Ta-Da! The final Finale!

Well, we survived. We've been living in our remodeled digs for about 3 months now and we love it. Now to pay for it....

Here's a slide show of the reveal:
http://s1243.photobucket.com/albums/gg557/valeriemarsico/?albumview=slideshow

Day 112 - Homestretch

This is a draft of a post I wrote on October 9th, but never published. All I can say is that I must have been smoking crack when I wrote this....

According to my sources we should be back in our home on our around Halloween. Probably not finished....but out of the RV and in our brandy new-ish home. Things are really progressing now and amazingly, the house is starting to look rather like a home.

So from this point on, no pictures. Call me a total HGTV groupie, or a home decorating weirdo, but I'm all about "the reveal". I don't want to give the end result up too easily, so y'all are just gonna have to be patient. (Not that there actually is a y'all mind you!) More of my delusional "I'm on a home remodeling TV show" thing....

So this is where we're at: the walls have been primed and are ready for paint. In fact, in kind of took me by surprise when my contractor told me to pick out colors. Color? Check. Tile is on order and will be next. Kitchen mini-remodel has yet to begin, but I suppose that there is some waiting to be done for the backsplash tile.

Lots and lots and lots of little things to do like install my new range and hood, counters, build cabinets for the new office, install floors, finish pergolas, build the front steps....
Geesh - there's still so much to do!!!!

October 24th - the end is no where in sight. Really. What was I thinking? There is still a TON of stuff to be done. We're still in the RV and let me say that the novelty "wow it's like we're on a really fun family camping trip" thing is so totally over. So. Totally. Over.

Day 86 : I Can Almost See The Finish Line

This will eventually become soon be a front entrance. 

After a minor freak out over our dwindling staff, I've calmed down, wiped the plaster dust that was stuck to my tears, and realized that what will be - will be. And then they came. More troops were sent in to battle gaping holes, exposed wood, doors that won't install themselves, etc. (Insert angels singing here.)

And now? As of this moment I'm happy to report that we have what's known as the "scratch coat" on the front of our stucco house, we have interior walls that have 2 coats of "mud" and will be sanded tomorrow, a front door, a new bow window in our new office, and more! What we don't have is our custom vanity in the en suite bath or new office or kitchen. Floors. Lighting. And more!

So....it's a process, right? Ya gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet. (No idea of the relevance of that, btw.) Ya gotta yell at a contractor to get him to sit up and take notice of the fact that a family of four is LIVING in an RV and while that might seem like an "adventure" to some, at this point, it's kind of a living hell. 

Day 78: Walls? Why yes, we have them.

We have walls. Really.

Just when it appeared that our contractor had all but abandoned us (which btw - I fully expected), things are starting to take shape. Sure the contractor decided that it would be the perfect time to visit Mom in Isreal. Yes, now. And for the last few weeks we've come to expect 2 guys - the same 2 guys - to show up each morning. And only 2 guys. Gone are the throngs of burly worker-bees that once were. And then there were 2. But the dawn today brought a much larger crew ---- and walls!


Oh walls - I love you so. You indicate to me that our house will eventually be a home again. That photographs and art and TV's will adorn you soon. I can even imagine that your chalky whiteness will someday soon be warmed with color. Ah.......

Day ??? - The Haps.

Day....wait....what day is this? I'll figure it out and get back to you.


So, here's a brief recap of the events since I last posted. We moved...and then we moved....and then we moved again. Santa Monica, Holiday Inn Express, Santa Monica, driveway - that's the order of things if I'm not mistaken. Somewhere in between the 2 Santa Monica stints we discovered that an hour commute to school every day - in each direction was pretty much out of the question. As was policing and cleaning up after our 3 dogs. It just wasn't a doable situation.


Lightbulb. I pulled from the recesses of my mind a brief somewhat-inebriated conversation at a backyard neighborhood shin-dig. Something along the lines of "we have a 36' motor home that's just sitting and doing nothing for no one - why don't you borrow it from us". Now, while we've known our neighbors for many years, and had full knowledge that they are a lovely couple, at the time it seemed out of the question and just too far fetched. But suddenly....it became much less far fetched. So we called them up and decided that a rental situation (rather than a lending situation) was more in our comfort zone and lo and behold....we're now living in a land yacht in our driveway. Much better situation - dogs are free to roam, books, clothes, toys, Internet are handy (NO MORE PACKING!!!) and we're here to watch over our house from any evil-doers and when the contractors have questions. Voila.


...And it's actually kind of comfy and cozy! So....on to the project. Everything is moving along swimmingly and while we lost both time and money on all of the extensive (as in "worse we've ever seen") termite damage, we're corrected and moving along. Windows arrived and are installed and may I add looking ever so perfect. They're a great match with our original steel French windows and I'm glad I dug my heels in and insisted on them.


Other stuff:
1. Doors from China are a hassle - but luckily not an insurmountable problem - and they're going in one by one.


