We've been in the house almost 5 weeks. In houses past by the 5 week mark, I would have had every box unpacked, every wall painted, every picture hung, and been hanging out on my couch watching TV by now in the evenings.
Not with this princess.
We decided to do all "major" construction first before buying furniture (less to move and have to cover and keep clean). The biggest project was the wall between the formal living room and den and then all the main level floors (while all newer carpet, it didn't match once we opened the wall AND who wants carpet in their dining room? biscuit crumbs- ew).
This is the wall that we wanted to open up. (Pic taken during our inspection walk through...Chad pondering all that is to come.)
We hadn't even owned the house 24 hours before I let my dad start drawing on the walls...
After a
stressful moving experience and closing, it was nice to get some aggression out...
After the wall was opened and framed, we tore up all the carpet in anticipation of the laminate wood flooring that was to come that Friday.
Notice I said "anticipation?"
Welp. As with many best laid plans (or should I say when you are dealing with
subcontracted companies of Lowes), things don't always go as planned.
I was excited about having someone else come and do the flooring as we (mostly, my dad and Chad) had been working so hard on everything else. But what I found was that when the floor is not 100% perfect, the said subcontracted company of Lowes will not do the project.
Which they decided the morning of.
After I had already purchased all materials.
And had them sitting in my home "acclimating for 96+ hours."
And tore up all the carpet.
And pulled up 1056 carpet staples.
And cleared my entire day to do other home projects while said subcontracted company of Lowes did this project.
But they didn't.
They walked out at 9:05am.
Leaving me staring at thousands of dollars worth of materials.
And plywood flooring. (Apparently un-level plywood flooring.)
And no plan.
Y'all. I don't need rescuing often. But I did what most anyone would do in this situation.
I texted my dad.
And he came to my rescue.
Big. Time.
There was a lot of stress, panic attacks, hyperventilating, sore backs, hammered thumbs, trips to Lowes (yes, I still love Lowes, but not said subcontracted company), trouble shooting and skill learning in a matter of a few days.
I will tell you that the ONLY good thing to come out of this "delayed, you-gots-to-do-it-yourself project" (besides some awesome family bonding time) was the fact that we got to get some good painting done over those few days with no floor (because who cares about drippage on plywood?).
One of the mini transformations was this fireplace...
And I had to replace this 30 year old fan...
And I am now happy to report that 3 weeknights after work + 2 weekend days + the best family ever = a new beautiful laminate wood floor.
...And some very tired Johnsons and Baders.
Who still don't have furniture. :-)
