Flood Damage

The morning after I returned from Pittsburgh, MJ came downstairs very early and later told me "it sounded like it was raining inside the house." He realized that one of our upstairs bathrooms had been leaking during the night while we slept, and had soaked through the ceiling into the downstairs. He turned off the water to that bathroom, got every towel we owned, sopped up the water, opened our giant cooler under the worst of the dripping, and ... went to exercise.

I woke up several hours later to a text from him that said, "Lots of water downstairs. Got it cleaned up. There is water damage to the ceiling, though."

That was the world's biggest understatement. I came downstairs to find strips of saturated drywall hanging down from the ceiling. The family room rug was completely drenched. Water was soaking down multiple walls, and the hardwood floors that MJ had dried were warped from the moisture. The water from the upstairs bathroom had also gone under the wall into Little Man's bedroom next door, so his room is also unusable.

That day was a flurry of calls to USAA, who sent out a company to assess the damage. They told me that it didn't matter that the water was clean; because it had originated from a toilet, anything the water touched had to be thrown out. That included multiple walls, carpets, rugs, and the majority of our downstairs ceilings and floors. Wow.

Demo began the next morning, and after it was complete several days later, there were 27 industrial fans throughout the house, running night and day for five days. We moved into a Residence Inn with Amber. It was tight quarters, especially since MJ works from home, and the kids had just gotten out of school and were now home everyday. 

But once the drying process was complete, we moved back home. We're living on subfloor, and we're missing several walls, the downstairs ceiling, Little Man's bedroom, and two bathrooms, but at least we're home!

Now we'll have to find a contractor to do all the repair work. The hardwood floors alone will be a huge process, since they are continuous throughout the first floor. Movers will have to pack up all our possessions from the downstairs and store them in order for the floors to be completely sanded down and refinished. Since we'll be moving out of the house for about a month anyway, I think we'll take the opportunity to put hardwoods in all the upstairs rooms as well.

But I am so thankful it wasn't worse. In a way, it was almost miraculous: we are all okay; the damage didn't affect anything irreplaceable or sentimental; none of the parts of the house that we've already renovated (kitchen, stairs, upstairs hallway) need to be torn out; and USAA has been incredibly supportive and helpful. I am so thankful for those blessings.

BUT ... it couldn't have happened at a worse time! We have three weekends of dance recitals, a baseball game, and a graduation that my dad was planning to come up for!

Latest Project

While the kids were gone at camp, I finally got the gallery wall done that I've been planning for years!

I love the way it turned out, and the wall of love it displays. And bonus: MJ is extremely happy that the enormous stack of frames and plans that's been stacked in his office for -- literally -- the last 3 years is finally gone!

Kitchen Renovation: Complete!

I recently realized that I never posted completed pictures of the kitchen! After documenting every day of construction since the beginning, how could I have forgotten the final pictures?! 

We are keeping the old fridge for now, because the new one we've ordered is not anticipated to arrive until April. It doesn't sound too bad, until you consider that we ordered it last January, because we were originally supposed to do this kitchen renovation last March! Apparently Covid shut-downs have hit Kitchen Aid's supply lines pretty hard -- it'll end up taking at least 15 months for us to receive our new fridge.

I had quite a bit of cabinet space before, but now there's even more. I took this opportunity to purge the kitchen of things I don't use anymore, so now many of the cabinets are completely empty (although I'm sure I'll find uses for them eventually). 

It is a revelation how amazing laundry room cabinets are. Seriously. I have no idea why the builders never put them in originally, but they are incredibly practical. So many things that used to be jammed into our tiny laundry room closet now have their own space in these cabinets.

It's hard to pick a favorite thing about the renovations, but high on my list would be the new window area. I love how the tile goes all the way up to the ceiling, and I adore the large single-basin sink. 

It was a big financial investment, and we had to put up with a straight month of noisy, inconvenient construction (even worse because everyone was working/schooling from home). We lived on takeout food and a borrowed microwave. But it was worth it! It's so light and bright and airy, and it makes me so happy.

After it was done, Sweet Pea said, "I don't really feel like it matches the rest of our house." I disagreed -- I felt like it finally did. But after a week or so, she changed her mind. "Actually, I think it does match, Mommy. It's not dark anymore, or yellow, and it feels bigger." I couldn't agree more!

Kitchen Renovation: Day 20

It's done! Well ... not completely. But it's functionally done -- we are fully using it.

Our appliances are installed and working. All the kitchen stuff is unpacked from the boxes where it's been for the last month. We cooked pancakes for breakfast, and we ran a load in the dishwasher at the end of the day. Amber is enjoying having her own little den in the laundry room. Everything is beautiful!

But there are some cosmetic things that still need to be done. The upper cabinet doors with glass will be installed on Tuesday. The quarter-round that meets the floor hasn't been added yet (because part of the floor need to be refinished and I'm not sure when I'll schedule that). And there are some paint and caulk touch-ups that still need to be done.

Most concerningly, though, is the news that the new refrigerator I ordered back in February still isn't in, and won't arrive until April or later. No problem, I thought. Our current refrigerator is the same size, so we can just continue using it until the new one arrives.

Except the current one -- perhaps due to its age? -- is bulging a tiny bit on the sides. I never even noticed, until the contractor tried to move it. It's stuck, halfway in.

