Terrazzo Revival

Wednesday was terrazzo day. At 9:00 am I arrived to the house and there was already a crew of 5 men inside working like slaves on the floors. I asked my guy how many days he thought he'd need to get the job done and he pointed to all the men buzzing around and said "don't worry. We'll get it done today." The whole job? One day?? If you say so!


Sure enough, I was at the house early this morning and the floors are shiny and as good as new! Some of the floor stains are still visible and it's definitely not 100%, but it's a GROSS improvement over what it used to look like!

Here are some shots while the men were working:

And the finished product! What do you think??

DINING ROOM

BOYS BEDROOM BEFORE

BOYS BEDROOM AFTER

MASTER BEDROOM BEFORE

MASTER BEDROOM AFTER

LIVING ROOM BEFORE

LIVING ROOM AFTER

LIVING ROOM AFTER

Demolition Day

Today was a big day on 50th Street...

I met my handyman Angel and his father over at the house at 9:00 this morning to get things started. Knowing that the floor men are starting tomorrow, we had to prep everything so they would be ready to roll when they arrived tomorrow. So that meant ripping out the old kitchen cabinets, tearing the wall back between the kitchen & dining room, and tearing out the bathroom vanity in the kids' bathroom. A lot of demolition for one measly day's work!

I also knew that I wanted to order my Ikea kitchen today, so I had to be sure we could have our cabinets go all the way to the ceiling as planned. So early this morning, Angel's dad hammered a hole into the wall to be sure there was nothing back there (see photo above). They gave me the green light - there's nothing back there - so in addition to all the demolition, the IKEA ORDER HAS BEEN PLACED! My new kitchen will be installed on November 28th!!!

Today was also the day that the water was being turned back on. The water company said they'd be there sometime in the morning, but didn't specify when...

I came back at lunchtime to talk a few things over with Angel and check out the progress.  It was pretty unbelievable! Bye Bye Cabinets!

However, the wall separating the kitchen & dining room was still up at noon. I knew it was coming down today, so I took one last picture. Bye Bye Wall...

By lunchtime the bathroom vanity had been pulled out too, but I forgot to take a picture in there. I'll try to get one when I'm over there tomorrow.

Angel wasn't there when I pulled in at lunchtime so I figured he was out to lunch. I walked around, took these pics and checked things out. I realized there was water on some of the floors but thought nothing of it. As I was leaving, Angel pulled up with a big bag from Home Depot. Apparently, he wasn't on a lunch break - he was out on a shopping spree! While he and his dad were ripping out the cabinets in the kitchen, the water man stopped by and turned the water on in the house without telling anyone. Sinks had already been unplugged and thrown in the garage, so you can imagine the surprise they had when water started spewing out of the walls all over the place! And because the kitchen is so old, there wasn't a water turn-off valve in the kitchen or in the bathroom. So they raced around to get the water shut back off outside and clean up the mess inside. Needless to say, they installed water valves everywhere this afternoon and we are back in action...

I stopped by the house tonight to see the finished product. WOW - WHAT A DIFFERENCE IT MAKES WITHOUT THE DINING ROOM WALL!!! Our house is going to be so open and cool! And no...we aren't keeping that lovely white refrigerator...they just haven't removed it yet! We're getting a pretty new stainless steel fridge to go in that same spot...

(above) View of the kitchen looking in from the dining room. The door at the back on the left leads to the garage. The door at the back to its right is our pantry (which I'm MOST excited about!).

(above) View from the dining room looking into the kitchen. Random wires are hanging out of the ceiling in the middle of the picture. That looks a little frightening!

 (above) View from the kitchen looking out to the dining room. Playroom is the doorway beyond the dining room. The sliding doors on the left take you out to the screened in patio.

(above) View from the dining room looking in to the kitchen.

 (above) The cabinet carcasses are currently being stored in the garage. A huge garbage bin is being delivered tomorrow so we can get rid of this junk...

I can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store!!!



And We're Off!

50th Street has a busy week ahead. Here's a brief rundown of the happenings:

Monday: the tent is coming down! The guys who are taking it down are going up in the attic to rid the house of any rats that might have died up there during the tenting process. Lovely. Better them than me!

Tuesday: Angel, my amazing handyman, starts Tuesday. First on his list is ripping out the kitchen, tearing down the wall between the kitchen & dining room and tearing out the vanity in the kids' bathroom. That way we will be ready for Wednesday...

Wednesday: floor guy starts! We are buffing and refinishing the existing terrazzo. He says he needs a few days. Hopefully he will be done by Friday.

In the works: septic people will let me know when they can start. Hopefully this week or next.

It's going to be a busy week!! I cannot wait!

Under the Big Top...

...er, maybe the Big Tent. All that's under this big tent is a bunch of crying termites and bugs! Be gone, ye animals! And DON'T return!!

Termites (...and Ants...) be Gone!

Well, the tent is going up tomorrow. Things are starting to happen people! Coincidentally (and rather humorously) my dad has been having an ant problem in his car so he had a special favor of us. He wants to park his car in the garage while the tent is up so all the ants get killed.

As luck would have it, Gheorghe left today to go to Romania for 10 days (perfect timing, right?) so it all worked out. The Mercedes goes in the garage to be fumigated, dad has unused Mazda to drive for the next week!

The tent comes down on Monday and then the real work begins. Bring it on!

Ikea Love

Gheorghe and I decided at the beginning of this process that we wanted to redo our new kitchen with Ikea. We hired QWR, their recommended company, to come measure and help us plan the new kitchen, and then eventually do all of the installation. It has been an awesome experience, and we cannot believe how affordable it's going to be to do this new kitchen with them.

They sent us a 3D tool to help us envision what this new kitchen is going to look like. Here are the pictures so you can see how cool this is!

A few things to note:

- we are doing granite counters and we aren't buying them through Ikea so there aren't any counters in the photos here

- we are getting our sink and faucet somewhere else too so those are missing here as well

- the blank wall you see in one of these photos is going to be torn down and opened up to the dining room. Try to picture that when you're looking at these!

What do you think? I know one thing - I love Ikea! I can't wait to see the final product!!

It's Official!

Well, after all this waiting, our dream has FINALLY come true! We closed on the house today!!!

So now...the fun begins. I have already called the roofer, termite guy, tenting guy, shutter/gutter guy and my handyman. All are on board and starting in the next week. Tent goes up first, and then everything falls into place after him.

Now I'm in major planning mode with all the details. For example:

- what colors should I use in the living room?

- what new furniture will we need?

- where do I look for well priced (but not cheap quality) drapes, rugs, etc?

It's all brand new to me but I'm loving it! I can't wait to get started!!!!!