House Remodel Edition 8: 180 days

When we signed the construction agreement at the beginning of our project, there was a line in the contract that stated, "The Contractor shall substantially complete the Work, no later than 180 calendar days from the date of commencement." Well believe it or not, today marks 180 days (six months! half a year!) since we started breaking ground, and believe it or not, the work is almost complete. When you add in the year and a half of previous planning, figuring, money crunching, stressing out, plus the nearly three years of sleeping in the basement, we've really anticipated this moment of "substantial completion" for a while. I know, this probably seems like a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of life, but going through it has felt loooooong. For the last month, this is the message that has been on our chalkboard. 

So much has happened since the last blog post, and we're close to the end that it's hard to know where to begin this update. We had to move out of the house again (twice!) during the last month because of hardwood floor finishing. One time we camped out in our neighbors' basement directly across the street, and once again at our friends' Big House for two nights. And speaking of friends I've meant to acknowledge all our good friends & family who have had us over for playdates or meals when the kids and I needed to be out of the house during construction. Having such a welcoming circle of neighbors and friends is what reassures us that going through this remodel has been worth it. We love our community!

Here are some moments from when we stayed at our neighbors' house. 

As of this past week, we moved into the new interior spaces. We now have an actual master bedroom and bathroom upstairs and a dining room downstairs, and they are just as we had hoped them to be. Our house has better natural light, the flow is more comfortable, and we finally have more storage! There is still a punch list of items to be finished, but most of them are details or are exterior projects like the deck, so not very invasive. Here are a random set of photos from the past few weeks. Obviously, there still are things needed in the rooms, like some window coverings and art on the walls, but that will come. At least we are no longer sleeping in the basement, and that is huge in my world. :-)

 Our table looks so small in the room now! 

Leo cozying up in OUR bedroom :-) 

Here are many more construction photos:

Remodel Month 6
Remodel Month 5
Remodel Month 4
Remodel Month 3
Remodel Month 2
Remodel Month 1

Coincidentally, in addition to today marking 180 project days, today is also my late father's birthday. He would have turned 74. I miss him all the time and wish he could be here to share a meal or nice glass of wine with us in our new space, as I imagine he would have thoroughly approved of our house improvements. Dad's retirement dream had always been to build a log cabin home up in the mountains of upstate NY. I'm sorry he never got to realize that dream, but Dad always lived life very fully and without regrets, and really set an example of what's really important in life. I strive to remember that throughout all of the ups and downs, or when I get too focused on a particular "perfect" paint color. Happy Birthday Len - we toast to you today!