Well, we are now a little over a month into the massive undertaking of demolition/construction on the entire upstairs of our new forever home here in Arizona. While it seems to be a slight surprise to Bob, it is no surprise to me, that his many skills in construction that he thought had gone by the wayside are all still there. We are extremely fortunate that nothing needed to be done to the entire downstairs. The walk-in basement apartment fits us just perfect, and thrift store finds have filled it with everything we need, and then some. With all the turmoil going on in the country right now, we are so very fortunate to not be out on the road. Campground closures and even national parks and forests are closing - we would’ve been hard-pressed to find a place to park the motorhome.
The upstairs project: All the flooring is gone- all the doors, trim, baseboard, lighting, fans, and appliances taken out - it’s pretty much a completely stripped down upstairs. Bob knocked out a wall, he added a wall, framed in and made a door closure where there wasn’t one to the bathroom (who in the world wouldn’t want a door to your bathroom???) and stripped off the 1980s dated mirror and tile from the fireplace and drywalled where the tile was. We will replace it with natural stone, and Bob wants to make a mantle out of an old piece of juniper if we can find it. Removed all the carpet in the living area and bedrooms, hated to do it since it was brand new - but we aren't carpeting people. Luckily we found someone that really needed it, so was great to pass it forward. Doors went to local Habitat for Humanity, and lights and fans to my favorite thrift store.
We picked out the new hardwood floors, choose new doors, hardware and PAINT COLORS! It is so difficult to choose the colors that will surround you for the next 20 years (we hope). Did I mention that Bob is a “Black black - never trade back” kinda guy?
Decided once we got started that we needed to “go big AND go home” so we took out all the 1980’s 12x12 beige tile in the hallways, bathrooms, and kitchen so we could put engineered laminate wood planks there also. It has been a BIG project.
PS: Many years ago, Bob SWORE he would never ever..ever..ever remodel another house. He had his fill at our house on Curry Road in Fallon, and that is why when we built the home on Silver Circle everything was so perfect. It was all new, and HE built it! (And I would be remiss if I didn’t’ mention how amazing that house was and how happy I am that such wonderful souls now inhabit it).
HA, well here we are, and so far I have to say…it has gone pretty smooth. (insert smiley face here) But then again, my job..has pretty much been to stay out of his way.
Probably the biggest undertaking so far has been the kitchen. It had very dated dark oak cabinets that we wanted to paint a nice glossy white. This house was the 4th one we toured, and when we went to look at another open house, just ONE MORE, before we made our decision, it had an amazing kitchen. I stood in it for a few minutes and said “wait - aren’t these the same cabinets we looked at on Black Hills? Only white????? Done deal decision…we went back to look at our now home and realized if we painted the cabinets we would have the same bright airiness that we saw there.
Fast forward: We closed on the house and all the planning and work orders began: Bob spent hours watching YouTube tutorials and researching on the Internet. It is probably the ONLY thing that has given him a bit of hesitation, is the painting of the cabinets in the kitchen. It has been a process for sure. Stripping the cabinets -then the first coat of primer, sanding, denatured alcohol rubs to make sure all the grease and grime was off, and primer again and then sanding and painting and sanding and painting and sanding on and on and on but I can happily say that we can start to see the finished product. His clever idea for painting the cabinet doors took many trips to three different thrift stores in search of wooden suit hangers - who knew they would be so hard to find. But Thrift stores…come on…I was in my element. His workaround worked perfectly. He was able to spray one side, then turn them and do the other. My job, which was very limited…..because if you know Bob at all….you know he prefers to work alone…was to hang them on the rods in the open closets to dry. With the second coat on the cabinet fronts, we knew it was all worth it. What was a dark dreary room is now a merry and bright area that we’re going to really enjoy cooking in.
Ceiling paint was yesterday, and today he painted the walls, and the color is PERFECT! Won’t be long now, the doors will be back on and the flooring goes down.
So exciting!!
He is AMAZING!!!
I will say it again, HE IS AMAZING!!!
