Home Renovations on the Horizon

Surely you didn’t think that just because we were in the middle of a global pandemic, I’d stop doing work on my house? Because that would be just silly. No, the more immediate question would be “Can Bryce afford to do work on his house?” And as we get closer and closer to fall semester, my Magic 8 Ball is consistently saying “Signs Point to Yes.”

Some upgrades need to happen one way or another. The bay windows on our house have had issues for years. The trim is rotting in some places, and a few boards have even fallen off, leading a family of birds to move in just above Daniela’s bedroom. At times, she thinks that’s cute. But when it’s early morning and they’re all tweeting away up there, the cute seems to magically fade somehow. (And who knows what structural damage those birdies might be doing to the house . . .)

Once that’s done, that means the fresh wood will need to be painted. This is on the second floor of the house, and I have no desire to paint that myself. Plus, the trim all around the house needs to be redone, as much of it is peeling and very sad looking. And late last fall, a wind storm ripped down some of the clapboards from our addition. (They’d been put up by our heroin-addict contractor from years ago. The one who stole $3,000 from us? We keep finding lovely little presents like that. Instances where he cut corners left and right, because heroin ain’t gonna buy itself, folks.)

And of course, there remains the grand-daddy of all renovations: our plans to redo the kitchen. Those have been kicked back to September, but after looking at our finances, things still look go for launch for them. I can’t wait for this project to be over, for a number of reasons:

  • It’s going to be very expensive, and budgeting for it has been a real pain the rear.
  • It’s gotten kicked back multiple times, and each time it’s gotten kicked back, I’ve had to approach it fresh when it came time to actually prepare. I’ve spent so many hours looking at cabinets and counter tops, only to discover I couldn’t afford to do it right then. Redoing that research each time is less than fun.
  • It’s the last “big renovation” project on the house. After this one, the things we want to get done are much smaller, and they don’t necessarily have to be done in any particular order. We need to renovate the downstairs bathroom, and we’d like to redo the office. Some of the roof needs new shingles. But all of those are straightforward projects. This kitchen renovation has a ton of moving pieces.
  • It’s going to seriously disrupt our household. The kitchen is the center of our house, physically and socially. You can’t get to anywhere else without going through it. The actual act of renovating it will be seriously annoying.

So right now, I’m hoping that fall semester goes well, and that I can write a blog post by November that says “Mission Accomplished.” I think the odds are slightly in my favor of that happening, but you never know. Wish me luck.

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