It’s been a busy week for us. The extensive home renovation we’ve undertaken is about 80% done, but behind schedule. Still, I’m feeling good that we have more of it behind us than in front of us.
This entire renovation process has proven to be far more daunting than I would have ever imagined. The kitchen tile was installed a few weeks ago and the first phase of the Cambria countertops were installed late last week. The contractor failed to mention the old countertops needed to be removed prior to the Cambria install so we were rushing around at the last minute trying to pry them off of the old kitchen cabinets.
This countertop issue is a prime example of the cause of 99% of the delays and frustrations of this renovation—it boils down to poor communication.
As customers we’ve learned to ask lots of questions of the contractors and try to anticipate problems to proactively avoid them before they occur. Honestly, this aspect has been almost like a fulltime job for us to keep the contractors on track but thank God for Grok and ChatGPT. Sometimes individual contractors’ advice and opinions on certain things have been flat out incorrect and AI has saved our skins on countless occasions.
Next week the cabinet refacing will be done and the final phase (island counter and backsplash) of the Cambria installation should happen the first or second week of January. I think we’ll be happy with the end result but—was it worth it? The jury is still out on this.
Let It Snow
It happens every year. It’s as though a switch is flipped and I go from "I hate this blasted cold" and "I miss Summer" to "Hmm, this scenery is beautiful and the cold isn’t so bad." For me, coming to terms with the harshness of the Minnesota winter is like going through all the stages of grief and I'm apparently finding myself at the acceptance stage now.
After lots of walks in the subzero weather my body is beginning to adjust. Yesterday’s “heat wave”, which was 20 degrees, actually felt warm to me in comparison to the double digits below zero we’d had the many days before.
I’ve been hiking the wooded trail through the wetlands at least once a day, stopping to feed the squirrels along the way.
The squirrels have become accustomed to my whistle and pop out of their dreys and tree-holes when they hear me. I don’t know how wild animals can survive this harsh weather without better shelter. They certainly are more resilient than we are.
So, for now at least, let it snow. I'm almost certain I'll have a different opinion after the Holidays are over.
Other Things
Much to my dismay, Netflix has cancelled my very favorite comedy for their US market, effective December 29th. I simply couldn't imagine life without access to this series (it brings me that much joy) so when I heard the news I immediately bought an all-region DVD player and the entire Still Game boxset from the UK. Take that Netflix!
As you can see from the board above my nephew is crushing it on his 10,000 pull-up challenge for the month of December! By the time most of you read this he'll have met his goal.
This is all part of his training for his ultra-marathon in 2026. If you're interested in these kinds of fitness challenges I'd appreciate it if you follow his channel as he prepares for his 100 mile run. I have zero doubt he'll accomplish it.
It's not often that I give wine recommendations and I'll preface this by telling you I'm no expert (prior to meeting my wife I drank Francia boxed wine) but I know what I like.
This Rioja from Bodegas Olarra is absolutely phenomenal and ticks all the boxes for me. I happened to run across it at Costco for $8.99 a bottle but this wine would be an absolute steal at double the price. If you enjoy a glass of red wine I'd highly recommend you try to find it.
All for now. Thanks so much for reading.
Good afternoon, dear friend @ericvancewalton
I'm so sorry you've had all these setbacks with your home renovation. The good news is that you're already 80% finished; just the final stretch is coming.
It's great that AI has been such a big help in avoiding further problems.
It's wonderful to hear you've been walking in the snow and feeding the squirrels.
Enjoy a great glass of wine.
Have a wonderful afternoon.
Thanks Luis, from what I understand this is par for the course though. We were spoiled before because a good friend of ours did most of our renovation work but his businesses have grown so much that he doesn't have time for smaller jobs. It's nearly done! I hope you're doing well and have a wonderful day!
I'm glad you are getting close to having the renovation done. We have some stuff that we would like to have done in our house, but aside from the money aspect, we just don't feel like having our lives disrupted that much! I can feel your pain! We've had a couple nice snow storms already now, so I am getting to the point where I might be okay with warmer temps. We will see how I feel after it hits 40 on Thursday with rain and the snow probably goes away for the most part.
Thanks, Jay. If we'd have it to do all over again we would break the entire project into smaller phases and steer one into completion before the next one starts. We started everything at once and one contractor was dependent upon another getting done on time to stay on schedule and it all was just a catastrophe. Our original goal was to get everything done by Thanksgiving and now, realistically, it'll be mid-January. The warmer weather has been so nice here after that Artic blast we had. We got to -32 at one point with windchill.
Did you use a general contractor? I'm guessing it might cost more, but there might be benefits to someone overseeing every aspect of the job. I think we are still leaning towards moving rather than putting a lot of money into this house. Most of our snow is almost gone already except for the big drifts which is kind of sad with Christmas right around the corner.
