The freaking-out portion of our agenda

[darkemeralds]

Apologies to everyone in my circles for being a bad online friend over the last several weeks. I'm entering the freaking-out portion of my bedroom project, and my level of absorption--not to say obsession--is extreme. I hope to return to regular communication very soon.



I've tapped the money vein and am now hemhorrhaging the stuff over this project, an experience that is three parts anxiety and one part exhilaration.

The drywall contractor, on viewing the wall damage wrought by a) demolition of the closet and b) 108 years of existence, recommended a complete re-do. His bid for removing plaster from all four walls and the ceiling, and replacing it with pristine, new, perfect drywall, was so damn reasonable that I said okay. (Exhilaration: I'm actually going to have smooth walls and a seamless ceiling for the first time in my whole life.)

Work starts first thing in the morning, so today I moved the last four things out of the bedroom, and it is now a completely empty, amazingly echoey, and strangely unpleasant space:

("Imagine an empty room")

My mattress is taking up most of the living room floor:


...so my living room furniture had to go to the porch. The porch is protected at least a little from the March storms by an Outbreak-style application of duct tape and plastic sheeting.


It's going to be a bit crazy for a couple of weeks, but hey. I don't have to get dressed for work. As long as I can find my drug paraphernalia French press and coffee grinder in the morning, and can get out the back door to my bike, I think I'll be fine. It'll be like camping. Only indoors. With a comfy mattress and wifi.

Comments

[cookiemom6067]

Congrats! I'm sure you'll be incredibly happy with the results. I'll be supporting you in your current and subsequent freaking out

[darkemeralds]

Thank you. Sleeping on the living room floor last night was a new and not terribly restful experience--I kept being afraid the drywall guys would arrive before I woke up, so I kept waking up.

I remind myself that nobody anywhere has ever had a remodeling project that didn't have its disruptive, freaking-out stage, and that the results will be worth it!

[cookiemom6067]

My Husband tore out the plaster and lath in our living room when I was very pregnant with our first child. We lived in a tiny house and that was almost half of our living area. It was wonderful when he completed the project, but it was very uncomfortable in the meantime

[darkemeralds]

I can only imagine how much the discomfort would be multiplied by an advanced pregnancy! I've been pleasantly surprised today by how much care the drywall guys took to seal the bedroom from the rest of the house and contain the mess.

I think I can project that I will be back in my finished bedroom by the first week of April. I hope.

[ruric]

Wow - and good luck!

Please keep posting pix - can't wait to see how it turns out.

And I mean to keep asking but forgetting - did you ever get your insulation done through the scheme that turned your sis down but accepted you?

[darkemeralds]

I did, yes. I had to go back through my "home" tag to discover that it was more than three years ago--in fact, that I'm just winding up my third winter with the improved insulation. The work cost at least as much as this bedroom remodel is going to end up costing, but because the program was designed for lower-income neighborhoods, the work was done under a low-interest loan, and I make small monthly payments on it through my electric bill.

That means that ultimately I'll have paid for the work twice, but it was so worth it. From October through March my house is ten times more livable than before. I barely heat it at all, and I'm almost never compelled by the chill to take expensive hot baths. From July through September, provided I can get plenty of cool night air in, the house stays cool except on the very hottest days.

Since then I've also replaced all but two of the old windows with modern insulated ones, so it's all very snug. Quieter, too. The insulation work was money extremely well-spent.

[nanila]

How exciting! I like the camping indoors with plumbing and wifi aspect. It's glamping.

[darkemeralds]

Glamping! What a great word.

This situation is now reminding me more of being 21 in a one-room studio with a futon, than of camping. But I have a much better mattress and much nicer bed linens today than I did way back then. :D

[bluemeridian]

WiFi would definitely be the most important factor for me, but plumbing (and heat, although I know it's considerably warmer there) wouldn't be too far behind! Well, and the coffee. Coffee's always important.

[darkemeralds]

Between Global Climate Change, the fact that it's almost officially spring, and my meat-locker sleeping preferences, I never did bother to reconnect the heater last night. In fact, I opened all the windows, it's so mild.

Now I'm sitting here in my one remaining chair, drinking coffee, using my wi-fi, and waiting for the contractors to arrive. Let's get this show on the road!

[tehomet]

More power to your elbow with the continued works.

I'm in the middle of the apartment shenanigans and that's why my table is in bits behind the sofa, every garment I own is stacked on my bed and I'm sleeping in the guest room, and my desk is invisible under stacks of books. I feel your... building-related inconvenience?

[darkemeralds]

Wow. Well, here's to us, the intrepid home-improvers and self-inconveniencers. May we sail through the chaos to the improved living arrangements on the other side.

[donutsweeper]

oooh, it's so exciting to see how everything is coming along!

[darkemeralds]

Before, Progress, and After pictures are one of my favorite things. How did we ever manage before digital photography?

[dine]

it's chaos now, but you'll be so happy once everything's put back together! I love your (temporary) workarounds, and the pink duct tape is esp. striking. can't wait to see more pictures as things progress

[darkemeralds]

That neon duct tape was a find!

It's utter madness in here today, and probably for the next several days. There are three men hammering and pounding in my sealed-off bedroom, coming and going via the window! It's nuts, but they're doing beautiful work. Pictures of the bombed-out shell of my bedroom coming up.

[ranunculus]

Wait!!!! Quick, put in that outlet you need for your bedside light ect....

[darkemeralds]

Oh my, yes. I have an electrical plan and I thought I had an electrician, but he's incommunicado and I need him tomorrow, the one day between old plaster and new Sheetrock. I've put out a distress call to my general contractor neighbor for an alternate recommendation.

The plan includes six new outlets (two just for the interior wardrobe lights), one new ceiling fixture, a thermostat, a hardwired smoke/CO detector, and a new pair of switches with dimmers. It's going to be like the 21st century in there! I've been living with a single working outlet, one overhead light, and a portable space heater for 20 years. The daisy-chain of extension cords was decidedly not up to code!