By Amie Riggs
As someone who has helped hundreds of people design the homes of their dreams, you would think when it comes time to remodeling my own home it would be a cake walk, right? Well… not so much. I have found that it is much easier helping others in the planning, design and remodeling phases than it is assisting myself. HA! I recently began a major home renovation project myself. While the process has been a very rewarding one, I have learned several valuable lessons along the way.
I thought it would be fun to share this entire experience with all of you in a series of informative and sometimes comical blog entries. First up: the day we took possession of our new home. Let the fun begin!
Day 1
We took possession on Friday (11/16/12) and let the kids demo a wall in the dining room, followed by a pizza picnic on the floor. Saturday we decided to take a breather. After all the bank nonsense and the complications with the closing we just needed a little rest and to spend the day with the kids.
Today is Sunday. My sister took my daughter for a couple of hours and my son is at my brother’s playing with his cousins. We arrived here about 10:30 with a plan to start washing down the walls and woodwork on the second floor. After rearranging the stuff we had previously unloaded in the garage I found a bucket and filled it with soilex and water and headed upstairs. I turned the corner to the master bedroom and realized I would need to first pull down all the old shelving and rods in the closets and then pull down all the curtains, sheers, blinds and hardware.
New plan: get a ladder and toolbox. I feel sorry for the bucket of soilex that is probably not going to get used today.
Day 2
So, I’m off to buy a new screw gun today. You would think because I own a company that has many screw guns that I would have my own screw gun or at least be able to get my hands on one. Well, you thought wrong. I have a 4 year old Black & Decker power screw driver that has no original tips left because my son lost all of them (Phillips and flat head tips). I only have a Phillips head, that I rigged, and in order to remove the remaining window treatment hardware I had to use a regular old fashioned flat head screwdriver. My problem is that when I get focused on one task I want to complete it before I move on. So I trudged forward using a manual screwdriver instead of waiting until I got a screw gun and I bet I lost 2-3 hours. I told you there were a lot of window treatments!
As you can see, fun times, right? LOL! Stay tuned for part 2. This is where you will see why I am the greatest wife of all time.
