We're Here - The Move From Hell

I don't mean to offend anyone, but I have to call a spade a spade.
So we moved.
It was possibly the single worst month of my life. Everything that could go wrong did. It has been an epic disaster that we continue to slog our way through one day at a time. I'll try to bring y'all up to speed.

It was the day before the move. I was packing up all the last minute and "Ack! I forgot to pack all that!" stuff. It was late afternoon. Jeff was at work and the kids were being happily babysat by a movie while I packed. (Don't judge! Sometimes the tv babysitter is a true necessity!)

I realized I was running out of boxes so I paused the movie, packed up the kids and headed out to get a few more at Home Depot. It was a quick trip. It started raining on while we were out, so I ran the kids into the house then headed back out in the now pouring rain to get the boxes from the car. I was carrying the pile of boxes flat across my arms as I rushed to get inside and out of the rain. 
Before I knew it, I was propelling forward, out of control. Unable to see the ground due to the boxes, I had stepped on some of the gumballs that had fallen from the sycamore tree in front of our house. My ankle rolled and I went flying. As soon as my hand hit I heard awful cracking sounds. I had never broken a bone before, but I knew that is what had just happened. I sat there a little nauseous and shaking in the rain.
It took a few minutes before I could get up. I was soaked, muddy and in PAIN!
I made my way inside and cleaned up a bit. I called my husband at work. He could run by, (one benefit we used to have is we lived a block outside his jurisdiction)but they were short an officer that night so he couldn't come home. I took off my rings (it was my left hand). I debated waiting to get it seen, but with the move in the morning I knew that was going to be even worse. My husband came by and looked at it. He thought it was only sprained or bruised.
I looked at the time. The Urgent Care Center near us closed in a little over an hour. The copay for Urgent Care is $50, the copay for the ER, $250. I decided to go to Urgent Care even if it meant they sent me home with just a bruise.
I called my 18 year old daughter, who was on a date. I told her what had happened and asked if she could come watch the kids while I went and had my hand checked. She headed over (boyfriend in tow) and I went in.

A couple of hours later I was headed home in a temporary cast. My hand was still swelling and the pain was getting worse. It was definitely broken. I was under orders not to lift anything and to keep my hand elevated for the next few days at least.

This was taken 4 days after the fall. It shows the swelling, but not the bruising. that hadn't really come into it's full glory...

And we were moving in the morning.
And we had painting and cleaning that still had to be done.
And it was still pouring rain.

The next day things didn't improve. With all the rain most of our volunteer movers had mysteriously vanished. My brothers were busy working on the house, which was by now behind schedule and over budget. We still didn't have an occupancy permit. I couldn't do anything.

My poor husband and his good friend did most of the moving by themselves. Both of them were so sore by the end of the day!!! I felt awful for them! But it was a little funny to see the realization that they are indeed approaching middle age and cannot do everything they used to do!
The one good thing, my parents were out of town, which meant we could stay at their house for a few days since there was no way we could stay at the new place.

The new house was all kinds of a disaster. There had definitely been setbacks and miscommunication. It all involved family so that made it more difficult to deal with. It was filthy, still full of work stuff and things that had been stored over there. Work I expected would be finished was not, and I found out it wasn't going to be done. I discovered several major problems with the house I hadn't seen before. I realized two of the rooms we hoped to use would be unusable. I had to rethink how we were going to use the space.
I worried that this whole move was a huge mistake.

Several other things happened.

We had a major big-time financial setback that was mostly my fault.

Then, my 18 year old daughter, angry about the move, decided she didn't want anything to do with helping us, and she wasn't going to move in with us either. Her reasons were hurtful and misguided, and frankly, in my opinion, mostly stuff she used as an excuse for her real reason, which was, I have much higher expectations of her than her father does. I think highly enough of her to expect her to live up to her potential which, yes, requires work. I wanted her to have a summer job, to take classes at the community college and do some things to further herself. I think that a summer that consists of no more than sleeping late, taking a couple of vacations, sitting on her father's couch watching tv, playing video games and hanging out with her boyfriend is unacceptable. She thinks it is normal and I am out of line.
No matter what the reality, if I was right or wrong, or she was. It hurt me deeply.

Couple that with a huge amount of pain and the stress of moving into a disaster and I plunged into a major depressive episode.

