The Stuff Behind the Staging

Being in the midst of remodeling feels a little like being a character in a performance. It feels like I'm playing a role, ...or pretending.

Pretending to be clean. Pretending to be organized. Pretending to strive for a more simple, aligned life and inviting others to share that with me. The common spaces of the house we share, and their own suites and storage areas have open spaces on the shelves, have little organized boxes for utensils, has all the herbal teas together on one shelf, and the Assam teas on another.

But my bedroom (where they cannot see) is like the prop shop of a theatre with its working disarray. Thermometers and band-aids, the boric acid eye wash, arm and knee supports, and ace bandages spill over their containers into piles of design magazines I still have to sort through. Extra vacuum bags are thrown on shelves that are already full of emergency earthquake food storage, with that box you grab as your most important papers.

My new studio has all the furniture in its right place, and my art and reference books are in the shelves, but placed haphazardly, so I cannot find what I need. For much of my storage, I have not yet made the decisions about what goes where, so they sit in bags on the floor in front of where they might live.

But this is what's in the place where the new shelves will go that will hold all that disorder:

 This is my new master bathroom: the deep soaking tub, my vanity and one wardrobe, the linen cabinet, and the flooring....plus some boxes of books that might actually get to stay here.

Here's my tub sliding doors, and the tile and grout for the tub and backsplash, the shower head, the vanity sink, another wardrobe, still to be assembled.... 

.....you get the picture.

It's hard to live with and in. But then I remember that during phase1, I lived with this for weeks to give the crew the space to work efficiently,...





so I can have this now:

I will look at this picture of my new wonderful studio and seating area, and remember that the fuss and clutter are so worth it. And when I finally get to use my deep soaker tub and master bath, that new wonderful transparent wall will have the space to hold my backless bookshelves that let light tease through.And when THAT happens, I will sort through my overspill...and simplify, at least to some degree, down to what I really want to keep. It will be real movement towards what's important to me.

In Search of an Honest, Affordable Man

OMG, what a pain! 

Searching for a reliable general contractor. I’m jumping into recommendations at trusted local forums, ones I’ve relied upon for years, and they’ve changed. The best ones have been found out, and now the GC’s or workmen are writing their own recommendations as clients. Sometimes I can tell, but sometimes I can’t. I hate that I can’t trust them anymore. Damn. Damn. Damn. 

And there are dozens to sort through. I’m tired just looking. They’re hungry and in need. But I’ve had bad, graceless work done and have leaks to this day, so I need to get a good person. I’m turning to people I know, but most don’t pinch a penny quite the way I am attempting to here. So when I say,  “Can you adjust to the finish level consistent with my house?”,you can hear them thinking, 'Grand Old Victorian.'

Not quite!

In Search of an Honest Man

Okay so we’ve determined a miniscule budget on purpose - $25,000 -  to be able to add three housemate to our household!

I’m determined to save the rest for my business' growth. I also need to see if I can really squeeze the dime as we all must these days. DIY time wherever possible. We will do all the priming, painting and finishes and reuse everything we can. Good for the planet, good for the pocketbook.

But still we must move a laundry, split the great room into new work studios  for TJ and for me, add a new bath and master closet, renew an upstairs tub, add cabinetry and another fridge to kitchen for the housemates, relocate hallway and pantry storage, add a new deck railing and roof, and spruce up the outside. Oh, and also cordon off a section of the backyard with a low fence for our pooch Dash, so a housemate doesn't inadvertently let him out of our gate when they park their bikes. Oh, a lockable bike rack too.


( add planned AFTER house sketch)

I no longer have the shoulders or knees for rehab myself though I tell you, I yearn to do a little tear-out. Oh the pleasure of a wrecking bar. You can’t imagine how just plain good it feels to yank a wall down! Plus I no longer have my hubby General Contractor/builder to coordinate the order of workmen. Or a sense of what this all would cost here in the Bay Area. I need a GC. 

Sigh.