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Remodeling Down To The Wire
A few months ago I began the process of remodeling a guest bedroom and converting it into the baby’s nursery. I then made the decision so long as we were tearing things up to make a more serviceable area to install additional storage and shelving. A few days later I decided that as the contractors were already there, I might as well go all the way and do some rewiring, do away with wood paneling and install drywall and remodel the adjoining bathroom.
It was hard to envision the lovely baby nursery design I had originally planned with drop cloths on the floor topped with incredibly ugly sawhorses. The feeling may have been slightly delayed, but it was around this time that I realized this was no minor update but a major down-to-the-studs, full-blown renovation. The bedroom was wrecked and I could see my checkbook balance was soon to follow.
The contractor that had painted such a pretty picture of a tranquil nursery with lots of storage and comfortable spots to snuggle with my baby failed to show up for a solid week after the wrecking crew had made their rounds. The thought came to me that we were going to be way behind schedule and then it struck me that a construction schedule was not in my possession. You can imagine my despair when my husband asked me where I had filed the sign contracts and other documents pertinent to the project. The best I could come up with were some hastily scribbled notes on the back of a brown paper bag and a few invoices. If the contractor had been cute and younger than sixty years old I do believe my husband would have sworn that we were having an affair. What other reason could there have been for my carelessness?
Of course, the supply list on the back of the paper bag didn’t come close to covering all of the building supplies that the project required. The most carefully planned remodeling project always misses a few add-ons and requires a few orders to be changed. This was in no way a carefully planned renovation and the list of additional items that we were required to buy above and beyond the original estimates seemed endless.
My bank statement was a portrait in red. To cover all of the budget overruns, I had to continue working with swollen ankles and an aching back. My job requires a moderate amount of travel and it took me a while to figure out that every time I left the house my crafty, charismatic contractor and his crew would drop everything and go to another job site. When I say that he went to another job site that may be an assumption on my part; they probably went fishing. There were constant delays with excellent reasons, and everything took three times as long as expected.
My dream nursery was eventually completed and looked fabulous, but it took twice the amount of my estimated budget and three times the length of time that it should have taken to complete it. Talk about down to the wire, my water broke as the last worker was backing out of the drive. You might think after suffering through what we did with remodeling one bedroom and bath, I wouldn’t dream of entering into any more home improvement projects, but as soon as baby was toddling I put the memories behind me and have launched a campaign to convince hubby that a new kitchen would be ever so nice. I did learn some things from my negative experience; my contractor taught me how to convincingly sell a dream.
The combination of Jan Bay’s love of interior decorating and child rearing motivated the building of her site, UNIQUE BABY GEAR IDEAS which features numerous articles on nursery design, reviews of modern baby gear and the creation of modern nurseries for babies
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Tags: baby nursery design, home remodeling, remodeling
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