Renovation Realities

1. Your contractor will not show up on time
2. The work will take longer than expected
3. The cost will go up from the quoted amount
4. You will never want to use this contractor again

 

Anyone who has done work in their house knows that numbers 1-4 are to be expected. Perhaps you might leave off 4 because although nothing went as planned, this guy may be more reliable than the last ones. Hey, at least he showed up, right? And the cost went up, but only by a couple hundred dollars… not by thousands. As a newbie in this area, numbers 1, 2, and 3 make me conclude with number 4.

 

After months of waiting for a contractor to show up, I took the plunge and started getting quotes again. We found someone, he told me it’d be 3 weeks til he could start. I said fine. He showed up 10 minutes late. I’ll excuse it. The work took longer than planned. It costed more than we thought. It isn’t completed. But hey, our house is more open. Contractor is paid. And we survived- dust and all. While it isn’t perfect, it’s definitely a start.

 

When we came to this house, I knew it needed the kitchen to be opened up. Obviously a full kitchen reno would be nice, but since money doesn’t grow on trees, we started off with the biggest bang for our buck. Taking down part of the wall between the kitchen and dining room increased the light of the whole main floor. The flow is better, the house is brighter, and B and I are thrilled with how it came out! It makes such a difference!

The before-

Notice the fancy 80’s cabinets… I know you’re loving it!

 

This wasn’t the biggest job ever, but it did entail opening up a million year old wall, cutting it out, moving outlets and light switches, and of course making a big mess!

I don’t think it’s ready for it’s close up!

 

I’ll leave you off with a semi- after, since I don’t want to keep you on your toes til we get around to actually completing the project!

The “after”

 

More to come—

• painting
• new light fixture
• new bar height counter top and bar stools
• OUR FIRST GIVEAWAY ON THE BLOG! Get excited!!! (maybe I’m just excited enough for all of us!)