M&M to the rescue!

I don't know if M&M have been reading my mind (or maybe my blog!), but they sure had some good news for us today!  Although the bar island is still out of the question, they have designed a custom  built cabinet in the entertainment area  that will give us the look and feel of a bar. In addition,  we will have a high side table to compliment the unit.

The basement already looks a lot bigger and brighter now that the pot lights have been installed and the walls have been removed.  I am sure once the new floor is down and the walls are painted, we will notice a big transformation.  In fact the basement will have the biggest transformation as it will have a completely different layout.

The appliances will be delivered tomorrow.  I am looking forward to seeing how the kitchen will look once the appliances are all in.

And the saga continues .....

For the records,  I am glad I am not a designer ... in addition to the lack of talent, I have very little patience for shopping, especially when it comes to furniture. We have been furniture shopping for almost two months and have hardly actually "bought" anything. 

The renovation is still in progress,  although our contractors have been working 6 days a week and they are still on schedule,  I am getting restless. We will be moving back on March 31st but that's just the beginning of another phase, especially if we still have not bought all the furniture.

We visited the house last Wednesday and after weighing all our options decided to give up on having a bar island in the basement as it would take up too much space. That was not good news.

The kitchen still drives me crazy, so I have been avoiding the area every time I have visited the house.  I hope I can at least get used to it by the time we are moving back.

The Persian New Year is also around the corner and for the first time in my life,  I will not be able to properly celebrate the day at home. 

I am sure everything will work out at the end,  all I can say is that it has been a long and stressful journey....

25 More Days..

The family room cabinets have finally arrived and although they are not completely installed,  the transformation is quite noticeable.

The basement is also well underway, the demolition is done and all the walls are up. It is now much easier to "see" what the basement will look like. 

I cannot wait to go "home". The reality is that although we will technically move back in less than a month, our lives will not go back to "normal" anytime soon😢

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall...

I was hoping to get more excited about the kitchen once the back-splash was up....  but.... I am going to listen to Thumper and say nothing at all...

Let's talk about something positive; I have to admit, My favourite place is the en-suite! The mirrors are up and they compliment our spacious and modern bathroom.

Although the mirrors in the second bathroom and the powder room are yet to be installed,  both bathrooms look very promising! 

I can't wait to add some colour ... how about some red🔴🔴? Who is with me?!❤✔

Renovation advice

The kitchen counter top has been  installed and I am actually disappointed. We picked the stone based on a 2X2 sample cut which was the wrong thing to do. My advice to anyone who wants to get a new countertop is to go to the manufacturer's show room and see the large cuts.  I am sure I can find enough appliances to cover the countertop so I don't have to look at it when we move back in.

Move #2

When you go through a renovation, you have good days and bad days; sometimes you give yourself a pat on the back and sometimes you curse yourself and everyone around you.... let's say today was not one of those good days.

We hired a mover to help us move everything  out of the basement today so the contractors could start the work in the basement on Monday.  We got to the house an hour before the mover to plan ahead and do some cleaning. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust of course.  All of our small appliances that were in the closet, were covered with so much dust that I could not figure out if they were stainless steel or black! Today was not the official "dusting " day but there was no point transferring all that dust upstairs so I took out a roll of paper towel and got busy.

To cut the long story short, it took about 4 hours to empty the basement and now the rest of the house looks as if a bomb has hit the place.  The sad part is that we have at least one more move ahead of us.

Let me give you a piece of advice , if you ever want to renovate your house,  make sure you not only rent a place to stay during the project but move all your belongings out of the house and store it somewhere else. Covering furniture with plastic does not help and constantly moving things around the house is a waste of time and energy.  I have a feeling that we will have to throw out a lot of our stuff once this is all set and done.... did I mention that today was not a good day?!

P.S. every inch of my body aches! 🤕

Phase 2

We met with Maryam at the house last night and she mentioned that the work in the basement would potentially start next week.  The good news is that we are ahead of the schedule, the not so good news is that we will have to clear the basement, which by the way is packed.... and we will have to do it over the weekend 😨😢

There is still a lot of work to be done on the main floor and upstairs, but I believe most of it will be completed by the end of this week. 

By the way,  the closet and island in the master bedroom have been installed,  although the island will have to be turned as it is facing the wrong way.

We had also decided to blow our budget on the closet doors in other rooms and they have been installed ..... they look great, so no regrets whatsoever ... just an empty bank account!