When we plan to upgrade parts of our house, we never stick to our time frame. Why is that? Children, work, lack of sleep, or all of the above. Over a year ago, we set out to upgrade our master bedroom. New paint, crown moulding, new lighting, drapes, and blinds. We had just had new flooring installed throughout the house and thought a revigorated bedroom would be a plus when selling our house.
We had enough wood left from our living room remodel and installed the crown moulding first. Actually, my dad and Kevin installed the moulding. With a nail gun and a power saw, the first steps were down lickety-split. It was the rest that took the remaining 13 months.
Fed-up with our procrastination efforts, we reviewed our remaining vacation days of 2007 and made a plan. We'd both take a week off in Nov-07 and complete the project. We just had to move the furniture, paint, chaulk and hang the new hardware. 7 days - no problem.
One problem - life. We used the twin's room as a staging area for the furniture. That meant that not only were mommy & daddy displaced from their bedroom, so were the kids. We moved the mattresses to the living room. Kevin would sleep on the couch in the basement (that's where the television is), while the kids and I stayed in the living room. I would not suggest this to others who are remodeling have have 2 1/2 yr olds who are currently learning to sleep in a toddler bed. They interpreted our moving to the living room as 24/7 playtime. Our nights were restless. Since it was only going to be for seven days, how bad could it become?!?! Well.....
First there was the puttying and sanding of the nail holes. That alone took three days. Next came the painting that extended past our vacation allotment. That's including two days of Uncle Eddie come up to help. We must have gone through ten rolls of blue tape. They primed, they taped, they high glossed, they taped, they primed, they taped. Did I mentioned they taped?? With our vacation days gone, we resorted to finding time after work/weekends. We asked the nanny to work more days a week so that Kevin could focus on the room. That backfired because of the family and party demands between the weeks of Thanksgiving and the New Year.
Before we knew it we had been 'camping' out in the living room for 8 weeks. The kids were off schedule and we were getting cranky. The holidays are always stressful; this delay just added to the frazzled nerves. I begged, we compromised. The room would be completed in Jan-08. And the closet doors; they're a different blog entry all together.
Kevin kept to his promise! Our projects are never easy, but Kevin is a fine craftsman. He's all about the detailing. The outcome is always beautiful. And the bedroom really is lovely. It's nice nice that I've decided we need a new sheets, duvet, and pillows. I can happily report that we moved the furniture back. Kevin hung the drapes and the blinds. We had the carpet steamed. Mom Busardo came up to help me polish all the furniture. Please enjoy the photos of our latest project. It did take us another few weeks to get the kids back on their regular sleeping routine.
We have one more room to complete before we move. We remodeled the kitchen in 2003, but never painted it or installed the chair rail. Since we don't sleep in the kitchen, we won't be uprooting the family for this next diy. I'd like to say that it should only take a few weeks to complete the kitchen. Check back in another year (when we'll be moving) to see if we kept to our schedule.
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