What’s Wrong With Us?
We’ll admit it. We’re a little relieved that the holiday season is over. As fun and exciting as all of the hoopla is, December can be a stressful month with all of the last minute shopping, long distance traveling, family gatherings, and weather madness that come along with it… which is probably why lots of people called us certifiably crazy for adding moving-into-a-new-house to the mix.
It definitely was a bit crazy of us, but it just dawned on me and Sherry that this wasn’t the first year that a major project fell over the holiday season. In fact, it’s happened for the past FOUR YEARS IN A ROW. So it seems that we’ve got a chronic case of making Christmas-time more complicated. Observe.
In the last month of 2007 we were at the tail end of our kitchen remodel. By Christmas we had already lived sans kitchen for two months and our new cabinets were installed, but we were still waiting on our counters to arrive and officially make the room functional again.
Oh yeah and did we mention that we didn’t have a kitchen sink, so we were washing dishes in our tiny bathroom vanity. Yeah, that got old real quick.
In 2008 it was our floors. Right before leaving for a family Christmas out of town we shoved all of our belongings into the kitchen and den so the rest of the hardwood floors in our entire house could be professionally refinished.
It was more than a bit “disruptive.”
Then 2009 welcomed the bathroom remodel, which commenced the weekend after Thanksgiving. So by New Year’s we found ourselves in the midst of tiling. Which meant that our only full bathroom was still a few weeks away from being functional again.
Let’s just say we did our fair share of showering at the gym and at my sister’s house. Sherry even hosed me down in the backyard after a particularly dusty day of work (she wouldn’t let me get in the car and drive to have a proper shower for fear of getting the car all dirty). Brrr.
And we had more than a few adventures when it came to this year’s mid-December move, which involved packing up every last possession and loading it into a UHaul…
… which then slipped into a ditch about .05 minutes after beginning the journey to our new house…
… which ended up looking a lot like this while we unpacked…
But now that we’re more settled, in hindsight it wasn’t so bad. Which is kind of how we feel about all of our other annual end-of-year adventures. So I guess we’ll just have to wait about 11 months to see what crazy project we’ve got going on at the end of 2011 to keep the streak alive for a fifth year in a row. Maybe we’ll be in the midst of a simultaneous kitchen remodel, floor refinishing project, and bathroom tile job. You know, just to put the other years to shame…
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Yes you two must be mad. Maybe you’re riding on the energy of the holidays though. I know I get an awful lot of things done in December. It’s probably a good time to be tackling big projects!
How funny; we’ve done similar things. BIG reno projects during or just after Christmas: renovating the kitchen; renovating the upstairs bathroom…putting down hardwood floor. and oh yes, we signed papers on this house on Dec 31st!!!
We were thinking about putting in a new bath tub, but I said “NO!” I can’t take any more December/January projects! enough! lol
Thank you so much for sharing the chaos! During a project, there’s always a point where I wonder if I’m just making a huge mess. This is a fantastic reminder that you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet and to keep your eye on the prize!
You guys are so awesome and we all are taking lessons from ya! My husband and I living in a 12 x 16 room for 6 months while building and renovating so all these challenges we confront from being a so sparkling savvy, you keep up the wonderful work ok? Love ya article!
You guys are so awesome and we all are taking lessons from ya! My husband and I living in a 12 x 16 room for 6 months while building and renovating so all these challenges we confront from being a so sparkling savvy, you keep up the wonderful work ok? Love ya article!
I love your blog and so does my co-worker. Thanks for such good ideas, details and instructions.
It’s really cool to see someone transform their home around them. I have to say this particular post really struck a chord with me because I feel like my husband and I lived a similar story this past year.
We bought our first home in Feb. 2010 and have been tearing it apart ever since. We went 3 months without a kitchen – through the holidays no less!! Yet my husband was bound and determined to have a NYE party this year, so we did a crock pot chili party, and had sheets of plywood serving as counters on our newly installed [fabricated by my dad who is a carpenter] cabinets – with no sink!
Anyway – look forward to reading more and I even have a furnishing question that I’d like to toss out at the two of you to see if you have any suggestions for my spare bedroom dilemma – but I will just try and send an email.
Keep up the good work!
And Kitchen Wins! Christmas 2011 is amost here and you kids are sinkless again!
Haha- so true!
xo,
s