I have had issues with some depression before in my life. It had been a really long time since I have dealt with it. It is getting better day-by-day. I am looking at seeing someone about it now in order to ensure that it doesn't happen again. It was really awful and scary.

My hand is getting better and I am able to do more.

I am moving forward and trying to make the best of this so-far-disastrous move.
("This will not become The Money Pit. This will NOT become The Money Pit." I chant to myself over and over - Positive thinking will reap rewards, right?)

I am determined to make this a Good Home.

Lately it has been mostly about cleaning (when I say this place was/is filthy I am NOT exaggerating! There is dust/dirt 3/4 of an inch deep in places)and figuring out which rooms will be used for what. I think we finally have that part settled.
I want to move on to the decorating as my budget and my kids allow, but right now I am overwhelmed and I seem to have encountered a major mental roadblock. I am working out how to best deal with it  For now, I have scrapped much of my color palette for walls and have decided to pretty much paint the entire house white with grey-ish beige (greige) trim. A consequence of finding out that much of our trim is pretty banged up, much is painted (perhaps at one time with lead paint) and I just need to make things clean and cohesive. I really want pale blue ceilings, but my husband hasn't quite gotten on board with that idea.

Due to my gimpy hand and missing sewing machine pieces, I missed the deadline for the Solids-Only Challenge my Modern Quilt Guild was having, but I am going to finish it anyway now that I can use my hand more. I was only able to complete a couple of the blocks prior to being knocked out of the mix, but I really like how they look so far. I do think there is probably an easier way to do this, but hey, it's all a learning process, right? I'll share my progress here shortly.

I'll leave you with some of the good things from the last few weeks that remind me why I love living in the city!

The kids playing in the fountain at Tower Grove Park. A gorgeous Victorian era park we can walk to that brings together people from all walks of life

The Zoo (Free!!!) and all the Forest Park attractions (also Free! Including the Art Museum and Science Center) an easy 5 minutes drive away

Concert at the Band Pavilion at Tower Grove Park

Weekly Summer Kids' Concert Series at Piper Palm House - also at Tower Grove Park

 

 

This is just some of what we've been busy doing, and a bonus- I've just gone through just 1/2 a tank of gas in 2 weeks!

I'll be back more regularly now, though probably not daily. It is difficult, as the kids are sleeping in the room with the computer right now while we work on some issues with their bedroom.

Moving Madness

We have had a CRAZY week!
My second oldest had so much going on leading up to her graduation last night, including Prom on Saturday and all the rest of the end-of-the-year craziness that always ensues.
Of course, she looked gorgeous at prom and I couldn't have been a prouder mama at her graduation.

Now we are in full-on moving mode. My house is quickly filling with boxes and we are eating out more and more as we try not to move or throw away more food than we have to.
We are still saying prayers that the house will be ready on Sunday, but we do have a back-up plan just in case.

Epic Makeover Run Has Ended!

I found out first thing this morning that I did not make the cut for the Final 5 in Mandi's Epic Makeover.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed. It would have been awesome to have Mandi come and makeover my space! She has been so sweet through this entire contest that I am sure working with her would have been amazing!

All the remaining contestants look great! There is a contestant from Atlanta still in the running. I am pulling for her, since it's the closest to Saint Louis, so maybe I can road trip down and have the chance to meet Mandi!

I guess I'll just have to pull up these bootstraps and get crackin' on the decorating myself.
It will be fun! (or at least funny! A comedy of errors perhaps) I hope you will all stick around for the adventure that is the making of our Good Home!

What do you think is the feasibility of mainlining caffeine so I can stay awake 24 hours a day to make this happen...I can only work while the kids are asleep!
I mean this is what I am dealing with all day~

This is what my kids were busy doing while I was in the kitchen packing.
Yes, the cat is actually in there.
I can't leave them alone for 5 minutes with out some sort of mayhem.
I love it though.

~Milica
I'm linking up with the Company Girls

We are a SEMI-FINALIST!!!

I can't believe it we are one of the semi-finalists in Mandi's Epic Room Makeover Contest!
There were SOOOO many amazing people and spaces entered!
I am stunned we were one of the chosen spaces!
('cept our space really has NO CHANCE of NOT looking spectacularly 100% more amazing than it does now!)



I am so excited and nervous I feel like barfing!

Up until now my little blog has been my private space to journal and dip my toes in the blogging world just a tiny bit.

