I feel like I can breathe. All the boxes filled with cupboard pullouts, pantries and blind corners that have filled the dining room for the past 3 months have been picked up and taken to the cabinetmaker’s shop. We can actually walk through the dining room now. It really is the little things. Being able to see the dining room floor made me so incredibly happy.
It is really tough to be “nesting” while surround by construction and clutter.
Stork building a nest.
The kitchen project has been rough from day one. It has been one thing after another…and nothing seems to be getting done. Meanwhile, we are 5 weeks away from having our baby. Hopefully the baby doesn’t decide to come early because we are not ready.
We decided to move our cable modem line which resulted in the cable company, for some still unexplained reason, gutting our phone box and ripping out the phone line. We had no land line for 3 weeks. It ended up with a big, confusing NOT IT between the cable company, the phone company and our home alarm company.
AT&T repaired the line but the phone still didn’t work. AT&T said it must be a short in the wiring for the home alarm system. ADT said everything worked fine until Time Warner gutted the phone box. Time Warner says they have nothing to do with AT&T’s phone line. It is enough to make a very pregnant lady extremely upset.
Our original cabinet maker flaked on us. We heard lots of excuses…he was in the hospital, his son was in the hospital, he was sick, his son had soccer, his family was visiting, and his truck broke down several times all within a six week period. At first we tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but after a little while it became ridiculous. Six weeks later and he hadn’t fully completed even one cabinet. He was supposed to be building the cabinets on site, which must have been part of the problem since he was rarely on site.
Last week we hired a new cabinet company. They are located very close to us. They promised to have the cabinets in within 4 weeks, maybe 3 weeks if they get a break in their schedule. I am in a deep, deep state of denial right now because I still have hope we will miraculously get the kitchen done before the baby arrives. I understand that the cabinets go in, then the countertop and then the backsplash tile. I know all of that takes time and time is not on our side. Just leave me a little hope…it could happen…maybe.
Because I’m not entirely crazy we are actively looking into a Plan B. I am still washing dishes in the bathtub. I told David there is no way I will be washing baby bottles in the tub! Plus, I cannot imagine bringing a baby home to a construction site with all the dust and the noise. So, we are also looking into renting a furnished apartment for a month.
Some of you asked how things have worked out with the electrician. He has offered to pay for one roll of wallpaper and $600 worth of labor to install it. The problem is Farrow & Ball will not sell one roll of wallpaper. They have a three roll minimum. I have tried contacting wallpaper distributors in England, where the wallpaper is made, after having no luck buying one roll in the US or on eBay. So far, I haven’t had any luck in the UK either.
One thing I have learned from this mess…this advice is golden…if you are buying expensive hand painted wallpaper, buy an extra roll. That way if your wallpaper is ever damaged you will have a roll from the same run and dye lot to replace it with. I don’t know what we are going to do? I still hope I’ll be able to purchase a single roll from somewhere…there’s that denial again!
So, no great reveals, Before & After photos, or progress photos. Just one extremely frazzled, emotional homeowner and her extremely patient saint of a husband hoping that someday this will all seem very funny.
{yes, I do text annoying emoticons}
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