I write this from the comfort of my orange velvet sofa - sitting squarely in the middle of the living room, surrounded by a sea of golden oak flooring - while our pup Ginger lies on... the guest bedroom duvet. {sigh} The only other furnishings in the room are dog beds and a wire kennel, along with some shelves that need to travel upstairs to my husband's closet.
My dear husband and I are now living in our "new house", and the old one has been handed over to its new owners (who will use it as a pied-à-terre in Houston, since they live in Austin).
We have not, however moved in. No, most of our belongings reside in the garage apartment at the back of the property, piled into towers according to their relative importance and relevance to everyday household functions.
"Why?" you ask.
Because a homeowner can't yell at a contractor the way an architect for a fancy schmancy firm can. Though she can enlist her husband to play "Bad Cop".
Just prior to moving into our new home, our contractor - already lined up to replace the roof and the fence, and to install gutters - heard me saying something about rewiring the house. He informed me that his guys could do it, and gave us an amazing price, explaining that it would only be possible to do it at that price if we didn't have all our furniture moved into every room. It would only take 3-4 days to rewire the house, he said. My husband and I agreed it was a good idea, even though the seller's realtor told us part of the house had been rewired. The electrician would start on the day of our move.
Once rewiring began, we were informed that the only new wiring in the house was in the master bath, which had been remodeled. None of the GFIC outlets in the kitchen or downstairs bath were actually wired to be GFIC, which also explained why none of them worked. Some of the wiring in the master bedroom had actually been done with speaker wire, which explained why light bulbs used in the fixtures connected to that wiring would make a POP! when the switch was turned on, but no light shone.
Ten days after our move-in, the house's rewiring was finally finished, including several days of no-shows and having to be called back over and over again because he'd missed outlets, or light fixtures, etc. In the meantime, we were also dealing with the fact that our new metal fence had a large gap beneath it, and our darling Ginger could slip out, if left to her own devices. This took an inexplicably long time to remedy.
And the icing on the cake, after installing a brand new roof: our kitchen flooded during the first rainstorm we had!!! We had to have the roofing foreman return to replace the old flashing above the kitchen, since his crew had decided not to.
That was one hell of an afternoon.
Once all the electrical work and repairs to our brand new roof were made, our contractor's plasterer came and repaired the holes left in a few places where the electrician had to create access points. We no longer had gaping holes, but we were now stuck with untextured walls. I'd repeatedly asked the plasterer and the general contractor to try to match the existing texture, but was met with "we can't get that exact texture."
I was perfectly aware that an exact texture match was out of the question - I didn't spend 10 years in the construction and design industry without learning at least that much - but could they at least try to get close? After a couple of days of hemming and hawing, the plasterers returned and did their best.
On the walls.
The ceilings were left untouched.
When we asked why, we were informed that they didn't have the materials to try to blend the patches on the ceiling with the old texture.
WHY??? Why would you not bring the materials to do walls AND ceilings when BOTH walls AND ceilings need to be done?
We discussed our options with the contractor, who informed us that it would be better if we retextured the entire ceiling in the living and dining rooms (the only ones with patches in the ceiling). We agreed, with the stipulation that we wanted a smooth-ish texture: not orange peel, but a brushed on or rolled on finish. We discussed the whole thing with the plasterer and his assistant, too.
When it came time to do the retexturing, one would assume the plasterer and/or his assistant would be the ones to do it, right? Seeing as they knew exactly what we wanted?
WRONG! Dead wrong!
Our GC brought a member of his roofing crew - who occasionally painted, too - to do the ceilings.
My husband was at a work function when the texturing took place, and I was upstairs in bed, with a migraine, and didn't realize the 'painter' had begun texturing the ceiling. When I went downstairs later in the evening - migraine raging, and just wanting to be shot of the constant presence of contractors in the house - I saw the 'painter' using a hopper to spray orange-peel texture all over the ceiling, which he then smoothed it a little bit with a knock-down knife.
He was almost completely finished with the dining room, and was using a quick drying formula so we wouldn't have to wait as long to paint. Which meant that the corners where he'd started were already starting to set up.
So we had slightly smoothed orange-peel texture all over the ceilings, which was exactly what I'd said I didn't want, seeing as the 8'-0" ceiling would be painted blue, and would be a focal point, to some degree.
I was furious, and sad, and felt terrible, so I simply turned around, went upstairs, and lay down with my two dogs on the bed next to me. The painter was gone by the time my husband got home.
He was furious. Not with me for paying them, (it was $350, and I decided it was a fair price for getting my GC and his subcontractors out of my house for good), but for the fact that a bona fide plaster specialist hadn't done it, that the materials he brought wouldn't have even worked for the finish we wanted, and for the fact that we'd now have to wait longer to be able to paint, seeing as we would definitely be having the ceilings retextured again, albeit by someone else, this time.
So our living room is awaiting retexturing again, which is why there's almost no furniture in the room. The specialist we've hired to fix our ceiling can't start until May 2, which mercifully gets closer every day, because he has a waiting list. He's charging four times what our GC charged, but it's worth it to us to have it done properly by someone who knows what he's doing.
In the meantime, my darling, dearest husband has been painting other rooms: the hallway, the guest room, and soon, the downstairs study. I've devoted my time to installing TP holders and towel bars, clothes rod brackets, and kitchen hardware, along with freaking out over the color we'll paint the living room.
We decided, last night, to just paint it white, for now, despite the fact that I'd all but decided to paint the walls soft apricot or wheat. Eventually, it will probably be painted apricot or wheat, because I've decided that our living and dining rooms - and kitchen! - will be mostly monochromatic, but for now, white is the easiest to deal with, particularly as I'm not 100% attached to the monochromatic idea. It seems like a restful idea, though, which appeals to me, right now.
At some point a few years down the road, we'll completely gut the kitchen - except for the 36" gas range and enormous hood! - and install new cabinetry, flooring, counters: the works. We'll also update the dining room decor at that time, and I've decided that blue grasscloth wallpaper will still work, so long as the kitchen and dining room are dressed up a bit, too.
Our little home is beginning to get homier, little by little, and, someday, it will be stunning.
For now, I'll just settle for having a decent texture on the ceiling.
