Outfittin'

Now that the heavy lifting is done, and we've moved on to scheming other projects, we are also at a point that we are going to start making the house ours. It needs to reflect us and our style but in a budget friendly and timely manner. So what I am really saying is, this is gonna take awhile.

We've debated furnishing and finishing a room at a time. Entirely outfitting a room before moving on to the next. But I don't know if I'll be able to do it that way. My mind gets going a million miles an hour in every direction and the next thing you know, I have a dining table in a room with no chairs. True story.

I also have commitment issues. Mainly because I know how many options are out there. It's hard to say, "yes" to a piece when you know there are a thousand other choices out there and you have the ability to find and purchase them.

We talked about finishing out our master suite first. Which would be nice to have our area done but I've already found a mirror I love for the mantle in the living room. It's huge with a 38" diameter. And the price tag isn't all that outrageous. I've seen more costly mirrors before. But money that could be spent on Addison's big girl room, or on our master suite. So it's a give and take. It is on back order until the end of August so until then I think I'll just wait and save up my pennies.

I did pull it into a picture I took last night using Photoshop to see if I would really like it. Turns out, I like it more than I thought I would. So until I've got the cash and it's available for purchase, I'll just pretend like that is what our living room looks like.

Already Scheming

Now that it is "official" and we are "done" with the house, we are already scheming.

We still have lots of projects we want to do so don't be surprised when you ask what we did this weekend and we respond with "we worked on the house".

We are taking a few weeks off from some of the projects in order to work on unpacking and relaxing. It's our goal to have all the boxes unpacked by our 1 year anniversary of owning the home - coming up a lot faster than you would think. We'll get to these other things when we feel like it. But as far as the lender is concerned, we are done. So everyone take a deep breath with me.

It's amazing that we are done and oh so tired but already getting excited for our next plans. I'm obviously excited about getting the interior done but we're also excited to work on the exterior.

We've already come up with a general layout for our exterior and will come up with a little more defined idea of what we want soon. What type of patio, what type of fence, plants, etc. My latest Pinterest obsession is backyards. We'll slowly start implementing our plans and just like our old house, in a few years, we'll be thrilled with the result. It'll be worth the wait, I promise.  

Done. Finished. Fulfilled. Complete.

I've been waiting for this day for months and yet, I have no idea what it is I want to say.

My head is full, my heart even fuller.

Today after a very long summer, fall, winter and spring and an even longer two and a half weeks of stress, we are done with our project.

Meaning, the lender has certified that we have increased the value of the home. That we have done everything we set out to do with their funds and with that completion comes our final check. We can pay our sub-contractors and no longer be under the stress of another individual's timing.

These are not before and after photos by any means, more of a progress update. As we continue to knock off little things and start creating our space we'll continue to post photos and do a final before and after reveal when we feel we're complete.

We can do our projects on our own time. We can spend an entire evening watching TV and playing with our daughter and not feel guilty about it. We can volunteer for tornado clean up and take our daughter to the zoo without once feeling like we're getting behind on the house.

I'll say it time and time again, there is still a ton to do and it will be years and years and years before we consider our house a fully finished "home" but our first hurdle is over. This a relief I can't even begin to explain. While we didn't have necessarily a bad experience with this project, we are at a point of just being over it. With the one tiny phone call I just received from Paul, I'm excited again. I'm excited that I can now stop to think about bookcases and drapes, artwork and shelves and not worry about HVAC and painting trim, or asbestos removal and plumbing lines. I'm excited that I can now just stop if I want. We can do whatever we want.

We are done.



*Note: After publishing this post, I noticed it was our 100th post. I think that's kind of cool. 100 posts and a brand new house.

A Rough Monday and a Dose of Perspective

We've been moving non-stop for the last two weeks. We've been furiously trying to take care of some items that our appraiser was requiring before checking the complete box on the form. We have been extremely busy, frustrated, tense and tired.

We have stayed up late every night trying to make sure as much of our project was done as possible.

