July's Dreams and Nightmares

Like most bad dreams, July started out nicely with a 4th of July visit by the Bosen's.  Chelsea's best friend from Bartlesville, also named Chelsea, now lives in south Houston with her husband Matt and their baby girl.  We invited them to our home to swim and grill some hot dogs with us.  We had to keep it simple with no supplies in the house. (They even had to bring their own chairs!)  Knox loves the water, just like his mom! Later that night, Chelsea, Thomas, Knox and I drove to Lake Conroe to watch the fireworks.  Turns out, however, that we could not see them from where we parked!  (Do I sense a little symbolic foreshadowing here?)

Demolition Day began on July 6.  We were assured that we could stay in the house while this was going on.  It quickly became apparent that we needed to head back to a hotel - for just a couple of days . . . and then a few more!  What a nightmare remodeling is.  Everything ended up being a much bigger production than our contractor seemed prepared for.  And nothing seemed to happen the way we were told it would- it was frustrating!  We could see that what was supposed to be a 3-4 week renovation was obviously going to take a whole lot longer.

We had delayed taking possession of our Houston storage as long as we could.  We didn't want to continue paying the storage fees, but with floors being replaced throughout the house, we were only able to have most of our goods unloaded to select rooms and the rest was placed in the garage and walk-in attic (or Texas basement as it's called around these parts).  This occurred on July 11th.

Bob and I struggled to make decisions on paint color, tile, carpet and fireplace surface material.  We knew what we didn't want, but we didn't really know what we did want. (We couldn't see it from where we were parked!) This remodeling stuff was new to both of us. The short list of things we wanted changed included these:  The first photo shows the foyer floor into the living area, which we wanted to have match.  The next is a photo of the living area, which was small and dark due to paint color, floor tile, a cumbersome built-in video cabinet designed to hold an old thick TV, and a dark tiled fireplace which does not extend to the ceiling. All of these things would be changed. Upstairs there were two different types of wood flooring used, and in two rooms there was worn bedroom carpet (and shelves to eventually be removed).  Also, (not shown) there was a dark brown carpet which was used on the back staircase.  The incongruity of flooring coverings needed to be addressed.  Frequently, Bob and I had conflicting opinions about how to achieve our goals, but we both wanted the house to feel much lighter and more modern. We wanted flooring that matched and flowed seamlessly throughout the house. Our desire was to open up the living area and have it feel bigger and brighter. (We wanted dazzling fireworks!)  

  

  

 My "inspiration home" was this:

 These are the materials we decided upon:

I was at home during most of the remodeling and it was difficult to face the mess and unreliable work schedule day after day.  The contractor increased his fees several times and disagreements with him had created a tension that was unbearable.  At about the same time that our house was completely torn up, we found our gorgeous backyard was being destroyed by wild pigs.  We have no idea how those feral hogs were getting into our fenced yard, but every morning more grass was rolled and more flowers trampled.  And then came the straw that broke this camel's back.  We had decided upon a marble floor tile, which when selected at the store looked nothing like what I came home one afternoon to see being installed.  After lots of tears and wasted money, the tile was removed and the search for something better dragged on.

Still living out of the suitcases we had left Korea with, and essentially confined to our bedroom, it was a welcome relief  for Bob and I to drive over to Temple to spend the weekend of July 29th with the Bosens.  It was as if we had temporarily sleep-walked into a fairy tale world.  Our son, Bobby, and his family had decided to fly in and spend a few days with Chelsea's family and meet the newest member of our family.  Being with our children was a truly sweet retreat!  We went to the Children's Museum in Waco where we all had a blast.

 We spent some time at our hotel where the kids enjoyed swimming and grandpa took a nap with Holly.

 

 

 

Bob and I had to leave Sunday morning so that we could attend church at our Crockett Branch on our way back home.  The small branch meets in this house which was converted into a chapel.

  

But now we had to go back to our nightmarish dream reality! This was the point in time that my kind and wise husband decided to buy me a plane ticket to go to Wyoming for a couple of weeks and redirect my focus to helping our daughter, Stephanie, pack up and move.