Let There be [Sky] Light!

Encroachment is the key word this week as the remodel job sneakily started to encroach on our small living space that we considered "safe" until now.  For example, our only existing bathroom now has a gaping hole in it for a skylight (since all windows had to be closed in there was no choice but a skylight for this bathroom unless we wanted a dark cavern for a bathroom).  The front of our house also got some "love" as we started to get rid of that awkward octagonal-shaped front window and replace it with something that window treatments can actually fit, like a RECTANGLE! 

Other than that the rest of the remodel looks basically the same to a novice such as myself, but Hubby insisted that a lot of things were getting done in preparation for our first big inspection.  He pointed out things such as nail patterns and bolts and plates - of which I have no clue about but I took pictures of to please him and to show you.

He was really stressing out about the coming inspection and the coming weather.  Rain was in the forecast and we were not allowed to get our roof done until we passed the inspection.  We also have 5 skylights as part of the remodel (I know! That's a lot!).  I've lived through a previous remodel where my hubby placed an exaggerated 7 skylights at the property (that also happened to be the dream house that we lost when the bubble burst).  During that previous remodel, it also rained while skylight work was being done.  To  make a long, wet story short, I vowed NEVER to have such an exaggerated number of skylights again, and yet with this new property I think Hubby snuck more in somehow.  I don't know when it is that we reached 5.  What can I say?  We're suckers for natural light and bright open spaces.

Update:  This is going into Week 9 but it's too good of news to keep for too long.  Hubby passed the inspection and only a couple hours later, it started to rain.  I was mentally preparing for a wet night as I sat at my desk at work, but I think hubby learned his lesson from the previous job and I was pleasantly greeted to a dry home!

And that folks, is construction life...

-Shirley

This is the place for me! Project

It seems that my life lately is made up of a conglomeration of projects (the Four-Zero Project, crafting projects, projects at work, and now a big home remodel/renovation project!)  I am no stranger to living in a construction zone  (my husband is a contractor and flipped houses for a living before the real estate bubble burst), but I am a stranger to living in a construction zone while caring for a toddler and pregnant with the next!

We bought our current house almost one year ago after barely getting through the tough economic times that almost everyone in the US went/is going through.  We had been house hunting for months and had just about lost hope until we came across a humble little house.  I remember walking through the open house and having a nice warm, tingly feeling as I walked through it.   I reported back to my husband (who stayed in the car because Diego was asleep).

"So?  What did you think?"  He asked with little hope.

I believe that my exact words were, "It's acceptable." His face turned slightly inquisitive, and I allowed him to take his turn at the open house.

A few minutes turned into ten, then fifteen.  I knew this had to mean he was interested because we never spend more than 8-10 minutes at an open house.  He has a self-proclaimed gift to see a house's potential within the first few minutes (don't all contractors?  No, just him he says).

After some time, he came out with the real estate agent and they proceeded to notify me that we would draft an offer in one hour.  I've got to give it to my husband, when he's in... he's fully in.  We moved in just before Christmas last year to my content.

We knew the house was small, but we had plans to extend it.  We would live in it as-is for awhile, get a feel for it, and then decide how to best make it "ours".  Then in March my stepson moved in, then I got pregnant by the end of that same month.  Our humble little house was starting to feel more snug.

It's great that I'm pregnant, and in a way I think the timing is sort of great with this remodel project.  Why would she be happy to be pregnant and living in a construction zone, you ask?  Because we now have a timeline to get this construction done:  December 21st.  Or at least I have a very reasonable excuse to expect that major parts are completed by then, and my husband seems willing to accept it.  It's so crazy for me to think that we haven't even lived in the house for one full year, and by the time we reach that milestone, the house will have been mostly transformed and I will hold my second son in my arms.  It gives me such warm-fuzzy feelings and feelings of excitement that there is so much to look forward to this year.

There were many weeks prior to this where my husband and I "discussed" building plans.

Straight off the heals of our Bahamas trip, our permit gets issued.  Hubby takes the permit and runs demolishing the deck and beginning to build the foundation framing.

Framing is complete and ready to pour concrete. Qori sneaks in the photo at the bottom.

Concrete is poured and dries.  Floor framing begins.  (Father inlaw sneaks into this photo)

Busy week!  Floor is built and insulated.  Outer walls start going up!

As I mentioned, I've lived through a lot of home remodels since I've met my husband.  Back then, I was easily seduced by the extravagance of the finished homes.  (My husband's customers were well-off financially).  I had the opportunity to live in a few of these homes, but they were never really mine.  For one year though, I did have my dream home with no plans to ever leave it.  But when the bubble burst, it was all stripped away for the most part and after many pleading tears of denial, I let my dream home go.

Then during the hard move, I stumbled upon my favorite children's book in a moving box, This is the Place for Me!  I'm not sure why I liked it so much when I was little (probably because of the exclamation mark in the title which caused me to yell out "THIS IS THE PLACE FOR ME!!!!!!" whenever I read the book), but I know exactly why I like it now.  Reading it now, it so fundamentally reminded me that I didn't need all that extravagance to be happy in my home.  Thank you Morty the Bear, for reminding me what truly matters!  The book is sure to be a bedtime story book for Diego and his little brother one day.  Once Diego starts liking books of course.  :)

  EXCERPT FROM THIS IS THE PLACE FOR ME!

Suddenly he stopped.
There was a house.
The door was broken.
The windows were broken.
The table was broken.
The chair was broken.
BUT...

It did not have a dragon.
It was not too small.
It was not too thin.
Morty could not sink it.
He could not eat it.
And it was not scary.

Morty fixed the door.
He fixed the windows.
He fixed the table and chair
Now the house was as good as new.

"This is the place for me," said Morty.
"It is much better than my old house."