2. Bathtub arrives on Friday.


3. Entry door arrived and is kind of a piece of shit, buy it'll look great once it's up. Big story attached to this door actually. I struck a deal with crestviewdoors.com to trade out an instructional video for a free set of windows for the door. (The actual door is from ETO doors in downtown L.A.) I'm an experienced woodworker and I thought - how hard can this be. Cut 3 holes in the door - insert windows - bingo. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I won't bore you with the details except to say that the project was a bitch. It was a bitch on steroids. After much hand wringing, tears, and "oh my God what was I thinking", the project was completed. And all I can say is thank God for the inventions of wood filler, sandpaper and paint.


4. Purchased a really nice pro range. Can't wait to use it!


5. Tile is completely selected and now we just need to order it.


6. Finally made our decision about flooring. Much angst involved here as we had to take wear ability (with 3 dogs), cost AND beauty in to account. Finding a match for all 3 proved to be pretty difficult and I soon learned that you have to some times give up one thing to get another.


7. Continued working on furniture - decor - particularly Nick's room (my starting place and then I'll move on to the little one).


So that's it for now. And oh yeah --- it's day 66! 


And now for some photos!

Doors from China - installed!

And finally...we have windows! I LOVE my new windows!

And an overview of the new front of our house!

Our lovely little one in front of our lovely little home on wheels.

Ah...good times.

And in the midst of all of this ----- my son celebrated both his 15th birthday AND the first ever day of high school on the same exact day! Here he is (in the middle) with his adorable friends celebrating.

And our sweetie pie celebrated her first day of kindergarten - in a brand new school! So brave!

Day Forty - Displaced

Day Forty. Well it's taken me a couple of weeks to get this blog post down. Not for lack of trying. I'm a whirling dervish. My head is in 20 places at any given time. I have a hundred buying decisions to tackle -- and I never thought I'd say this -- buying is becoming a drag. In fact decision-making in general has become quite a drag. Flooring - tile - lighting - furniture - kitchen appliances - paint colors - etc. etc. 


And then there's the termites. Don't even get me started on the termites. Apparently our home is/was like a 24 hour Vegas buffet for termites. It's quite tasty. A big striped tent is somewhere in our future....


So here's where we're at. No one in my immediate family imagined that the scope of this job was a huge as it is. It's huger than huge, it's humongous. So we moved. We're living in my sisters apartment in Santa Monica, coming up  every morning and many evenings and weekends as well sometimes. It's hard on everyone -- but especially my sister who is used to solitary living and not a sometimes messy, usually chaotic family of 4 - 7 if you count the 3 dogs that we dragged along with us. Thank you Darien. You are a saint.


In addition to just the complexity of managing a family and a business (plus my husbands new film project), the social life of a teenager and keeping a 5 year old happy and occupied from a satellite location, we have to deal with the start of school just 10 days from now. Note to self: shop for a hotel near schools today. Phew.


All that aside....the project is moving along swimmingly. And its going to be amazing when it's done. My worries that Nick's new bedroom would be too small was for nothing - the room is perfect. The ROOM (the term "great room" makes me nervous), is going to be pretty awesome and entertaining central. I'm happy to still have my beautiful living room as a retreat when all of this open floor plan stuff makes me crave a little piece and quiet. You know?


So how 'bout a few pictures?

We Now Have Skylights! Ok - maybe not.

...And a Beautiful En Suite. Ok - maybe not.

But We Do Have A Shipment of French Doors From China!

And A Little Girl That Comes To Clean Up The Place!

...And A Final Footprint That's Pretty Damn Cool!

Day Twenty-Three - WTF Were We Thinking???

Where Once Stood A Home....

Day 17 and the 4th week of construction. What an extravaganza! At this point in the project we're seriously considering our sanity, physical health and marriage. What the F were we thinking? Seriously. Not in terms of doing the project. The more the project goes along - the more I feel that the necessity was there, both in terms of the space that we needed, modernizing our home, and in all of the things that were broken/overlooked through the years that we're now being forced to confront - head on. Like termites. I won't even get into termites. Let's just say they're nasty mo-foes for sure. Through the years we would on occasion see a little swarm of them in say, our bedroom and we'd just kind of look at each other and shrug our shoulders. Where others might have panicked and called in the professionals our "musician lifestyle" called for simple shoulder shrugging and then on to the next topic. Basically our home repair policy has always been "ignore". 

We're at the point where the dust, dirt, flying insulation, rat poop (don't even go there), holes in the floors, no walls, no a/c, 8 hours daily of banging, pounding, crashing, swearing, Mexican pop music, dogs escaping, not to mention all of us crammed basically into our master bedroom --- is beginning to wear on us. We're considering our alternatives. We can't stay here any longer. Either we move to my sisters in Santa Monica, or we stay out - every day, all day. So if you're reading this and we're still doing construction and let's say you're planning on going away for a few weeks this summer and need a house sitting family -- think of us!

Don't get me wrong. I think that this is a gift. Being able to do what others only dream about is truly awesome. Despite the fact that this is extremely difficult to live through, the contractor is doing a great job - his crew is awesome and everything is moving along at lightening speed!