Since my last update, I have worked every single day except one (to give my back a break) to get this place as ready as possible before we had to move in. I feel like I’ve been training for a marathon for the last three months. (What I imagine that would be like anyway.) Last weekend, we moved in and I’d say the Lodge is about 20% ready to live in. Nonetheless, we are in!
Now that we don’t have the looming deadline of having to have that house ready for our tenants to move in on March 15, it’s not quite as stressful. However, the state of our living situation is comically ridiculous!
Tiling
The goals for the master bathroom projects to complete before move in was: shower tiled, floors done and a toilet installed. Done, done and done! We set up the tile saw in the master bedroom since that room didn’t have floors (or anything) yet. It was nice not to have to go far to cut tiles. Wes or various other people helped me with tiling. I troweled mortar and set the tiles and when I needed a cut, I marked the tile and handed it off to someone. There are so many imperfections in the shower that I’m sure once I’m not so exhausted, it will bother me more than it currently does. Right now, there are too many things waiting to be done to get weighed down by little stuff.
Concrete-ing
I’ve been perfecting my concrete overlay applications on: the pantry backsplash, the laundry room floor and walls, the powder room floor and walls, and the master bathroom countertop and backsplash. There are dozens of new products every couple months when I search for something making it difficult to decide what to try and how to use it. I’ve experimented with quite a few products and have found a few that I like but still have multiple unopened containers still to use.
Cabinet Building
I’ve built many cabinets in the last few months but it feels like most of the time spent doing that was on edge banding…and then carrying all the parts and pieces up all the stairs. I can carry parts and pieces up the stairs much easier than carrying finished cabinets. The spare bedroom is being used as the tool and “building room”. My CNC is definitely paying off though I am still learning how to adjust everything to get the best cuts.
Master Bedroom
We managed to get floors down in the master bedroom before we moved in. I also installed the doors in that room but I’m painting the doors, one by one, by hand so the main door to our bedroom is still in the “project room” (our closet).
We rented a liftgate truck weekend before last and got all the big stuff moved over, including our bed. We slept here and kept moving the rest of our belongings over throughout the week. Even though Wes and I both purged our closets and the rest of the house, we still have more “stuff” than either of us can imagine. I gave away at least 1/3 of my clothes and still have more than I can put away.
After moving in completely, this is our bedroom/closet until I build our proper closet (room).
Office
Wes works from home at least one day a week and does Zoom meetings throughout the day. We are currently sharing an office. I have a dedicated office for him but it’s currently full of “stuff”. Our office and our bedroom are the only rooms that I got doors on and the office doesn’t even have flooring. Just a fun rug that will make me smile when I see it once I’m not running around with my mind on 38 tasks I’m in the middle of completing.
Also, I put a door on the office to keep the dogs out of the room because (like a year ago) we purchased a beautiful leather sofa in anticipation of the super cool office I was building for Wes up here. During the chaos of moving, the dogs were quite stressed out so I covered the sofa with quilts and pillows so the dogs could find a quiet place to escape to. Brody is pretty used to the space now but Bella hides in my clothes on one of the shelves in our bedroom.
Another Big Flood
So the week we were moving in, I came out here bright and early one morning and found 3″ of water in my shop, and water in the entire main floor. There is a floor drain in my shop and I imagined it was clogged or the mystery place where that water goes was full. I followed the noise of running water around the corner and to the bathroom/storage room and found water spraying out of the supply line that WAS connected to the tankless water heater. 3 visits from the plumber later…we have a different new water heater, a thermal expansion tank and a pressure gauge that records the pressure to that tank. We think the pressure reducer thingamagig to this building is probably needing replaced. The city water pressure comes in a 160 psi which is HIGH. We’ve already replaced the thingamagigs to both buildings once and we’re going to have to keep an eye on it.
I cried for 3 minutes after I shut off the water and walked over to the house to find my galoshes. Also, I immediately called Wes and had him call the plumber because I didn’t have time to find the number. I started a bon fire with all the cabinet parts that I had stacked up by my door, waiting to be hauled upstairs, and a whole lot of other ruined plywood. It was at least a beautiful day so I left my big shop door open and enjoyed the sound of the fire crackling. Periodically I dragged over some branches from a pile we are still working on cutting and removing from the two giant trees that fell over onto 3 other little trees during a storm sometime past…and kept my little campfire going allllll day long.
Thankfully, all my tools are on casters so they are fine. Scary thing is that a few of my electrical drops were just laying on the floor, submerged in water.
Anyway…Wes came home to help immediately after calling the plumber. He stopped for bagels, nutty cream cheese and a latte for me though- because he happened to call me during that 3 minute span and thought a little pick me up was in order. All in all, it was a 3/4 day diversion and then I got back to work on whatever it was that I intended to work on that day.
Gym
The room Wes and I are sharing as an office was intended to be our work out room but I decided that would feel too small with the 8′ ceilings. Instead, I decided to give up one of the rooms on the main level, my “workshop” level. After moving everything else up all the stairs we are SO glad we made the gym on the first floor and didn’t have to try to haul up that heavy equipment!
We prepped the room, I painted, and my mentees installed the rubber floors. Now the room is full of a whole bunch of crap in addition to the gym equipment until we get organized. Great thing about rubber floors is, they didn’t get ruined in our flood. Silver lining.
Under Construction -Again
We are living in a lot of chaos despite the fact that I told Wes he wouldn’t have to live in “Under Construction” conditions again. Honestly, Wes has helped me with tons of projects in the Lodge and he’s been looking forward to living in this space. We decided that having the March deadline was good or we may have never actually moved in because this space will not be DONE for a very long time. The kitchen is mostly done but we have boxes everywhere so I’m holding out on showing you. This is the 20% done Great Room that shares space with the kitchen.
We have a toilet and a shower but I’m still working on the vanity in our bathroom so we currently wash our hands and brush our teeth in the kitchen. It’s laughable- the whole situation! Wes is being a real good sport and looks at it as an adventure.
Adventure awaits. Hopefully now that I’m not putting in 15 hour days, 7 days a week I can keep you posted more often. It’s been hard to set up a camera in the midst of chaos so sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. All any of us can do is the best we can do and I’m at a point in life where I’m totally ok with that. Hope ya’ll are well and hanging in there, and doing the best you can.