Throwback Tuesday — This post is from two years ago when we renovated our master bathroom. It should have been a quick (4 to 6 weeks) and easy job but it stretched out to 9 weeks with some hiccups. As is the usual course for us, stuff happened. Right before the job started our coordinator was fired so I had to oversee the workers. Things fell through the cracks. Some things were redone. By the end of the project I would neither use that company again nor recommend them. We have just finished a small reno of our powder room. Easy peasy. Single carpenter. He was wonderful but I’m at the end of the projects list. Yay!

July 2024 — Every time I get a brainstorm to update something, I forget the pain and agony. Now, in the middle of a project, I remember why I put off needed renovations and that intense (homicidal) yearning for a project to be done.

Flies – It doesn’t matter if you do a project in the dead of winter there are flies. No one invites them in. The doors open when contractors are carting trash out or bringing materials in. The flies know. There is a fly village newspaper that tells them which house they can access. Once in the house, they instinctively know how to be annoying. Find the litter boxes and the food and then alternate. If they can find overripe fruit, score! I got very good at catching flies (and no I did not rehome them!). It’s not a skill I want to add to my resume.

Lack of privacy – There are people here every day. Sometimes only for a few hours but it still requires that we are up, dressed, cats fed, litterbox cleared and cars out of the driveway before 7:30 a.m. The annoying part is when you’ve done all that and no one shows.

The dirt – Most contractors clean up at the end of their workday, but they are in a hurry. It’s not their skillset. Or maybe I’m neurotic (a definite yes). I clean at the end of their workday. Every day. Not the whole house but the adjacent areas and walkways and the garage which seems to attract construction gunk. Some days there are insulation fibers hanging around and other days it’s just construction dirt like chunks of drywall or wood chips.

Progress is slow and “spurty.” A few dead days are followed by a flurry of activity. Today we have four workers. Yesterday there were none. For sure this will be the last large-scale project we do.  If I even mention anything taking longer than a week (my new threshold), take me out to a field and shoot me.