Monday, August 4, 2014

Remind me to never do that again

After 6 painful months under construction, not to mention the full frustrating year prior to that working through the planning and permitting process we are now enjoying our beautiful 5 bedroom 3 bathroom 2400 sq foot home.  I've been asked many times if I would do it again, the answer is NO.  I knew the process would be stressful/frustrating/expensive etc...but similar to having children, you don't really know what you are getting into until you are already there and it's too late to turn back.  

Don't get me wrong...I can't imagine a better place in the world to live and raise my family than Grant Park and the thought of having to leave my village behind would be devastating...so I am thankful that we were able to survive this process and now have a beautiful home large enough for our family that allows us to stay put.  When I say beautiful home I'm not lying, I still have moments where I cannot believe this is all ours and am overwhelmed at how perfect it is for our family (part of that has to do with the fact that we custom designed just about our entire house down to closet shelving to accommodate our exact needs).  

So at about month 4 of renovation we were finally closed in with walls, windows, a roof, and insulation...but lacked most of what builders call "finishings" i.e. paint, trim, doors, tile, light fixtures etc.  This has to be the most frustrating point in the process--you feel like you are SO CLOSE but in actuality you are SO FAR.  This is also the point that the big ticket expenses are all behind you-HVAC, framing, roofing, sheetrock, electrical, plumbing etc.  So this means that when you sit down with your builder to "take a look" at the financial spreadsheet you just about fall out of your chair at how much you've spent compared to how much work is left to be done.  

Anyone who knows my husband understands a few things about him 1. spending money is more painful than passing a kidney stone and because of this 2. he feels that he can accomplish anything on his own to save a buck.  Another thing about my husband-he is generally very unflappable, calm, composed, it takes a lot for him to get upset/fired up etc.  In our 6 months under construction, I'm pretty sure I saw him upset/fired up more than I've seen him in the 14 years I've known him-typically related to money :)

So of course he has it in his head that he's going to do all the finishing work to save us money--because he has so much time on his hands with a regular full time job, 4 rental properties to manage, and 3 kids?  Our builder repeatedly tried to convince him that he would not be able to accomplish this on his own.   Anyways, it took about 2 weeks before he realized that it took him 5 days to hang a door and that at this rate of work we'd be done in approximately 2037 and all our children would be in college.  At this point, we start hiring our own mexican crews and with the help of Hehu and Joel we were able to finish the project.  It was also about this time that our friendly neighbor Paul (remember him from the historic committee days) approaches us about showcasing our home on the annual tour of homes.  I immediately respond with NO, but Johnny has other ideas.  He only tends to accomplish anything with a bonfire under his butt, so he somehow convinces me that this is EXACTLY what we need to finish the project.  So now the clock is set-we have 2ish months, a deadline to have our house not only finished but "tour ready".  I must mention that our house has become an absolute chaotic mess, storage floor to ceiling in all rooms-nothing has it's own place, basically a disaster zone across all 2400 sq feet.  

Long story short...we meet our deadline to the tune of- the tour starts at 1030 am and at 1029 we are moving furniture into the freshly painted playroom-both completely covered in paint head to toe.  I'm pretty sure neither of us have ever worked so hard and tirelessly on anything in our lives-up into the wee hours in the weeks leading up to the tour with me on repeat "we're never going to get this done, can we back out now?".  Where are the kids while this is happening? they are here, generally being completely unhelpful as usual.  We trimmed, painted, organized, furnished, and cleaned the entire upstairs and downstairs (and even spent a few days working in the yard).  The house looks amazing, and likely would still not be finished if we didn't have the deadline.  The tour of homes was amazing actually, and despite the enormous stress leading up to it...I cannot tell you how amazing it is to have hundreds of people walk through your home all weekend telling you what a beautiful home you have.  It was definitely one of those bucket list items that both Johnny and I had, and was truly an unforgettable and really emotional life experiences (particularly the road to get there).  The tour went on all weekend, ended Sunday night at 5:00 at which point Johnny and I crashed.  I think we were running on pure adrenaline up to that point and it took a few days before I could move again.  The amount of blood, sweat, and tears packed into this house has to be enough to last a lifetime--but I'm not gonna lie I'm already thinking about a new kitchen :)

Some pictures of the finished product....come visit anytime!  We have room for everyone!



























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