Renovation Midterm

This is how it all started.  The contents of our kitchen ended up in the dumpster after about 3 hours.  We had planned on donating the cabinets, but they fell apart during demo. Or that was the story anyway. 

In the meantime, we moved our kitchen upstairs to the current play room, which we will eventually turn into the boys shared room. And I remind Paddy and Teddy of this every time they spill crap on the floor. "I wonder if that place where you just spilled the hot dog juice is the exact spot where your pillow will be?"  The strategy has only proven mildly effective.  After all, it is sort of appealing to think of a big stash of cookie crumbs under their beds.

This in-between stage, when the "trades" (I'm not sure if that is just contractor lingo) did their work was the longest.  They had to move pipes, rearrange ducts, rough in electrical and...

 ...imagine new flooring.  After seeing the original sub-floors from 1950, I wondered whether that crew had been hitting their lunch hour Mad Men style and coming back to work hammered.  It did not inspire confidence.   Also, during this phase, our unfinished basement-turned-mudroom was just wrecked.  I would definitely advise anyone about to go through a flooring renovation in an older home to tarp the basement ceiling.

Last week, we hit a huge hiccup with the tile selection.  I chose the tile backsplash waaaaay back in April, but apparently the order was not placed.  When my contractor was about to place it last week, he freaked out at the outrageous price of the inlay that we are putting above the cooktop.  My plan was to do fairly plain marble subways and then put a little bling above the cooktop.  Have you heard of waterjet tile?  Neither had I before I began this process, but apparently it is quite pricey. As in, Cartier vs. Swatch.  So because tile is a process (pronounced like an Italian chef talking about pizza, "It za PRO-cess!!"), I had to high tail it to several other tile stores to find a suitable substitute.  I did, it is ordered and hopefully will arrive next week.  If not, Marco (the Italian pizza chef), will be getting to know my bad attitude.  

But, as of today, six weeks into the project, we have new wood floors (yet to be finished) and drywall.  The paint colors, somewhat controversial among the painters and my contractor, have been chosen.  Half of our appliances are anxiously awaiting installation in our back yard (please don't rain please don't rain please don't rain).  I am hitting a slight speed bump making decisions about the lighting options (and there are many, many options) as well as the furniture (bar stools anyone?).  I am also admittedly starting to appreciate the magnitude of the clean-up that awaits us (let's be honest, me) once the project is complete.  Dust upstairs, downstairs and in every crevice, the repair of all the walls and floors that were damaged with three kids and a dog using our upstairs entrance, and the painting that I've put off until the dust settles.