Home Renovation Process
Here's a tiny example of our Home Renovation Process. (Sounds pretty formal when I write it like that.) But, we have, weirdly, gotten a system going through the years.
Our process relies heavily on Discussion, and Vision Boards (I used to draw them. Now I use Pinterest, PicMonkey, or whatever random form of technology I can semi-master.). Add in a lot of Debate, Discussion, Trolling the internet, books, and stores, Trial, Error, Occasionally Getting Advice from People Who Actually Know About What They're Doing, and (this is super-important), Big Bucketsful of: Dumb Luck.
Being Childish, Drunk, and/or Foolish
I don't like to brag...but dumb luck figures very prominently in most everything we do. (Have you noticed how much I love this phrase 'I don't like to brag but...'? Is it just me...or does anything you say after that just sound hilarious?)
What's that saying? "God looks out for children, drunks, and fools." Through immaturity, regular happy hours, and a stubborn disdain for knowing what the hell we are doing...I think we're fully hedging our bets.
Just a Hallway...
This pass-through has gone from dirty and unfinished to kind of fabulous. It's a small example of how we do stuff.
It started like this...
Pros: What we saw: Amazing 'bones'... It's got a rubble wall, formerly part of a garden wall for the 16th century church next door. (Dang!). It's got a ton of built-in storage; floor to ceiling wardrobes with clothes rails and shelves and drawers galore.
Cons: -Everything was dusty. -The floors had almost no finish left on them and were back to bare clay tile. -The light fixture was an outdoor light and huge for the space...also it's wire ran from the light, several yards away to the electric source. -We needed access to the bathroom behind the wall to the right. It originally was only accessible from the bedroom at the end of the hallway, but we wanted to use that room primarily for a den/tv room...and the door took up a lot of precious wall space leaving no room for furniture.
Counting On The Experts For the Infrastructure
So...we asked our general contractor, Juan, if he could move the door. As always he shrugged and nodded, as if to say: 'Of course; it's nothing.' And he proceeded to show us just how do-able it was.
As always, he'd thought through everything, down to replacing tile where the wall was ripped out...eventually making it look just like everything around it. (Not everything around it as we first saw it...everything around it as we wanted it to be. You know...with a finished floor that you can actually clean.)
They stained and varnished the floors and they were beautiful!! It suddenly looked like it might actually be a real home someday!
But then a root was discovered to be the problem for the drain back-up into the atrium...a root that went from San Miguel to China and had to be manhandled out by about 5 guys working for hours on the task.
Eventually there were repairs...and more staining and varnishing, and once again, the floors looked uniform.
Our electrician/magician added a downlight that bathed the wall in a soft light...with a rheostat, to regulate it to perfection through any lighting situations.
For a while the area served as an on-site construction office for Michael to make calls, send emails, and monitor the constant hemorrhage of money for the project.
The Dueling Banjos of Home Renovation
So, this is where we come in.
We still didn't have any really idea of what we'd do here. At first we'd thrown some ideas back and forth, but, eventually it got to a point where the space sort of talked to us.
We still didn't have any really idea of what we'd do here. At first we'd thrown some ideas back and forth, but, eventually it got to a point where the space sort of talked to us.
In this case it talked to me. I got an idea for how it might be used/what it might look like. (Michael is just as likely to receive The Vision for something.) We've learned to trust in whoever gets The Idea first and just run with it.
In this case I'd just left the house in Mexico to go back to work. Just as I sat down on the plane I thought of a mirror that had been in an upstairs bathroom. Michael had said it might work there and I could suddenly 'see' it. I used PicCollage to quickly send an idea of a console table, with some cool mercury glass bowls we'd just acquired. (Thank you Paula Sue hon' for finding the first one, and Michael for adding to the collection.)
Just before we were taxiing to the runway (less than 15 minutes later) Michael sent his mocked-up version of 'The Vision'. He'd grabbed the mirror, the table, the bowls, and a couple of other items...and made it look almost exactly like my mocked-up version of it.
I couldn't believe how quickly he pulled this idea out of thin air and into reality.
I stared at this picture for a good portion of the trip. I was amazed at how closely he'd brought the awkward picture collage to life.
By my next rip down I'd found a console table on Costco Mexico's website.
We ordered it...and it was delivered, I kid you not, The Next Day.
We've been really pleased with the couple of orders we've placed with them. Everything has arrived...but that first delivery set the bar a little higher than maybe was realistic.
Michael assembled the table.
We played with various options of baskets and bowls for
the table and put an old rug that came with the house down.
the table and put an old rug that came with the house down.
Sweeeeet!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for dropping by my blog!
Please share your Daily Hits of Happy. After all... shared happiness is doubled.