Sigh. There's always something, right? The cabinet guy is going to take a look at it on Tuesday when he comes to put the glass doors in. Hopefully there's a way to get it to fit, otherwise we're living with a stuck-out fridge for many more months.

Kitchen Renovation: Day 19

Today, tile went up in the laundry room:

And the plumbing was finished, including installation of the garbage disposal, dishwasher and instant hot water dispenser. Now we have running water in the kitchen again!

Kitchen Renovation: Day 18

Today was a BIG day! Countertops are in! And they're beautiful. I'm so thrilled -- the last few projects for the kitchen have been waiting, needing the countertops to be installed first. 

Like tile, which was started about 10 minutes after the countertops were complete. You can already see what the finished kitchen will look like!

Kitchen Renovation: Day 17

Today the crown molding and ceiling were patched up and painted. It's starting to come together!

And tomorrow will be a very big day!

Kitchen Renovation: Day 16

After the Thanksgiving lull, we were right back to work today. All the crown molding was installed where the cabinets meet the ceiling. I love how it brings everything together!

Kitchen Renovation: Day 15

The hardware and remaining trim went in today, so the cabinets are done! Well, they're about 95% done, which is as much as they can be right now. The doors that will have glass inserts are off getting fitted for their glass, and should be back next week -- but they will be easy to add once they arrive.

The cabinet where the microwave will go (underneath the counter, next to the fridge), was also modified and trimmed out so it's ready for installation.

The cabinet installer was nice enough to also construct the support frame for the countertop slab that will go over Amber's crate. It will be so nice to have a counter in the laundry room, and I'll still be able to slide her crate in and out as needed.

Now we will have a lull, due to the countertops and the Thanksgiving holiday. But it'll be back to work come Monday!

Kitchen Renovation: Day 14

Today the laundry room got some love.

This is one of the things I'm most excited about: I will finally have cabinets in my laundry room!

The trim was also completed in the main kitchen. Cabinetry is almost complete.

Kitchen Renovation: Day 13

The cabinets are nearing completion. Today, more trim was installed, most obviously near the ceiling where the crown molding will go. The "deco panels" on the sides of the end cabinets were also installed.

I also found out that the countertops will be installed next Wednesday, Dec 2. 

Kitchen Renovation: Day 12

I'm impressed -- both weeks so far, there have been guys here working all day Saturday. 

Today the electrician was here until 7 pm. He installed the lights in the stacked cabinets:

He also moved some of the ceiling lights (because I wanted them centered a different way), installed the outlets (with USB ports!), changed all the LEDs to a warmer white color, and installed the pendant light over the sink.

Kitchen Renovation: Day 11

All the stacked cabinets have been installed up to the ceiling, and a good portion of the trim pieces as well.

Also, I selected the exact slabs of stone for the countertops, and they've been sent to the fabricator. They will be installed the week after Thanksgiving.

Kitchen Renovation: Day 10

Today some trim pieces were added:

And the first stacked level of cabinets were installed up to the ceiling:

The kids were in school today, so I drove to multiple stone suppliers, looking at hundreds of different types of stone. I found two that I loved and -- more importantly -- were available in stock. Fingers crossed I can get them transported to the fabricator tomorrow.

Kitchen Renovation: Day 9

The rest of the upper cabinets were installed today:

And the template was drawn for the countertops. Now I need to find a stone I love that's actually in stock around here! (my first few choices were sold out at every stone supplier in the area). I better move fast -- fabricating the countertops is always the biggest delay anyway, so I need to pick a stone ASAP.

Kitchen Renovation: Day 8

Upper cabinets started going in today!

The owner of the cabinet company stopped by to see how things were going. He admired the installation work, and admitted to me that I took a big chance not getting a refund on these cabinets back in March, when the economy shut down. "Do you know how many companies went out of business back then?" he said. "You're so lucky that we didn't, since you'd already paid for these!"

Well, goodness. That never even crossed my mind. I guess I'll thank God for that too, along with the fact that our demo hadn't started before everything shut down in March (demo was scheduled to begin the following week). Then we would have been left without a functional kitchen for the last eight months!

Kitchen Renovation: Day 7

Bottom cabinets are complete! Now the countertops can be templated (scheduled for Wednesday).

Kitchen Renovation: Days 3-6

A ton of work got done on the kitchen while we were gone! We came home to new recessed lighting in the ceiling (the kitchen is already so much brighter than it used to be), bottom cabinets mostly installed, and electrical finished for the upper cabinets.

Our neighbors told me that the crew worked until 10:30 on Friday night, and they were here all day on Saturday, patching and repainting the ceiling. Cheers to hard workers!

We also took advantage of our absence to have crown molding installed in the laundry room, powder room, and in our master bedroom. And we had the stair railing and balusters painted -- I'm so pleased with how it looks now, compared to the chipped brown fake-wood paint that's been there since we moved in.

Kitchen Renovation: Day 2

Day Two: IT WAS VERY LOUD. Our contractor removed the tile backsplash (and attached drywall), and the electrician ran the new wiring before they replaced and patched the gaps with new drywall. Cabinets started to be brought in from the garage.

Contractor says this was the loudest day. I sincerely hope so!