Now I've put it all out there for all the world to see
(well, the incredibly awesome-tacular Vintage Revivals World at least!)

Yup, makes a shy girl like me want to hurl her guts out. But since Mandi loves our guts I'll keep them inside for now.

Now to wait and see if I get chosen as a finalist.
(no promises I won't be hurling if that happens!)

The Chosen Ones

Head over and vote for us in the Vintage Revivals Epic Room Makeover!
(Head over and vote for #22!)

Mandi is Rock-Star awesome and she could accomplish more in one week in my old house than I could do in a month (let's be honest) a year, but The Good Home is a big ol' lady and I can't leave her naked while I hope and dream that we somehow win this thing! (if visualizing something can lead to getting it, we are winning this thing!)

Without further ado - Here are the colors I picked out yesterday from Benjamin Moore-

Man, scanning paint chips is NOT a good way to show off colors! I would look at these and say,

"Hey, 1984 was a long time ago, but not quite vintage yet! Ya planning on adding some white geese with blue bows round their necks?"

I promise they are NOT that bad!

I will be tweaking them a bit and adding colors but it's a starting point. Most of the house will be white initially anyway because I am stressed enough just trying to get moved and I don't need to add more stress.

The Palisades Park green is meant to be an accent color. It's just a great vintage-y green.

The Palladian Blue is a really great greyed blue/green color that I love. I am planning on putting it in the kitchen. This, or some variation, will probably pop up elsewhere in the house too.

Hubs has already declared my creamy yellow, Swan's Mill Cream, "boring".
Actually he said, "Do you want something this blah to be people's first impression of the house?" (It was going in the entry) Floored me! I chose it so he wouldn't freak out! I have some great yellow vintage plates/platters I may color match.

The Dove's Wing is a soft pale greige and really lovely. I am planning on using it on the kitchen cabinets. It's another color that may show up again in various shades.

The white is for the trim we have to paint around the house. Much of our lower trim is really battered and paint may be it's only salvation!

So there you have it - my initial picks - Subject to change - Well, pretty much guaranteed to change.

VOTE For #22!!!

VOTING IS OPEN! PLEASE HEAD OVER TO VINTAGE REVIVALS AND VOTE FOR #22!!!!





REMEMBER OUR SLOGAN!
CLICKING #22 IS THE THING TO DO!
(Ok, so it's a lame slogan. I was a bit lacking in the creative department with only 4.5 hours of sleep. Feel free to submit your suggestions in the comments!)

Color Paralysis

I have to paint the Good Home. Right now the poor lady is languishing in awful plasterboard. I love, love, love choosing color palates and I have long had a color scheme in mind, but now that the moment is here, I am paralyzed with indecision.
I turned to good ol' Pinterest to check my likes.

My entry inspiration. We don't get much light in the entry so I want to keep it light and bright

my more general decor inspiration board

My kitchen inspiration board

Bathrooms

Master Bedroom inspiration

Much of our lower trim is in bad shape and I will likely be painting it in a bright white. I am sure that I love white, soft yellow, blues - especially pale gray-blues, lots of black (or dark navy) on creamy white backdrops, with pops of color - especially green and bright turquoise/aqua.  I could even happily let in a bit of pink if it wouldn't cause my husband conniptions!

You think it would be easy! I have a favorite color palate that is pretty well defined, but NOOOOO!
Finding just the right blue or yellow or creamy white is a job for the strong willed not the indecisive waffler that I am!

I love Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams Paints, but my husband would probably have a heart attack when he saw the bill if I bought all my paint there! (we have 12 foot ceilings so we need A LOT of paint)
I am going to get good paint for a few areas that will get extra wear and tear - (and maybe sneak in the good paint to other rooms a bit at a time so it's not overwhelming our pocketbook)

1)The all-important first impression front hall

Right now I am leaning toward something along the lines of BM You are my Sunshine or SW Friendly Yellow. I want it to be soft though. We had an unfortunate experience with yellow in this current place that has frightened poor hubby off it all together. It has to be able to stand up to the lack of light and be cheerful warm and welcoming without being scary yellow. I really want the yellow color in the fireplace tiles but just a smidge darker, like the yellow door in the decor inspiration screen shot above.

2)The Kitchen
Right now I am leaning toward painting the cabinets a creamy white as opposed to a stark white with a pale blue with a bit of gray in it for the walls. I am debating not bringing the color all the way up the walls though, but just to the bottom of the top shelf to let artwork and vintage finds stand out more.

