Phase Two – Lots of Balls in the Air
This month just sort of went *poof* – I’m not sure what happened. I think maybe it’s because we closed on the construction loan at the end of June and had a lengthy first meeting with our contractor on July 3rd. The rest of that long weekend and the following weeks have been full of some fun and also a lot of emotional non-project things. F turned 17 which was exciting, and we had a great time celebrating with her friends. We fell for a dog, we decided we couldn’t adopt a dog (yet), we were sad about the dog, we helped M’s parents adopt the dog – it’s a story with a happy ending, but we had a lot of really long, serious talks about it, and it sort of dominated the first half of the month. We’ve also been dealing with a really brutal diagnosis for the dearest of family friends, and every day this month I wake up and worry about checking in. We’ve mostly spent this month in a fog, particularly me. I usually don’t struggle a lot with focus, but I have too many balls in the air right now and so many of those balls are very, very heavy. I’m dropping a lot. And when they are heavy, they really hurt when they land.
I’ve got these ideas – lots of them – and I carry them around in little pockets and pouches on me at all times. Little seeds of ideas might come and go – I can be very discerning and decisive, which means I can test something out for a minute and then release it without dwelling. But when I land on something that I KNOW is right, I hold onto it and it takes up space in my body.
An example from a couple of weeks ago – I’ve been searching for a couple of very specific, hard to find, vintage items for the house. They are available new, and I can get them at a very generous trade rate – but… they are items that are really high quality and hold their value and I don’t mind finding a pre-loved version. Especially if I can repurpose some of those funds back into my construction project. The two Cherner dining room armchairs are one of those things I’ve been hanging onto. They are hard to find in pairs, they are frequently as expensive (or more expensive!) vintage as they are new, and even if they are slightly discounted, it’s not enough to warrant the effort of driving and negotiating and hoping the condition is good vs. just buying new. I have feelers out everywhere, and discovered there are four of these in pristine condition in Cincinnati. They will sell them in pairs, and they are essentially half off. So decently better than my 25% trade rate, plus no shipping – and most importantly, I have family nearby with the ability to pick them up and store them until I’m ready for them. That last part is really key.
But having all of these balls up in the air makes me nervous, and one way that I’m dealing with that stress is to reduce or eliminate some aspects of the stress. One thing I can do really well is to pull back on spending until we are a few draws into this loan and start to feel like we’re past the point of any surprises. Passing on this deal is part of this. But it felt like it was an opportunity that I should give some serious thought to. Are there bigger priorities at the moment for where our dollars go? Yes. I don’t need the chairs – and can’t even use the chairs immediately. But sometimes opportunities arise out of order – and finding little wins along the way is nice for morale. So it feels particularly crappy to let this go. I really wanted to empty one of those pockets, and have a little extra energy and motivation for the hard work ahead on the dining room floor.
Instead of daydreaming about having friends over for dinner (in those fabulous chairs), I’m trying to muster the energy each night to work through submittals and details and budget items on the carriage house while also worrying that we’re not being efficient enough on the work we need to do inside the house, stressing out about all of the things that need to happen during F’s senior year, dealing with the ridiculous heat this summer, acknowledging that I might never get to the pile of clothing that needs to be ironed, and wondering if this might be the year I cannot physically produce a holiday card.
Fine, the answer to that last one is that’s ridiculous. You know I’ll do it.
In the category of wins, the kitchen is fabulous and I delight in using it every single day. And we have made great progress on the trim out and painting in our new spaces. F’s been away this week at another summer camp, and so we’ve tried to maximize our evening time on the big shift in the house for the remaining floor removal and installation. We really, really need some better weather in August if I’m going to be carrying out all of this old hardwood and moving all of the items from the garage into the backyard. And E flies in for four days on August 1st, so both girls will be home which is just the way I like it.
Pictures from the main house progress, and I’ve already started on a really nice compilation of all of the materials and finishes in the carriage house, as well as inspiration photos of what we hope the finished apartment will look like. My plan for the August recap is a big focus on the design details for this second phase – I’ve shared some things along the way, but it will be nice to write up a big, juicy post on the whole thing while we wait for trusses and windows to arrive.
Pantry trim out is complete, and final painting of windows and door is almost complete. Cabinet components that needed adjustment and repaint were returned and installed. Electrician came back out to complete the final backordered dimmer installation but the part was wrong, so we are still waiting on that. Cabinet maker came by for final field verifications and hood surround and upper wall shelf will be complete in August. He’s also making the custom toe kick for the supply air grille, and a finish panel to span the toekick area where the dishwasher is installed. This will be removeable for servicing, but will look nicer than a black toekick at the dishwasher.
The second floor of the addition is completely trimmed out as well, and M prepped and caulked for days on end, and then primed with a stain blocking primer.
I’m slowly painting the windows and regretting our choice to have the interior of the windows only primed. Because we have almost an entire gallon of very expensive premium paint left over from the pantry (Farrow & Ball ‘Peignoir’), and because we love it so much, we decided to try it out on the paneling in the second floor addition. One coat in and we love it. I described it on Instagram as a color that changes throughout the day and looks like the rose glow color that the house is bathed in during the early evening hours when the sun reflects off all of the surrounding brick buildings. It’s so pretty.
The front garden is overflowing with flowers and weeds and I can’t keep up. The house is a mess and we are trying to keep up. I feel very unprepared for the start of the school year, but I’m hoping that I’ll feel better about it in a month. I’m still cutting and sharing flowers on a daily basis, and I will always count that as a win. I think we’ve got this. I hope we’ve got this.
