"Oh this will be easy..."



I do it everyday for my clients!  Famous last words….ha!  27+ design revisions later I am ready to pull my hair out, pack my bags and head to Florida for a month and hope that is enough to make my head stop hurting!  My partner, Wayne, and I have been planning this kitchen for 10 years!  And finally the timing is right for us to take on this project.  



Details, details, details!  Designing for you and your family is rough.  I am my toughest client yet.  My expectations are high, and I believe my partner’s expectations are even higher since he refers to me as the expert under our roof.  Compromising design and having to forfeit design concepts are extremely disheartening when your work is so personal.  I am disappointed to go back to my partner and say this will not work for this design; and then head back to the drawing board.

Months and months go by since I am taking care of other clients first.  The design revisions continue to multiply and the frustration is deepening.  I want it to be perfect for both of us, and the pressure I am putting on myself is staggering.  I love going to work everyday because I love my job; but being your client is not fun! 



Not only have we decided to remodel the kitchen, but have also decided this would be a good time to invest in central air-conditioning considering the last few summers.  This is another added item to stress over…can we afford to do all of this?  And then another idea…”As long as we are doing this…what about adding this to the project?”  Which translates into; since the ceiling will be open let’s talk about re-wiring the whole house.  Our current wiring is old cloth covered knob and tube which only a few agencies will offer homeowners insurance.  The piece of mind from knowing the electrical has been updated outweighs the savings. 

As long as we are re-wiring the house; let’s check into a home theater and add speakers in the ceiling, subwoofers and surround sound for a new flat screen TV and music system.  

http://www.pureavs.com/

It doesn’t stop there…

As long as we are getting the air conditioning; let’s see if they can:

1.      put new liners into our crumbling chimney for the fireplace and furnance

2.      service the furnace for the winter usage

3.      investigate the idea of a tankless water heater

As long as we are getting new windows in the kitchens; let’s see if we can:

1. replace the back door with a French door
2. replace the side door
3. replace the windows in the attic
4. check into replacement windows for the entire house

Oh my, the “as long as we are” list keeps growing and the new additions are starting to add up quickly.

Yes…another e-mail to the bank’s mortgage department.  I need to change the amount for refinance again! 

My focus has now shifted from design to banking.  Fortunately our timing is good with the interest rates.  How long will it take to refinance?  And will we have a problem with the appraisal since we had started some demolition?

Time is now spent prioritizing what is needed versus what is wanted on our list.  I make my phone calls and have everyone put together proposals for our wish list.

Reality check!

Okay the first major change…

We had considered turning the garage into a laundry/mud room with a full bath.  How nice it would be to have the laundry on the main floor and have an area the dogs could reside in when we are out of the house.   Having another full bath with a steam shower would be a nice luxury item to have too!  After mulling it over and investigating labor prices we realized this was a high ticket item we could do without.  If we were planning to retire here it would be a different story.  Back to the drawing board! 

However, the concept of a second shower did prove to be a valuable asset for us as well as resale value.  So I revised the kitchen design to keep our current powder room, but made it larger to accommodate a shower.  Leaving the garage alone at this time leaves open the possibility of turning it into another bedroom should we need to make room.

The labor and materials for replacing all the windows of the house was too much for us at this time.  But the addition of the French door to our veranda, aka 12 x 8 screened porch, was too beautiful a concept to compromise.  Brad at Hasco (http://www.hascosupply.com/) found us affordable vinyl windows for the attic that looked great with the Weathershield windows we already have in the remodeled areas of the house.

The windows were one of my biggest challenges in this design.  For the last 10 years Wayne has said…”When we do this kitchen, I want a new window over the sink.”  We currently have two double hung windows over our sink, but there is an 8” divider between the windows.  So when you are standing there doing dishes, you are looking right into this big divider, instead of looking out the window at our beautiful yard.

Wouldn’t a bay window be great here?  Well we tried every option possible and the smallest of the bay windows was still too large causing us to give up too much valuable wall cabinetry.  The single double hung was too large and did not look right to us.  And then the idea of three smaller windows worked for the design, but now it was about less glass and more window detail.  Three to four weeks went by with many “discussions” at home and many design revisions, until I finally compromised.  We will be doing two double hung windows with a much smaller divider between.  The double sink has the larger bowl on the left which puts Wayne left of a much smaller divider.  Mind you that the “discussions” were one-sided and frustrating because I could not give Wayne the one thing he always wanted from the new kitchen. It’s easier dealing with clients than spouses!  I exhausted myself as well as my resources, but eventually found a suitable compromise to keep the wall cabinetry we needed and the view we wanted to see everyday.  And most important…he said he would still do the dishes!

The liners for the chimney need to be done, but I need to wait until all the quotes are back.  And the tankless water heater can be done at any time.  I am just hoping to get better pricing having it all done at once.

Just as the window saga was coming to a close, and our closing was completed on our refinance, we get the phone call that puts a smile on most clients.  It was the General Contractor saying he would be done earlier on his current project and wanted to start demolition earlier!

Finally the fun has returned!  The refinance is complete.  The design is complete, but constantly being tweaked and detailed.  The windows and doors have been selected and agreed upon and now ordered since the refinance is complete.  Now our direction is focused on what we need to do to prepare for demo!  We did our bathroom a few years ago…this will be easy! Ha!

I spoke with the A/C contractor and he informs me that the attic will need to be emptied.  The GC says to allow plenty of room in the garage for storage of our existing appliances, and please allow ample room in the basement area under the kitchen area for running wires, gas lines and plumbing. Oh and remember, the ceiling is coming down in the living room, so the entire first floor has to be emptied!  Ok, so Wayne and I look at each other and say where we are going to put all this “stuff?” And Wayne wants to know how much of my old junk I will throw away!  I tend to hold onto things over the years!

We have travel plans for the weekend so I take a day off from work to clear and organize the garage.  The garage is our garden shed, recycle area and storage shed all in one.  I did a good job of consolidating and clearing out! 

The next week Wayne takes off three days to help with the attic.  Unfortunately we both spend most of the first day working from home.  The second day our focus got redirected into product selection.  Some of the showrooms we wanted to visit for plumbing, tile and accessories are only open during the weekdays.  No prob, we have all day tomorrow.  By the time I got done with my morning gym class and taking care of work business it was after 1:00pm.  The next day was a work day at Plumberry for both of us and we had plans for a Halloween party that evening.  Sunday we were moving a little slow from having such a good time at the Halloween party, but finally started to make a dent in the attic while the front door bell was ringing and little witches and goblins were amongst us!  Thought this would be a good day to install the Plumberry lawn sign out front!  Hey free advertising…gotta take advantage of every opportunity.  Only one more week left before Isaak, our GC, starts!

 

The town will not allow a storage unit on the property for an extended period.  And the time to un-pack everything and pack it for a traveling storage unit will be too time consuming.  When I un-pack and move boxes it takes forever!  Always reminiscing and/or telling a story about the item in hand.  It drives Wayne nuts!  So moving closed boxes speeds up my day.  So we decide to enclose the screened porch with heavy duty plastic and turn it into our own storage unit.  We also used the garage and the guest room too.

 

Our week is filled with meetings and evening events almost every night.  Finally knowing this is our last weekend to get everything done has put me into a slight bit of panic hoping we can get it all done.  Saturday and Sunday were two very long days that required ice packs and heating pads later on!  The upstairs still needs a little reorganizing, but the necessary rooms are empty and ready for demolition.  Wayne is busy cleaning the rooms before demo and the dogs, Fred & Roxie, think this is their new playground!