3) The Bathroom 
It has beadboard that will be white. The paint will go above the beadboard. I am debating a very pale grayed out purple in here since the towels we have now are purple and green and white. But I really want blue so we will see... but I want blue everywhere, so a change would be good...

Other than that I will probably buy some gigantic 5 gallon tubs o' white to get something up on the walls until we get around to more real decor choices.
Part of me just wants to slap up a bunch of the white on everything and call it a day...


Any advice on colors? Do you finding choosing colors a pleasure, or a daunting task? (I am firmly in both camps!)

Taking a Deep Breath

My life has been out-of-control
My 2nd daughter is graduating from high school in just over 2 weeks and we seem to have something to do nearly every night!
We move the weekend after the graduation so I have been trying to pack up what we don't use often or is out of season so we can maybe be ahead of the game.
Then we had the tornado.
Easter was in there too.

Then there was the  biggest issue. Not ready to share since we don't know much yet. (don't panic, no one in my house is preggers) Hopefully we will have some answers soon, I really need things to settle down here.

My stress level is through the roof.
Usually when I am stressed I become ultra-productive, but this is serious enough that I really just froze in place.
It has been difficult for me to get through a normal day and get everything done.

I think that is my problem. I like information.
It lets me feel like I have some control over things, even if I don't actually have any control.
I like to have a plan, and right now I feel like I can't plan anything.
At the same time I am running through all different scenarios in my head.

I am just going to take a deep breath, trust God, move forward, and hope for the best.
I am going to try my best not to be consumed by the "What If's" that are plaguing me.

I will be back with some house posts this week.
We are still going to need a roof over our heads!

Devastation and Blessings

Happy Easter everyone. Along with the celebrations today we are dealing with even more here at home.
Devastating tornadoes ripped through St. Louis Friday evening.
I have rarely seen such destruction of neighborhoods. I have lived here nearly my entire life and we have tornadoes, but they have never really hit populated areas. This year we have had it happen three times already!

The pictures were taken at my sister and brother-in-law's house. (taken my my sister-in-law)

We are counting our blessings even more than usual today.
Thankfully no one was home, the damage to the home is repairable and they can actually live in the home once power is restored.
Thankfully they have plenty of family to stay with in the meantime.
Some neighbors weren't so lucky and are staying in shelters over this Easter weekend and have no idea when their homes will be safe.
Thankfully their church and the church school where they worship and their children attend school, just a block away, was spared.
The church on the opposite corner was destroyed.
Their neighborhood was full of huge trees and historic homes. Many of the trees were over a hundred years old. They were ripped up by the roots and thrown on to houses, into neighboring yards and on to cars. Roofs were ripped off entirely.
In other neighborhoods that were hit, entire homes were leveled. Reduced to splitered wood and shattered brick.
It is a miracle there were no serious injuries.

Just for comparison this is what the yard looked like the day they closed on it 4 years ago -

the grand old walnut tree

Seeing it now, it looks like another world.

But everyone is safe. It is a close community. The community will strengthen and grow from this experience.

Hey Vintage Revivals! Revive My Vintage Home!

SQUEEEEEAAAAALLLLL!!!!

Well, now that I've gotten that out...

On to the squeal-worthy news-

Mandi - Aka Goddess of Thrift Shop Glam - over at Vintage Revivals, is holding the single most amazing, scream-your-ever-lovin'-guts-out-if-you-win-it giveaway ever held in Blogland.

(that's my practice scream up there)

I am freakin' serious here. 

THE BEST GIVEAWAY EVER!

I really, truly mean it!

You know how much I mean it?

It is even better than the Big S giveaways.

Yes, I said it.

And I mean it!

Mandi's giveaway is even more spectacular than the possibility of winning a glorious Silhouette machine!

(and I stalk those giveaways like nobody's business!)

OK, by now you are dying for me to get to my point and tell you what Mandi's giving away that is even more wondrous than the Holy Grail of Craft Blog Giveaways.

THIS -

(cue exciting announcement music of your choice here)

SEE! I DO NOT LIE! A-MAZ-ING!!!

Mandi is a rock-star blogger/designer. Her style takes vintage and makes it modern and fabulous without losing what made it great in the first place. 

Exactly what we are hoping to do with our ragged Old Lady of a house.

