We are running a self-imposed race, trying to see how quickly we can complete a \u00a0 house renovation. \u00a0 Things are flying by so fast that I can hardly remember them all at the end of the day. \u00a0 Just today we scheduled the gas plumbing work (to start next Tuesday), had two meetings with “Handy Randy” about the punchlist and windows, bought a washer-dryer combination, selected shades for \u00a0 five windows, finalized our paint colors and phoned them into the painter, and shopped for a half dozen other things. \u00a0 That was on top of a regular working day in which quite a few little dramas unfolded.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow will be even busier. \u00a0 The only way to get it all done and remain sane is to divide the work across the team, which is Eleanor and I. \u00a0 We’ve always had a clear delineation of responsibilities in our relationship, rather than both of us trying to do everything equally. \u00a0 That works for us, especially in situations like this where the task list is long and time is short. \u00a0 Eleanor was out in the car all day taking care of a dozen things, while I stayed back at the house and fielded phone calls and contractors.<\/p>\n
Strangely enough, I feel very little stress, other than concern about staying close to budget. \u00a0 We just get up and do what we need to do each day, and we sleep well at night. \u00a0 I think the reason this process is going so well is that we have less fear than we have had in previous renovations. \u00a0 That’s the advantage of experience — fewer unknowns to keep you up at night.<\/p>\n
The window estimates are in, and they will put us a solid $2,000 over budget all by themselves. \u00a0 We also realized a couple of days ago that the master bedroom would be virtually unusable without some sort of blinds on the windows (we have a massive 8 ft x 4 ft window looking out to the mountains — and the neighbors), so we added the cost of shades into the budget.<\/p>\n
With overruns like that, we’ll have to cut a few corners in this phase. \u00a0 We’d like to replace all three of the cruddy old sliding glass doors but realistically we’ll have to keep them in place until later. We are re-using the 1971-era GE electric oven, which is identical to the one my mother had in the house I grew up in. \u00a0 It will work fine until we are ready to buy a newer one. We’re also going to use the Airstream’s microwave until we return to the house in the fall.<\/p>\n
The budget is a very real thing for us. \u00a0 We have a spreadsheet that I built last May when we first bought the house, which itemizes every penny we are spending or planning to spend. \u00a0 Every little receipt gets entered into it. \u00a0 We’re not deluding ourselves about the cost of this work, which is good but also disheartening. \u00a0 Those little trips to Lowe’s and Home Depot for light fixtures, caulk, tools, bulbs, grout, and sealant? \u00a0 $875.75 so far. \u00a0 Appliances? \u00a0 $3,872 less rebates that will arrive later. \u00a0 \u00a0 Let’s not even talk about the cost of the kitchen cabinets, or the gas plumbing.<\/p>\n
By the standards of home design magazines and TV makeover programs, our budget is ridiculously small. \u00a0 We’re renovating an entire house on less than what some people spend on their bathrooms. \u00a0 But to us every penny feels a little foolish since we have lived so incredibly cheaply on the road for two years. \u00a0 What we spent on a refrigerator and cooktop would easily put us in the national parks of the west for a month. At times like this I am not sure if perspective is a good thing. \u00a0 It is hard to rationalize the value of the house in the light of our past two years, so I keep reminding myself that someday we’ll be happy we bought a home base. \u00a0 I will, right?<\/p>\n
Ironically, tomorrow we will receive a visit from Bruno and Leila, who have come all the way from France to tour the American southwest. \u00a0 Bruno is one of the very few Airstream owners in France and an admitted lover of all things American. \u00a0 We’ve never met before — although we’ve tried<\/a> — but we’ve corresponded for years via email. \u00a0 Bruno and Leila will be coming over in the midst of the painters taking down our ceilings, so it will be interesting to see their reaction. \u00a0 The house should be in a pretty awful state. \u00a0 Perhaps we’ll just give them a tour of the Airstream parked in the carport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We are running a self-imposed race, trying to see how quickly we can complete a \u00a0 house renovation. \u00a0 Things are flying by so fast that I can hardly remember them all at the end of the day. \u00a0 Just today we scheduled the gas plumbing work (to start next Tuesday), had two meetings with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tour.airstreamlife.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1064"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tour.airstreamlife.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tour.airstreamlife.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tour.airstreamlife.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tour.airstreamlife.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tour.airstreamlife.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1064\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tour.airstreamlife.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tour.airstreamlife.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tour.airstreamlife.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}