffit supplies are ordered and will be delivered soon so we can close the opening to the outdoors
Also, last evening, Matt and I went out for dinner and then to an antique mall. We're on the hunt for two matching old doors--with character--that we can use at the top of the stairs. One door will be to the attic (and will have to be made into an exterior door because the attic is unconditioned space), and the other will be for the guest room. We found a bunch of neat doors, but not "the ones.
But, we did find something else! We have two access holes upstairs into the unfinished spaces where the ducts are (the spaces where the kids built their offices) and we want to have doors on those for easy access. At the antique mall we found a pair of cupboard doors that looked very, very close to the right size for those cubby holes. They were $22 each, came with all of the original hardware in tact and only need to be scraped and repainted. They looked really close to the right size (note to self: take measurements and keep them on hand and buy a tape measure for my purse! I keep forgetting to do both!). Every sale at this antique mall is final, but they looked so close to the right size that we took a risk and bought them instead of putting them on hold.
We brought them home.
And.
THEY FIT PERFECTLY!! They are exactly right! And $22 each is worth far more than the time it would take Matt to build them or the time it would take to shop for something else.
And they'll add character.
I have a love/hate relationship with antique malls. I want to love all of the old things, but I can't. Some of the things are so amazing. And some of them need to be burned. I walk in and get all excited about the potential for finding treasures. But eventually, I get grossed out and itchy because half of that stuff is just nasty (the corner full of old creepy dolls), or it was made in China in 2004, or it was chalk painted in a bad way. (I have chalk paint in my house on my bathroom cupboards, so I'm not anti-chalk paint. But I'm anti-bad chalk paint job (like when the brush strokes are masquerading as distressed, but really they're just brush strokes.)) It becomes sensory overload trying to sort the pretty from the ugly. Also, I look around and my brain instantly creates a big story about every single item I see, and then I consider that some old things have been in happy homes and some old things have been in hateful homes. I can't not curiously ponder their history, and eventually all those fake stories wear me out and I can't take it anymore.
But, thankfully, before I had sensory overload, and before my brain was too overwhelmed by fake stories, we spotted these fabulous cupboard doors and they're going to be perfect for their corners! I don't know their history, but I'm going to pretend it was a happy one.
 |
| the view from the hobbit door. Utility room to my direct right. Patio door directly to my left. |
And now IT SEEMS LIKE we're getting so close that I can't even put away my laundry anymore. I'm like, "WHO even CARES! I'm moving into my new room, basically tomorrow! I'll just pile this laundry on top of my dresser!!!" This is 100% irrational. It's actually still going to be a while. Our most commonly received question is "When do they think they'll be done." And the answer is there isn't really a "they." Each trade is a separate entity and we (Matt) are the project manager. So "they" is actually "we" and we don't really know exactly when we'll be finished. There are a some things we'll still hire out (moving the gas line, installing drywall), and a lot of things that we'll do ourselves (painting, installing flooring and trim, installing bathroom fixtures, hanging siding, soffits and fascia board outside).
So Thursday, all I knew is that the electrician would be here to connect the light switches; and we thought he'd be here Thursday, but as it turned out, he came on Friday. On Thursday, we also learned that the power company, the framing inspector AND the insulation company would also be here on Friday. We knew none of this when we woke up on Thursday. It was nowhere on our radar.
But at 8:30 Friday morning (Matt's scheduled day off), the insulation company rolled in, I left to take the kids to school, got home 25 minutes later and the electrician was here, the inspector came around 1:00, and the power company came to move the service from above ground to underground! Matt also placed an order for all of the supplies we'll need to close up the eaves.
 |
| LIGHTS! |
Insulation took ONE DAY. Hallelujah! So, now it looks like Pink Panther came for a visit and it SMELLS like he brought a non-housebroken friend along with him. That insulation stinks something awful. It's g-r-o-s-s!! Sorry but there's really no other way to describe it...it smells like pee. It is NOT pleasant. Bring on the drywall!
Current status is:
-(most) lights are working
-building is insulated
-fascia and soffit supplies are ordered and will be delivered soon so we can close the opening to the outdoors
 |
| Laundry room lights! |
 |
| Master Bedroom |
 |
 |
| The Upstairs Room |
Also, last evening, Matt and I went out for dinner and then to an antique mall. We're on the hunt for two matching old doors--with character--that we can use at the top of the stairs. One door will be to the attic (and will have to be made into an exterior door because the attic is unconditioned space), and the other will be for the guest room. We found a bunch of neat doors, but not "the ones.
But, we did find something else! We have two access holes upstairs into the unfinished spaces where the ducts are (the spaces where the kids built their offices) and we want to have doors on those for easy access. At the antique mall we found a pair of cupboard doors that looked very, very close to the right size for those cubby holes. They were $22 each, came with all of the original hardware in tact and only need to be scraped and repainted. They looked really close to the right size (note to self: take measurements and keep them on hand and buy a tape measure for my purse! I keep forgetting to do both!). Every sale at this antique mall is final, but they looked so close to the right size that we took a risk and bought them instead of putting them on hold.
We brought them home.
And.
THEY FIT PERFECTLY!! They are exactly right! And $22 each is worth far more than the time it would take Matt to build them or the time it would take to shop for something else.
And they'll add character.
I have a love/hate relationship with antique malls. I want to love all of the old things, but I can't. Some of the things are so amazing. And some of them need to be burned. I walk in and get all excited about the potential for finding treasures. But eventually, I get grossed out and itchy because half of that stuff is just nasty (the corner full of old creepy dolls), or it was made in China in 2004, or it was chalk painted in a bad way. (I have chalk paint in my house on my bathroom cupboards, so I'm not anti-chalk paint. But I'm anti-bad chalk paint job (like when the brush strokes are masquerading as distressed, but really they're just brush strokes.)) It becomes sensory overload trying to sort the pretty from the ugly. Also, I look around and my brain instantly creates a big story about every single item I see, and then I consider that some old things have been in happy homes and some old things have been in hateful homes. I can't not curiously ponder their history, and eventually all those fake stories wear me out and I can't take it anymore.
But, thankfully, before I had sensory overload, and before my brain was too overwhelmed by fake stories, we spotted these fabulous cupboard doors and they're going to be perfect for their corners! I don't know their history, but I'm going to pretend it was a happy one.
 |
| Single light in the hallway from the kitchen to the family room. |
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