Sunday evening we stayed up until 4:30 in the morning when we finally just could not do another task. We went to bed, got up and went to work for the day, saying a prayer that what we had completed would check off his concerns and we could all go about our lives. We met the appraiser right before 1pm and unfortunately we didn't leave the meeting feeling good. We have no idea what he'll say on his report. He didn't leave us with warm fuzzy feelings. We were led to believe early on that there are only a few appraisers in the metro that typically perform these types of potential value appraisals and that he had not performed this type of rehab appraisal before. If that's the case, it is very obvious to us that this is his first attempt at one. We were tired and frustrated after our appointment feeling angry and ready to be done with the process. Sure we still have things we would like to do with the house. But we can guarantee that the house has increased in value, the purpose of the entire project. There is a fully remodeled kitchen and two brand new bathrooms. We have bedrooms and closets. We have a home and we have no intention of leaving it any time soon. We plan to be here for a long while. One day we will replace windows, replace the broken concrete drive, etc. We just want to be out of the stress and weight of "not being done". We want to be on our timeline not the bank's. We couldn't think about much else after he left. Were we done? Were we not? How much more awful could a Monday get?

A few hours later, Monday got to be pretty awful.

Our metro was hit by an extremely dangerous and deadly tornado. Just 12 miles south of our house, homes and buildings were completely destroyed. Twelve miles. Families were separated. Children were trapped. I watched the news from my desk in horror, Paul doing the same from our house. I stayed at the office until I knew things were clear but very little work occurred. All you could see in my office were people checking their phones, watching television, streaming the newscast on their laptops. We know some people in the Moore area, all safe thankfully, but I still cried. If you've never seen the aftermath of a tornado, it's extremely difficult to explain. This tornado was extremely large, and powerful. Everything it touched is completely decimated.

All of a sudden, our visit with our appraiser wasn't all that big of a deal. He can check the not-complete box for all I care. There are people who have lost everything and while their homes and their cars can be replaced, lost family members cannot. Whether or not some guy liked the condition of my wood floors or not is beyond trivial.

One of the videos I watched last night was of a guy exiting his tornado shelter while video taping. I saw what he saw when he came out. It was unbelievable and his only words were, "God giveth and God taketh away". We have been so blessed by this home already and the idea of losing it is hard. But his video was the reminder I needed that this home, while a safe haven for my family, is nothing but bricks and wood. It and it's safety are a gift and I need to remember everyday that I walk through the door that I might not have it tomorrow and to use it wisely until then.

Please say prayers for the City of Moore. They are hurting and grieving. I know that our metro will time and time again take care of one another and I am thankful for that. Our preacher tweeted something earlier that explains why we stay here. People think we're crazy for living here after what happened yesterday, but what will happen over the course of today and the next few weeks is why we stay. We'd be crazy to leave. The people here have big hearts and so much concern for one another. We will do whatever it takes to relieve those affected. I am thankful for our City and that we have the capability to help.

I know that shelters have been set up all over the south metro for those without a place to stay. If you know of someone that needs somewhere to stay other than those shelters, or past the time they can stay there, please let us know. We have a large and empty house that needs to be used wisely.

The amount of love and concern that has been extended to us from friends and family and even their extended friends from around the US and the world has been overwhelming. We are continuing to get texts from my in-laws saying that the calls, texts and emails have been pouring in checking on us.

We are all, every single person on this earth, blessed. Let's all take our daily dose of perspective.

Wood Floors

In case you thought we were sitting around doing nothing, here's proof that work is actually happening.

 

I have a long post about the ordeal I talked about last Wednesday coming Monday or Tuesday full of words and littered with pictures. And more posts to follow that of other work that is going on.

But the wood floors have been the real source of contention over the last week. Luckily, as we suspected, they're cleaning up really well. I love that they aren't perfect but they are in far better shape than the wood floors at our last house. Water stains and heat stains make me smile. Splinters and gouges did not. Thankful that they are in good enough shape to keep in tact without too much costly work.

Home Crap Home.

We were gifted this book right after we moved into the house. I read it and giggled. It was most certainly for Paul and I but it's been on Addison's bookshelf ever since I read it the first time. Paul read it for the first time just a few weeks ago and smirked all the way through it.

It's a rhyming book about a dad that renovates a house, DIY style even though they are just learning how. It speaks to grand ideas and plans, a willingness to try things yourself and to loving each other even in shortfalls and disasters. While Addison probably won't remember any of the ups and downs we've had over the last year, I know that every time we read this book to her we'll remember and we'll continue to smirk. I look at small imperfections in the house that very few people will notice and I smile. I hope Paul does/will do the same.

