In the midst of pretty much the craziest year of our lives, somehow we thought it would be a good idea to add a house remodel into the mix as well. Sometimes I look back and am unsure how we survive some of the choices we make....like buying our first house just a month after getting married and moving in one of the hottest summers ever....or traveling to Maui with a 4 and 2 year old. Typically, in the midst of the crazy decision we look at ourselves and wonder what is wrong with us? But then we get past the stress, adjust and are so so happy we made the choice we did. And the house remodel is no different. Looking back now, about 5 months away from it, I am giddy with the results and so so happy we did it. But it definitely wasn't an easy road to get there.
Although 2020 was stressful, sad, full of transitions, uncertain, etc., it actually was a great time for us to take on the remodel project. After the pandemic, interest rates went really low so we were able to do a cash out refinance to help fund our goals. Our home was built in 2004 and we had been wanting to make major updates for awhile, but it just seemed so daunting. Now suddenly we had a lot of more time on our hands, we were home all the time, etc. so a remodel seemed much more doable than ever before. People say remodels take a long time and they aren't kidding. We started the process in April and didn't officially finish up with contractors until December. And there are still a couple things we are trying to finish on our own now (i.e, window treatments, new front door, updating pictures, rugs, etc.).
Starting out, our main goals were to redo and refresh our kitchen and main bathroom, paint the major areas of the home, and get an air conditioner installed (that was our first project and it got installed in May...hooray!). We thought maybe we could be our own contractor for the kitchen since it wasn't anything structural--just aesthetic. But we knew we'd have to hire a contractor for the main bathroom because we wanted to move a wall to make the shower bigger. We started talking to friends to get referrals in April and started researching EVERYTHING. I know more about cabinets, hardware, sinks, flooring, bathtubs, lighting, countertops, etc. than I ever thought I would know. We started saving photos online, watching HGTV on a regular basis, visiting design showrooms, etc. Luckily our desires and style started to meld together pretty quickly. And we had a lot of fun exploring ideas together. I'm such a visual person--I need to see something I like and then try and mimic it. I follow a lot of designers online so I was getting constant inspiration from them and then James generally really liked what I was inspired by, but would also throw in his own ideas. I was so grateful that he was as into it as I was.
In June, we started getting estimates from contractors. Most of them were referrals from other people in Snoqualmie. We wanted someone close by, who knew the area and had worked on the types of houses in our area. We got about 3 estimates and Linda of IC Design Co. quickly rose to the top. She lives in the Ridge area and does both design and is a general contractor. She was fun, easy to talk to and I just felt like she would be great to work with. She gave us a quote for both kitchen and bath. We were still thinking maybe we could manage the kitchen process on our own, but once we started to think through it and all the coordination, we realized it would be much easier to have her manage it. In the meantime, we got a referral from our friends for a painter-JG Pacific Painting. We asked him to quote us for not just painting interior, but redoing all the trim in the house as well. The quote came back and was really reasonable for the work. So we hired him to come out after the major construction was finished to put up new, modern baseboards and door frames, wrap the windows, paint all the doors, paint the main parts of the house, the bathroom, our bedroom, etc.
After brainstorming, getting on the same page, and finalizing the work, we finally signed the contract with Linda in early August for starting work September. She also wanted us to have all our materials decided on and ordered before work began so there were no delays. I'm not sure how many times we went to Contractor Furnishings Mart, how many countertop options we himmed and hawed over, how many millions of things we researched, but somehow we decided on it all and got it ordered. We were pretty lucky too because we didn't have much delay on our items. I think if we had gone into fall or done it now, things would have been much more delayed because COVID has really hit the industry.
Projects Linda was working on before us got delayed so we got pushed out two weeks. Now we were looking at starting mid-September. Our boys had just started remote school with new teachers and a new schedule. And I was moving into my busiest time at work. I wasn't sure how we were going to do it, but I was also so excited and knew we would just figure it out.
To save money, some of our friends came over to help James demo our kitchen. They had a blast working together and literally had the whole thing gutted in just 2 hours. James made sure to feed them and fill them with beer to thank them. I think they all just wanted to excuse to get together. :)
And then finally the construction began. I remember Linda warning us that it would be very dirty, dusty, loud, etc. for awhile. And wow was she right! I'm kinda glad I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. I've never seen so much dust in my life! And it felt like we still had a lot of dust for a couple weeks after everything was finished. We somehow managed to survive work and school with lots of people in our house, tons of noise, etc. Not sure how, but we took it day by day. After week 2 of eating at our dining table in the living room, the "excitement" was starting to wear off. But all in all the process didn't take too long--about 6 weeks. The boys were really flexible and kept a good attitude pretty much the whole time. I was so proud of them. Here are some photos of the progress:
It was both helpful and stressful being at home while the work was taking place. There were so many decisions to make in the middle of the process and it was nice that we were home, could see things and then make decisions. It was stressful because we felt like we were checking over them and there were a few times we had to ask them to redo things. It was especially hard for James as an engineer since attention to detail is super crucial to him and sometimes he felt he would do things differently. We probably drove the workers nuts, but now I'm so glad we were nit picky and perfectionists so it turned out the way we wanted. Ultimately we were really happy with the work. There was a slight issue with the opening of the stove being crooked, but we addressed it with Linda and she made sure the guys came back to make it right. She was so wonderful to work with--great at communication, regularly checked in, etc. She was not afraid to have the hard conversations and I appreciated that about her.
And now because everyone loves a good Before and After...here are the final results...
Main Bathroom Before
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| Goodbye gross carpet!! |
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| Custom vanity made by a cabinet maker in North Bend! |
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| We added a privacy window to the bathroom |
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| Love the marble look achieved with porcelain tile! |
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| Lots more lighting! |
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| Much more appropriate sized toilet area |
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| New closet shelving!! |
Kitchen Before:
Kitchen After:
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| Pretty new floors! |
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| It looks so much bigger! |
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| New pantry shelving! |
I didn't take good photos of the paint/trim work, but you can see some of it in the photos above.
Overall our home just feels so nicely updated, fresh, and more our style. We're so grateful we were able to do this process. We learned a lot too. Remodels are definitely not for the faint of heart. But it was a great partner/teamwork project for us. And kind of a nice distraction during the stress of COVID. We worked really well together and had a lot of fun picking things out, envisioning, dreaming, etc. I wouldn't do anything like this again for awhile as it was exhausting. But similar to many times in our life together, I'm glad we took on the stress and craziness to now enjoy the results!