If Mandi were to come and work her magic she would would make my old vintage home the belle of the neighborhood!

So here is my plea -

Dear Mandi, 

My husband, in a moment that will most likely never be repeated, agreed to move our family from the calm, quiet, relatively modern (aka boring with absolutely no charm or architectural detail) suburban town home we now live in, to a ramshackle, nearly 120 year old house (full of amazing architectural details as well as scary bits that come with that kind of age) in an up-and-coming (but still kind of running to catch up) area in the middle of the city.

He asks me pretty much daily to tell him it will all be ok. 

And I do. I tell him it will all be ok. And it will. Someday. 

I know it will be a beautiful home. 

There is a lot of work to do though.

That is where you come in.

I love your style. It will fit perfectly in our home! You mix in just the right amount of modern to keep my husband happy. I really need you to come to lovely St.Louis,MO and work your magic reviving this grand old lady of a house.

Now I warn you, these are pre and during construction photos.

The place will be clean and livable in a few short weeks when we move in.

Attic room that will become a room for my oldest daughter and her college friends (and other guests) to stay in when they visit. These floors are BEGGING for some paint and stencils!

The gorgeous fireplace in our living room

Closeup of the gorgeous vintage tile

The furniture we have to work with. in the living room. Comfy but really needs some slipcovers and updating! Just doesn't fit the vintage vibe of the new place. The tv cabinet - ummm.. needs to go (I have plans for it in my sewing/craft room)

fireplace in our bedroom. Doesn't it scream for some acid etched mirrors? (ignore the old window unit the previous owners left there)

The stairs in our entry. (They look so much better today!) Those risers are begging me for paint and stencils. (They are relentless!) 

So, there you have it. Just a few of the spaces you could work with in our vintage home. 

Please, oh please, help us revive her! 

(and resuscitate my husband's faith in my crazy idea that she is worth the effort!)

Thanks for looking!

A forever loving your guts fan,
Milica

Doing the Happy Dance!

It's official!
Next year our daughter will be-

I am so excited!!!

Education in the City

This move has a few issues we had not thought about in detail, one of the most important being where our kids would go to school.
We currently live in the county and although there are choices in schools, where we live, the public schools are, for the most part, quite good.
We are moving to the city, and unfortunately the public schools are not even close to being up to par.
I found myself frantically searching for alternatives.

There does not seem to be a central place to find out about all the school options in the city. So I was calling everyone I knew for information and advice.
I was looking into private schools, religious schools, magnet schools, charter schools and even homeschooling!

The private schools were far too expensive. 

The religious schools were (mostly) less expensive, but would seriously add up when we had all 3 little ones attending.

Homeschooling is something I had thought about before. With Jeff's changing schedule it would be valuable to have control over the school schedule. But I wasn't convinced I was cut out to homeschool full-time.

There were a number of promising Magnet School options, but we had missed the application deadline. The best schools were full and had long wait lists.
We could be stuck on wait lists for months AND be looking to transfer the kids to one of the in-demand schools the next year. Not the ideal choice.
The up side was Lilia could attend a full-time preschool for free.

I looked into a couple of Charter Schools.
The first one we looked into one had a great reputation. It even shared space with a fee-based preschool that both of my younger children could attend. But we didn't feel it was a great fit.

The second one is where my cousin and her husband send their son. It is a language immersion program. This means that children learn all their coursework in a second language. Currently there is a Spanish language program and a French language program. We decided to look into the French program.
We went on Tuesday for the required tour.  We met the founder of the school. She explained the philosophy behind the school and the benefits of the immersion program. After she spoke, we were given a tour of the French side of the school by the headmaster of that program.
We left knowing we had found the perfect school.
Even my cynical husband was impressed!
There were only a limited number of spaces available for first grade in the French school.
I scrambled to get the paperwork together and I returned that afternoon with her enrollment materials. The woman at the desk said to expect that she would be accepted and letters would go out by the end of the week!

I will officially do the Happy Dance when I get that letter!

The only down-side, there is no preschool.
We are looking at sending Momo to one of the magnet schools for preschool and then she would attend the French School when she begins kindergarten.

Keeping my fingers crossed until we get that letter!

One thing down!

I'm linking up to the Company Girl Coffee!

"A Good Home" Episode 1

Welcome to the Premiere of

My brothers, are in charge of getting this house renovated for our move-in.

