This Old House...Weeks 6-12

Well friends….I’m partly embarrassed we couldn’t power through and partly embarrassed that I thought we could. In week six the dust, fumes, lead paint spraying from every old surface, and lack of AC in the hottest September/October in DC history was too much. We bailed out to an Airbnb in the neighborhood for at least 6 weeks (update since I started this post…we have already extended to 7 weeks and I would be shocked if that did not extend again). Here is an update on lessons learned, photos of the last few weeks, and sneak peak at what’s next.

Dust - Is HORRIBLE. I mean truly it’s horrible. By the time we decided to bail out, John was having nightly allergy attacks, I may have had a breakdown or two just watching the dust cover everything daily, and even Hans’ coined our new home as “the dirty house”. And at this time, we hadn’t really even gotten to the dusty stage…that would be week 9 as they have started to sand the drywall and scrape the windows of decades of lead paint. I stopped by during this and immediately thanked god we are not living there.
We can, as a family of three plus one 100 lb dog and baby belly, live in a 500 sq ft studio apartment without killing each other. Poor Birch seems the most uncomfortable as he’s basically a horse that can barely move in his stall down here but I think he’s happier here with us than in PA without us. Last week we had to move out, which is a long story and was truly inconvenient but it was also a nice break from our temporary tiny home.
While I know it will be worth it and I would not change our location, neighbors, lot, etc. I maybe would have preferred a house that had some updates since 1930… In addition to updating the electrical/completing the heavy up, adding a new HVAC system/air ducts, and installing some new plumbing, we have added all new gas lines, relocated the outside electrical wires, relocated the electrical box to the completely other side of the house, and replaced all the plumbing. This is what is taking SOOOO long. The rough was finally completed last week (week 11).
There is absolutely no space in our house - again, thank you god we could move out because now that all the kitchen cabinets, flooring, light fixtures, new furniture, toilets, vanities, bathroom trims, and paint have been delivered there is zero room to walk around the house.
Acceptance - While we hope to move back in 2 weeks, we have accepted the house will not be complete by the time the baby is born (which for me is anywhere from 6-9 weeks). I really don’t like this but there is not much I can do that I am not already doing to push things along (and I know I am being annoying as hell). My hope is that at least the upstairs will be complete and then the crew can be isolated to the basement the last few weeks.

Here are some pictures of us along the way!

Stay tuned for more updates as kitchen cabinets, master vanity, and flooring is installed this week!

xoxo,

Caroline

Week 6: Covering everything in plastic before we leave...

Week 7: New Kitchen window is cut/installed

Week 8: To provide space for our king bed, we decided to remove the 3rd bedroom window, brick it in, and extend the existing wall on this side. Before/After below.