radio silence

My apologies for the radio blog silence. There has been a lot going on over here...

Unfortunately --with the whirlwind of activity-- I'm a little 'over' posting about it. Having lived it, I don't feel like regurgitating all of it in blog posts. Which makes me a bad blogger. I know this.

It's just a phase. I'll get over it, and I'll be back to regular postings soon. In the meantime, maybe you'll like like a Clif's Notes version of what I should be posting about.

I should write a post about how the fireplace went in on Monday. And I really really should write a post about the fireplace fiasco (not our fault) and how it was supposed to go in on Friday.

I should write a post about how the french doors went in. And then got taken out. And now they're back in.


I should also write a post about appliances. I should tell you the pros and cons of each brand, and I should definitely include information about price differences and rebates, but... blah! I'd rather just tell you that we're thisclose to ordering a few things...

I should write a post about the wood flooring going in upstairs.


And I should really, really write a post about how we're not going to make our May 31st timeline. In fact, I will write more about this topic soon.

 But not now.

let's revisit that timeline

Let's get right to the point: We are getting nervous that we are not going to make our May 31 deadline.

We really, really want to be in our slo house by the end of May, because we don't want to pay an extra month of rent. (The house we are currently living in is a rental.)

John made a schedule of what needs to be done in the next few weeks.

I'm not sure if you can see it clearly in the photos but it's:

• Electric
• Plumbing
• Roofing
• Stucco
• Insulation
• Sheetrock
• Flooring

Everything has to go in order, and therefore, one thing can screw up and stall everything that follows. It's the domino effect.

You can see from the calendar that we are cutting it close. A little too close for comfort.

I can't waste time and energy, worrying if we're going to make it or not. Right now, the 'strategy' is to push forward, and we'll decide our game plan on April 30th. April 30th because we need to tell our landlord if it's our last month or not.

As I've mentioned before, we don't anticipate being 100% finished by May 31st. We don't mind living in a work-in-progress, but we need to be at a certain stage where the house is *okay to occupy.*

I'll have more details on April 30th. Stay tuned...

framing :: they took the wall down

Last week, the contractors took the wall down that separates the new part of the house from the original house structure.



the view from the front door

Just a few months ago, it looked like this.

I believe that the contractor is 99% finished with the framing. John has a few extra things for him to do around the house, mainly leveling the floors. Other things on the To Do list are:

• electrical + plumbing
• hang doors and windows
• insulation + sheet rock
• wood flooring throughout

And oh yeah... we're on a bit of a timeline, with 57 days to go.

our renovation timeline

"When do you think you'll be done?"

This is the question we're most commonly asked by friends and family.


"End of May"

This usually raises some eyebrows and heavy skepticism when they knowingly see the current state of our house:






Not to mention the torn-down chimney...


But let me clear something up: When we say "done", we don't mean 100% painted, trimmed-out, tricked-out... This is our checklist for being "done":

• framed and closed in
• new wood flooring installed and finished
• plumbing & electrical finished
• drywall work finished

We remodeled our previous house and we're used to living in a work-in-progress. In fact, I'm pretty much assuming that we're going to have a 'temporary kitchen' set up.





We want to be moved in by May 31st because our lease is up at the end of May. We can always extend our lease, but we don't want to pay {mortgage + rent} any longer than we have to.

86 days to go...
Think we'll make it?