Tony

Nick

They are incredibly talented and creative people.
They both have an amazing sense of style and a great eye.
They would definitely be considered "hip" and "cool".
Top that off with the fact that they are super handy and can do almost anything around a house and they are pretty frikkin' amazing. (Sorry ladies, they are both taken!)

They currently own the house jointly and had been planning to renovate it to sell. Then their plans changed.

We were leasing a townhome we weren't in love with.
I was in love with the old house next door to my brother's.

We are a close family and his kids are the same ages as my own. It seemed like it was meant to be.
So we agreed to move in and if everything works out, buy the house.
It seemed like a simple plan.

Our priority is to get a functional kitchen and a working bathroom installed and clean the place on a nothing budget and a 6 week deadline. It seemed reasonable if everything went smoothly.

They have not always gone smoothly.

We are finding that with 4 "designers" things can get sticky. We each have our own ideas and they don't always easily mesh.

My childhood home was an eclectic mix of antiques and vintage finds with the occasional new item mixed in.
We used (and they still use) a huge mill wheel topped with plexiglass as a coffee table. The featured piece in their home is an enormous vintage microscope cabinet that is filled with an ever changing assortment of wonders.
Living in that environment, I grew up cultivating an eye for interesting old things and we all learned to value the character and warmth they bring to a home.

My husband's experience was pretty much the opposite.
The house he grew up in was always lovely and coordinated.

His mother is a wonderful decorator. Her current home is so lovely,  I can honestly say it took my breath away with it's traditional/modern elegance.
My husband developed a far different style-sense from my own. He likes brand spankin' new. He likes things that were made to perfectly coordinate with each other.

Our move into this old home is giving him panic attacks, causing him to break out in hives and question his sanity in saying ok to this harebrained scheme of mine.



(I tell you all of this in order to put this following tale in context )



We headed over to the house to do some work.
Nick had told me earlier that Tony had gone out the night before to pick up some antique white cabinets for the kitchen. He had gotten them for a steal from a guy putting in a new kitchen.
I was really excited to see them. I had hoped for a white kitchen.

After he and Jeff worked for a bit and I watched the little ones next door. Nick called me over and showed me these-

Behold - Our kitchen cabinets.

I was not expecting this.
I thought they had gotten regular kitchen cabinets that were painted the color "antique white".

I did not think "antique white" referred to the actual age of the paint.

Never-the-less, my first reaction was, "Those are SO COOL!!"

My husband was another story all together
He was like a deer in the headlights - frozen in horror.
He had thought they were part of what he was supposed to throw out.

I'm pretty sure at that moment, he wanted to throw up.

As I looked at them some more and thought about it,  I started to become worried about how functional they would be. I worried about the depth of the cabinets (they were huge!) Would I be able to reach things on the shelves I intended to put above them? Would I ever see the things that made it to the back of the cabinets again? If I crawled in to find those lost back-of-the-cabinet things would I ever be seen again?

The mom instinct kicked in.
Were the cabinets safe to use in a house with small children? Was there lead paint involved? Were the nickel tops safe for food prep? These were important questions that were bothering me enough to eclipse the cool-factor the cabinets had the potential to possess.

I was also afraid it might be the last straw for my husband.
That he would throw in the towel before we even started.
He was in full-blown panic crisis mode.

I was starting to panic also.
Jeff was going out of his comfort zone agreeing to this move. An unconventional kitchen might just send him over the edge.

I was afraid to say anything to my brothers, they were justifiably proud of their find and we were on a super-tight budget and time line.
They were working so hard and I didn't want to seem ungrateful, but I needed my husband to feel good about the house too.

Phone calls were made.
Opinions were gathered.
People took sides.
The stress got to everyone

I dreamed about the lovely bits of our soon-to-be home

My husband had nightmares about the not-so-lovely bits

In the end, my brothers have promised the kitchen will be amazing. (I will have to share with you some of the amazing reno work they have done in their own homes. It is stunning! So I know I can trust them.)
Everything will be safe for the kids and functional, and if it doesn't work for us, we will fix it.

Together.

Today I went back to take pictures see the progress (which at this point mostly involves things such as replacing lead water pipes and putting in subfloors, tile and wallboard not really photo ops)
Here is a peek at the kitchen floor- (Still needs final mopping)

And Nick working on the bathroom-

Nick walked me through the placement of things in the kitchen and I was feeling much better.

Our first reno-drama is behind us