We didn't. We have some contractors who have sub-contracted with others to do certain aspects like tile and carpet but they didn't manage the scheduling or crews at all. They just showed up when they felt like it. I've heard adding a GC can increase the costs by about 20%, which in certain cases might be worth it. Considering we work at home we've been able to deal with the scheduling issues but if we had to take time off work to be here when the crews were it would have been impossible. Honestly, in hindsight, we should have bought a home that we liked as-is versus a home that had "good bones" but needed work. The only thing we would have given up in our case is this great location. It's so unique in the area to be surrounded by all this nature and protected wetlands. I think a decade down the road we'll be happy we chose this place as development engulfs all the open land outside of the Twin Cities. Ours is melting too! It was 45 degrees yesterday and I was outside without a jacket it felt so warm!
I can believe that about the cost of having a general contractor, but as you said, it might have been worth it. I think getting a house with good bones is your better bet. I've heard too many horror stories about people buying new homes and the quality just being trash. It might be what they want now, but they are going to end up putting more into it down the road.
Omg contractors!!!! Or tradies, as we call them. You have to be on their back constantly. I thought they were experts and professional but they cut corners and leave messes and unless you spell it out for them precisely and remind them, they seem to just do what they want. Like, the sparkie (electrician) who, when asked to put two sockets and either end of a lounge wall, didn't even THINK to line them up evenly so each was same height. And it's worse if it's just me home - apparently women speak an unintelligible language??? My Dad used to practically hover over tradies and never accepted it if they didn't do EXACTLY as asked. Now we understand why.
I remember my bro in law having an argument with a tradie who swore blind he'd insulated a particular wall. Mat was on the phone to him saying 'mate, I'm right here looking inside the wall. There's nothing here'. Tradie got annoyed he was being called a liar.
Then the scaffolder last week putting the rail up round the house to get the roof done, playing music so fucking loud the whole street was thumping. He got annoyed at me for asking him to turn it off.
But there's awesome ones too. We have an amazing plumber who loves two streets up. He just did our roof (plumbers are also roofers here) and was right on the ball.
Jesus, lying about insulation and sockets at different heights?! It sounds like you're well-versed in what it takes to work with them! Lol. We've noticed a difference in attitude from them when my wife talks to them too. It's as though a wall comes up and they stop listening. Sad in this day and age.
We've had a few extremely good tradies but then some nightmare scenarios as well. We have a good friend that's a handyman and can tackle pretty much any project and we had him do most of our renovations until we moved into this house. He's a perfectionist and have discovered during this ordeal that he's spoiled us tremendously. I honestly think most of the chaos with these contractors could be solved by an administrative layer that could keep the crews on schedule and on track. The crews, most of them in their 20's, left to their own devices without direction are just issues waiting to happen.
Yeah, managing individual contractors is a job, that is why for the two remodels I did on my properties prior to selling them I used a general contractor, the amount of headache saved was well worth it...
A GC would have been an excellent idea in our case. I had no idea the communication-aspect would be this difficult. I've learned many lessons throughout this ordeal.
Yeah, if you decide to sell a house on a tight schedule and have to do a remodel a good GC would definitely pay for him/herself...
Oh, I bet! We've said a million times if we worked outside of the home and had to rely on taking vacation time to be here or if we had to flip this house on a tight schedule we would have been out of luck.
Hey the house is really starting to look like a home! Well done, friend. :) I don't think I would get used to the nice scenery (even though it is) but I guess it does make the winter pass more smoothly than being pissed off for four months or however long winter's up over there.
Thanks! Yeah, I'm definitely a warm-weather person so I usually grumble about winter for the first few months. I think a bit of self-preservation kicks in at a certain point and the attitude leans more towards acceptance. Winter can last well into May here. Some years it feels like you're going to go crazy by the end of it if you don't get to go on a warm weather trip somewhere to have a break.
You've done well with the renovations, despite the setbacks you encountered. And it looks marvellous, your home I mean. It wouldn't be out of place if you folks celebrated it's completion, when you're through, with a good meal and a good bottle of wine.
Here it's harmattan for us, it's cold is nowhere as discomforting as that of winter, and the 'scapes are not that scenic. Winter indeed makes the 'scapes look like heaven's floor.
Your nephew's goal is an ambitious one and when he accomplishes it, would a feat incredible. Reminds me of a special forces soldier that recently set the world record for pull-ups.
Thank you! The beauty of it is the only positive thing about it. The snow really is amazing to see, especially at night.
