Renovating With Supply Chain Issues - Back To Normal - Sort Of !!

Okay, I have really been MIA! I don’t really have a great excuse for this, but in my defense - I have been up to my eyeballs with decisions concerning the renovation, dealing with dust everywhere, dust kittens where they really should not be and boxes! Oh, let’s not forget the boxes - boxes in the garage (still), boxes in the back Living Room & Upstairs Bedrooms, Pictures waiting to be hung all over the upstairs landings and all over the downstairs - boxes, boxes, boxes. . . Now that 95% of the renovation of this home is completed - I still have some boxes (and un-hung pictures) waiting for attention. This has been a really long process and in total, it took about a year to achieve. We are now waiting for the glass wall (probably in early 2023) for the Master shower. Until it is installed, we can shower in one of the other bathrooms- not exactly convenient, but doable.

Upper cabinets create a lovely glow at night and highlight my Majolica collection.

This is where the old brick wall in the former version of the kitchen was knocked out.  Knocking out this wall allowed me to add the ovens and turn the island in the  other direction (+ lots of extra storage).

Furniture is a little crowded right now and the bar stools for the kitchen have not yet been ordered.  Some of this furniture may end up in the large Formal Living Room.

Knocking out this brick wall has allowed so much more sunshine to come into the Kitchen/Breakfast/Family Room area - if you get up early enough to enjoy!

So much of my vision for this home is finished and everything turned out just as I imagined. The kitchen has been refinished and the heavy brick wall with appliances has been removed. Doing this really made the kitchen feel much lighter and brighter and less claustrophobic! When the upper cabinet lights are on at night, it sends such a lovely warm glow + my collection of Majolica is easily visible. There is still much to do in the Kitchen/Family/Breakfast Room even though we have moved in the furniture and added some rugs. Drapes come to mind as the next project for this space and it is much needed when the sun comes blasting through that sliding door! This space had a wall of brick removed and a new load bearing header placed to allow the wall to be opened. New floors (wood herringbone), new marble island (turned the other direction) & counters, some new cabinetry (the old was damaged during the 2020 freeze), new appliances (all Bosch which we waited for almost a year . . but well worth it), pantry reworked & some new lighting. Additionally, a new sink and a “car eating” garbage disposal (I think hubby was just tired of Holiday emergencies with the smaller disposals) were added!

Back patio slate floors had to be removed because of standing water.  However, I really like the more neutral flooring we chose.  New heater finally arrived and I am waiting for Hubby to feel better and assemble.

We also changed out the flooring in one of the bars to wood herringbone, added wood herringbone to the threshold of the elevator and inside the elevator and changed the hardware all over the house including the front door (on a wrought iron/glass door). In the middle of this renovation, the flagstone on the outside porch began to lift from standing rain water so that also needed changing! Oh the joys of an older home - sooo many little things!

A leaded glass window still remains to be added over the soaking tub.  This entire area will become a "Wet Room".

Cabinetry is very similar to our Master bath In Scottsdale.  Just beyond Hubby's vanity will be a glass wall that begins the "Wet Room"

I believe I mentioned, the Master Bath is still waiting for the glass wall that will partially change the bath room into a “Wet Room” but these photos should give you a good idea of what has been done thus far. Thank goodness we had previously used something similar in our Scottsdale Master Bath, so this one was not a huge stretch for us. We changed the Calcutta Marble flooring to a Turkish marble that is mostly white with very small veins of gray. I love the effect, but now I am hoping I can keep this flooring pristine. The Master closet was completely torn out to allow for the glass cabinets to be installed. Still need to find a smallish bench/ottoman to go in the center of the closet area. I still have not had time to organize the clothing by color or season, nor has all of the detritus been placed in the upper cabinets. Our AC/Heating serviceman was just so delighted to find out hubby had placed wood flooring & a pull down attic stair allowing him to reach the AC units for servicing without pretending he was on a high wire and feeling for the joists! It is sometimes just the little things in a home that make life much easier!

House painted with Benjamin Moore White Dove Romabio Masonry Paint

We also had the outside of the house painted Benjamin Moore White Dove with a 20 year warranty Romabio Masonry Paint. Balcony floors were repainted a lighter color and all of the wrought iron on the property (3 balconies, front door & driveway gate) was freshened up with new shiny black paint.

There is so much more that has been done to this home to make it more livable for us as we age in place but this posting is getting very long right now. I’ll address those issues later.

So - why have I been MIA for over a year? It has been this nutty renovation. What should have taken much less time simply added months to our timeline Oh happy day with these supply timeline issues! However, it has been worth the wait on many of the issues and I am so happy that this is almost over for us!

Anastasia Necklace - Watermelon Tourmaline Slices & Rhodolite Garnet https://karensugarmandesigns.com/collections/single-strand-necklaces/products/anastasia-necklace

Peony Earrings - Oval Pink Quartz - https://karensugarmandesigns.com/collections/earrings/products/pink-oval-quartz-wire-latched-bridesmaid-earrings-peony-earrings

Seona Bracelet - Georgian Turquoise & Garnet Clasp - https://karensugarmandesigns.com/collections/bracelets/products/triple-strand-turquoise-pyrite-bracelet-georgian-turquoise-garnet-clasp-seona-bracelet

I have made a quick pivot now that we are facing the Holiday Season and decided to have our regular Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale so you can benefit by saving 25% on your favorites. Time is now my enemy so I will give each person that views this blog a little gift.  I ran out of time to get this ready to be published and the sale period will end shortly.  If you are reading this blog post, simply send me a message with your order for new jewelry and I will be happy to make a 25% adjustment to the price thru Wednesday, Nov 30th at Midnight CST.  Although I have not really had time to keep up with making new jewelry - I will begin making some new items shortly.

In truth, I just want things to settle down and get back to some type of normal. Is that too much to ask? Oh yeah, I still have some boxes and dust to address!