Paul's uncle (a professional handy man) also recommended a book to us, long before we took on this project, called Sheetrock and Shellac.

If you have ever renovated anything yourself or done any home improvement, it's a pretty funny book. I want to re-read it now that we're finishing up.

And finally we did watch the Money Pit. People had been joking with us about this movie from the day we started the renovations. Paul had seen it before, a long time ago but I never had. It was funny and cute and I am glad we waited until we were so close to the end to watch it.

Home Crap Home 
 
The Money Pit — MOVIECLIPS.com

My favorite line, "Home Crap Home" given by Tom Hanks was so appropriate. We're past that point, luckily, with our house now. I'm starting to feel good in our house but I definitely had a few moments when I would pull up to the house on a work-day and that was my exact sentiment.

Radio Silence

Sorry for the radio silence.

We've got some things going down right now that we are trying to work through calmly and professionally.

Until things are all worked out though we need to focus all of our time and effort towards getting it taken care of before we take the time to blog about it.

We're almost done, but still knocking things off of our to-do list. We've slowed down a lot but are trying to ramp back up for a final couple of days worth of work. It's nice to feel like we have a home. When we come down the stairs, our entry way is empty and while "empty" isn't a term that most use to describe their home, it is a nice relief from the piles of contruction tools and paint cans and drop cloths that sat there forever. It's starting to shape up folks.

We had good friends and their sons over last night for dinner and a little free labor. It was nice to have a good balance of work and play.

Excited for nothing but play coming up here soon.

Send good thoughts our way and excuse us if we're a little testy tonight and tomorrow.

Define Lazy

Last night we cut in paint for HOURS.
We patched and repaired broken trim.
We patched all the nail holes in our new trim.
We grouted the bonus room floor (the tiny amount leftover when we ran out of grout).
We mowed the yard.
Our daughter pooped in the potty (this was our biggest accomplishment of the evening).

A few nights ago we installed the second half of our master closet system.
We cut in paint that night too.
We finished trimming out any remaining door frames.
We finished the installation of the island hood.
We finished grouting most of the floors and wall tile.



Paul cleaning up grout on the subway tile wall, with Addison pretending to do the same
to his leg. Outfitted in her Liverpool soccer jersey of course. Just a standard day around
the Ryckbost house. She pretends to do everything we do. She has created her own stud
finder, her own hammer, and her own tape measure. It's funny to see how she mimics.

Our to-do list has dropped from a six page list to a four page list. Tonight we work until we can't see straight and our legs won't hold up our body weight anymore. More paint, more cleaning, more of the little things.

My parents said something on the phone the other night when they asked what was on task for the evening. I rattled off the long list of items we were going to attempt and they responded with, "you guys are some of the hardest working people we know."

Huh.

I don't know why all of a sudden that statement struck a chord with me but it did. Since July of 2012 we have been extremely over committed. I've said it before and I'll say it again. We both work full time jobs, our house takes up at least 36-40 hours of our time, I teach a college class, I took the third part of my professional exam (again), we potty trained a toddler and put her in a big girl bed, Paul planned an entire conference, I participated in a charity fashion show, and and and......

These last few weeks I haven't felt like a hard worker. As soon as we moved into the house our motivation to finish dropped drastically. We were taking longer to ramp up with projects and ending our evenings a lot earlier than we had previously. We were finding more time to catch TV shows here and there. I was feeling frustrated with our "laziness" and starting to get down on us for it.

But at some point something had to give. Thankfully class is out for the summer though I am behind on my final grades and must get them posted, the fashion show is over, we are 99% potty trained, my exam results won't come in until June, Paul's conference is over today and within days, we will be done with our agreed upon renovations.

Within days we will be on to un-packing our boxes. Organizing. Hanging artwork. Creating our home. I'll be making bigger lists with tasks like building bookshelves for the bonus room and minor improvements we'll make over the years like a new fence and a new sidewalk. We'll start working in our yard. We'll start playing on Saturdays instead of always working. All within days.

I feel like my generation is typically so privileged and lazy. I can't say I love how much we have had going on. I'm tired and irritable and ready for a break. And while I can't say I love work, I don't like feeling lazy either. So when my parents made the statement and I took a moment to consider, if I were to honestly step back and evaluate the definition of "lazy", I don't think we qualify and I'm proud of that.