When Its Worse Than You Expect

Have you ever entered into an experience, bracing yourself. Saying to yourself something like, “This is going to be tough, but its going to be worth it.” Maybe when you became a parent, or started a new job or moved far away from family and friends. For example, when you have a newborn; you know there’s going to be sleepless nights, a change of schedule, etc. Then you actually experience it and you are a complete zombie, your baby never stops crying, won’t sleep and you think to yourself, “How will I ever survive this?” (Sorry if you can't relate.) There were plenty of days I felt like that. So, here’s another example: Moving day sucks. Its stressful enough as it is. But, have you ever been told on your moving day, not to unpack your boxes? Maybe because you have major water damage from a leak in your first floor toilent and the restoration company needs to tear up your kitchen and so he suggests its not even worth it to stock your shelves? Ding, ding, you’re right. We were told that! I could have curled up in the fetal position in a corner right then and there and given up. Seriously. I didn’t, thankfully, because in my discouragement, Ben picked up the slack and was Mr. Positive that week. He helped me through.

So, remember last week I promised to tell you how the journey with the kitchen began...We closed on #ourhouseinthewoods last Memorial Day weekend and would not be closing on our current house until early July. Several times a week we would go to the new house and do projects, clean, etc. One week when I was cleaning and polishing the wood floors I noticed the hardwoods in the living room off the kitchen to be buckling, like the boards were pushing up. Not just a little, a lot. Something was not right because when we bought and closed on the house they were not like that. We asked around. What could be happening? One idea, maybe its the humidity? We decided not likely. We mentioned it to our neighbor who has been in water restoration and clean up for years. He had just started his own business and was available right away to come check it out. He was super thorough and found the problem quickly. Like I said, the first floor toilet had started leaking after we moved and had caused the floors to buckle. Solution, tear up the the first floor bathroom, the lower kitchen cabinets and floor to expose the water damage and dry it out. 2 days after we move, we were out a kitchen and first floor bathroom. Yay, us.

Good news: They fixed the leak. Cleaned up our crawl space where the toilet was leaking and was able to put our kitchen back together a bit so we at least could use the oven, sink and most of the lower cabinets again by a month later. And, we got some money from our insurance company. Any little bit helps, right? Bad news: we have been living on subfloor, been without a dishwasher, and haven’t had a first floor bathroom since July. (you might wonder why we didn’t just put in a new toilet. Good question. Its all tied to the kitchen. Since we are moving the door from the kitchen to the mudroom, we can’t do the floors until that happens and we don’t want to install a new vanity and toilet until we get a new floor). It sucks, but maybe this will be one of those times we look back and laugh at all we went through. Maybe.

Good thing I didn’t hold my breath for the kitchen demo to start yesterday, because it didn’t. Most likely pushed to the end of the week or next Monday. What’s another week when you’ve been waiting 9 months already? Plus it gives me another week to empty pantry and frig. Less to move is always a positive in my opinion. I posted some pics from before the leak and how it is now, just so you can get a sense of how we’ve been living for the last several months.

Have you gone through a major kitchen remodel? What are your ideas to make it less stressful or more economical? What were your favorite meals to cook with limited resources? How did you save money when eating out? So far, my plan is to eat at our bar in the basement or outside, use a lot of paper plates, and grill when we can. Any other tips?

Next week, I have an even better story from our closing day on this house. Oh, its good. Stay tuned!