Come on in and see what a difference one's sanity makes...

Oh Internets!  You have stuck with me through this horrendous renovation.  You have patiently waited and some of you may even continue to check the blog occasionally in hopes that I have posted pictures of the fruits of my labor and many months of blood, sweat and tears.  Well I did, it took almost as long as the renovation. 

I have lost my sanity through this process, I am slowly gaining it back.  But come inside and see what happened.  Realize that the living room is finished, but I am awaiting additional furniture.  I will post more pictures when it all gets here.  My photography skills are not the best....deal with it.  I also swear that I took better before pictures, but for the life of me CANNOT find them on my computer.  My organizational skills went out the window the day they started with this....

But alas we are finished. Things were not done on schedule, I cleaned better than I did in my entire life due to some peoples inability to use visqueen. And low and behold I survived. I guess I am cut out for that kind of work.

So here is the before......

And the after.........

Again the before.....

And the after....

Looking into the kitchen before.....

Looking into the kitchen after.....

The new brick wall on the living room side.  That mirror isn't staying there, I just don't know what I will put there.

Looking from the kitchen into the living room.

Before......

After.......

Looking toward the stove/cook top with the old island and floors and without the wall.

Before.....

After.....

The breakfast area before.....

After...

(I need a closeup of my new table, it is made from on old door from a house in Nola)

And now just some details.

My new chandelier over the breakfast table....

The new brick floors, I love them.

The new island.  I have bookcases on each end.

My new kitchen faucet.  Sorry it is blurry, but I love it!

The cabinet I had built on the brick wall on the kitchen side.  I use it as a china cabinet.

So what do you think?  Anything I left out you want to see?  My new hardware wasn't installed yet in these pictures, it is now do you need to see that?  Do I need a close up of anything else?  Please humor me, say something!

And the beat goes on....

Sometime back in April, I wrote a big fat check for a kitchen renovation. A renovation that would take 2-3 weeks. Remember that post of excitement the day the brick arrived. Yes, it seems like just ages ago. Well now I feel like I've been through the ringer.

First it has taken nearly 2 1/2 months, which is a whole lot longer that three weeks. Then as they came to install the island, I noticed that it was a lot smaller than what we originally discussed. I refused to let them install it, since it wasn't what I originally discussed and agreed to pay for.

So my contractor comes out and we agree to disagree and then he chalks it up to a miscommunication. However no matter what he says, we miscommunicated I know damn well I didn't miscommunicate this......



In no way, shape or form would I have "miscommunicated" to replace my island with a new island that was a good 6 inches to short on each side. Nope, I am going to go ahead and say the contractor screwed up royally. However what I was saying earlier was not screwed up, but use your imagination and insert whatever word you think I would have used! And to prove it wasn't just on one side....

This my friends is why I have resorted to drinking heavily in the evenings! Today I get to deal with the geniuses again, think of me, pray for my sanity.

I am thinking by the time Meredith starts kindergarten next year it may be ready. What do you think?

Is it friday yet?

Did I mention we are going back to the beach? Well we are, because after multiple weeks of remodel hell....I lost count.........the kitchen is STILL not finished. I'm not sure it ever will be. Part of my daily routine is waking up, getting two kids up, making sure everyone potties and is changed, making oatmeal, calling the contractor to bitch, calling my husband to bitch about said contractor, then making my husband call said contractor back to get the job done.

Yes, I fear my morning routine or daytime routine will never be the same. The new daytime routine involves cleaning after kids and workers, patrolling the kids and the workers, fussing at the kids and workers and at the end of the day losing my mind.

It is no longer strange when my 3 year old says out loud in public, "momma da men STILL at my house?" Because we both know what men she is talking about and for the sake of all things holy in the world, yes they are still at our freaking house.

I'm not sure they will ever leave, which is better than them leaving before the job is done. Although the hefty balance of money we owe them is also a key factor in that, but that is NOT incentive enough for them to move their asses faster. No way. I am convinced men have one speed and it is not my speed, that is for damn sure.

So I am hoping that the week after I come home from the beach, the kitchen will be finished. Yes, you heard that right, not that when I come home it will be finished, but that it will get finished the week after the beach. Because in this process of remodeling or renovating, I have learned a very valuable lesson, do not let them work when you are out of town. For several reasons...
1. they don't show up on time
2. sometimes they don't show up at all
3. they never do what they are supposed to do and will only have to fix it when you get home
4. chances are they won't even fix it correctly and you will have to wind up fixing it your self
5. no one respects your stuff, so make sure you are there to demand the respect.

Oh internets won't you be happy when this is all over with and we can go to more trivial post about breakfast and pottying or something. I can't wait until I am out of remodel hell. So that is it in a nut shell. You may get before and after pictures before the new year, but don't count on it.