One more week to go. Next week, new trim, final electrical, custom cabinets, counter top, and my favorite part… a new HD TV. For two people who make their living in the business of TV production you would think we already had one.
Category: Text Post
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Living Room Remodel, End of Day 2
I have these delusions of being able to not only work 50-60 hours a week, but also do all of our home improvements. Then when we finally hire somebody and I see what they are able to do in such a short time, I realize how crazy it was to think I would be able to pull some of this stuff off in any reasonable amount of time. It’s really impressive to watch somebody that really knows their craft, and the guy we’ve been using (Jim Wetmore of Fit & Finish) is second to none. I feel like I have my own Tom Silva working on the house (a This Old House reference).
Jim is really into getting the details right and doesn’t cut corners. What’s great about bringing him in is that he doesn’t just do what you asked of him, but he also offers advice and suggestions based on his years of experience. He’s kind of a consultant a well as a master carpenter.
And while he does huge projects that can take months at a time on million dollar homes, he always makes me feel like our little crap shack of a house is just as important as every other project he does. That’s pretty hard to come by in any field.
If you’re in the Chicago area and need help with a project, I highly recommend Jim. You will not be disappointed.
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Just a Quiet, Lonely House…
It has only been a day but the house is a lot different without Brenda and the boys around. Not only is it quite because of them being gone, but because the living room is basically empty there’s no TV or music either. Based on the amount of work they now have I can’t see this being done by Friday, which means it will be two weeks before they’re back here.
Yesterday afternoon I took a “before” photo before emptying the room out.
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More Home Renovations
This week is going to be a bit out of the ordinary. Because we’re getting the living room renovated, Brenda is staying at her moms house with the boys for at least this week, maybe next week as well. With all of the noise and dirt it was just easier not to be around. They’ll be working from 8am until about 7pm each night. Not a big deal for me since I’m usually at work anyway during those hours.
This will be my first extended time away from the boys and I’m going to miss them! It’s hard to spend a long day at work away from them, but this is going to be a lot harder. I realized it when I was helping pack them in the car today and got a little choked up.
We have a 5 year plan to sell our house and buy a new one. Part of that plan is to fix up one room each year to help raise the value of the house, and also enjoy it a little more for the years we have left. Our house is small, but it’s in a very good neighborhood. Without doing any work at all our house doubled in value in 10 years just because of property values going up. With the current housing market taking a dive that might not be true right now, but I’m sure in 5 years things will be much better. Last year we did the computer room (now the twins room), and this year it’s the living room and small hallway.
I did take some “before” photos, and will post them later in the week, as well as some progress photos.
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Studio Photos Today
Today we took the boys in to have some official photos taken. They were pretty good when it came to posing, but got tired before we were done. Andrew especially started to get cranky, so we didn’t get as many of him. In his last photo you can already see him starting to get upset with us. But we’re pretty happy with what we got. Below are the photos, and the full resolution files are on the Flickr page at this link.
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