My nephew actually trained Navy Seal teams for a while. He's a beast when it comes to accomplishing goals. He said he's going to live-stream his final 1,000 pull ups on YouTube and do them all in one set. I don't know how the human body could accomplish this.
There seems to always be some sort of set back in kitchen renovations, no matter how simple they are. In my case, the cabinet maker made a hole for an above mount sink, but the sink (which he had ordered) was an under mount sink. I couldn't live without a sink while the fix happened, so it was installed as above mount, and there it remains, three years later. The whole job was so disruptive of my life, I haven't mustered up the courage to make the change. The good news is that you job will come to an end and you will be happy with it.
Never heard of Still Life, and now I will probably never watch it. Bummer!
Congrats to your nephew. I can't even do one.
The kitchen has been the hardest part, by far. Plumbing can create and infinite number of issues. Thankfully, our son is a plumber so he's helped with the faucets. We've found in this area that most contractors who do countertops won't touch plumbing. We've had to stay in hotels for three nights a couple different times throughout this because we've been without water or a fridge. I had to move all the food out of the fridge and freezer into storage bins and coolers. Thankfully it was cold enough in the garage that we didn't lose anything. We're seeing the light now. We have the cabinet refacing happening on Dec 22nd and then phase two of the countertop work—which will happen in January—and then we're done!
Still Game is incredible. You can catch some episodes on YouTube.
Thank you! I'd be lucky to do five pull ups but I am getting a pull up bar and will be adding them to my routine. I'm hearing how beneficial dead hangs are for us people over 50.
Love the squirrel!!!
We had our first snow. Reports were just under 6", but the pile on the roof of our car was higher than that, so I don't know. First time we had a snowblower. With a corner house, that's important (my son did the job).
As for your renovation. Beautiful!! But what a headache. We need to do a tub conversion but the horror of putting up with contractors stops us. We figured out a short cut--a bench that allows easy entry and exit. Just too old for all that renovation headache.
Bless you with the sub-zero weather. We went down to 16 one night and I thought that was bad.
Stay warm, and keep feeding the squirrels :)
That's a lot of snow at once! Feeding the squirrels has been a great motivator for me to get into the woods on the blustery days.
Thank you! It's been such a disruption but once we're through the pain I think we'll be glad we did it. It should add pretty significantly to the market value of the place too. I'm glad you found a solution for the tub situation! There are companies who come out and do tub renovations in a day but I'm not sure how decent the quality is.
Thanks and the squirrels will definitely keep getting fed! : )
And are you still at the hotel? So that means you will spend the year without the work finished!! What a calamity. Well, the important thing is that the house is turning out just the way you wanted. The pictures of the snow are amazing, and I can't imagine the cold. I love wine, especially red. Spanish wines are very good, and so are Chilean ones. Drinking wine has become fashionable because of resveratrol, a super antioxidant that slows down aging. Sending you a hug, my friend.
No, we just stayed for 4 nights a couple different times while the demolition phases happened and we didn't have use of the kitchen. The cold here is unbelievable! I grew up in a place with four distinct seasons (Ohio) but the cold here in Minnesota is next level. It took me a few years to learn how to dress for it properly. When I had my 2 mile walk into the building I used to work in from where I parked the car sometimes it would be -50 with the windchill. At that point it's so cold that any exposed skin actually burns, my eyelashes froze together and you could feel ice crystals forming in your sinuses when you inhaled. I love Spanish and Italian wines. The French ones are nice too but I find many of them have a higher alcohol content. California wine can be good too but I hear most of those wines are contaminated with Round-up so I try to steer clear of those. I've had a glass of red almost every day for over 30 years! I believe in it's medicinal value, even if it's just to help you relax. Hugs to you as well Nancy! It's almost your birthday!
You can never have too much Still Game!
I agree.
Sometimes contractors make mistakes, there's no doubt about that. I also often consult Grok and ChatGPT, they have very good information on many topics.
Snow is great, but the extreme cold makes my bones ache 😄. Without a doubt, the squirrel found an excellent place to hide and be protected from the cold.
I don't know what we would've done without AI to help guide us along and to double-check the advice we were being given.
That's right, it's a very valuable tool 🤗
When the renovation of your house is complete, the setbacks will be anecdotes that enrich the whole process because, in the end, difficulties make us grow and become stronger.
I have been following your posts and, in those related to this process, I have seen that it is turning out very nicely.
There is not much left to do. It seems that 2026 will be the completion date. Have a good day. Cheers and best regards.
Thank you my friend! We're happy with the results so far, even if it's taken some rework to get there. Cheers and I hope your week is going well!
Renovations really do test our patience.Best luck as you finish everything ;)
Thank you! : )
You have been manual curated and upvoted by @ecency
Did you know that @stresskiller is also a witness now ?
#hive #posh