The Remodel

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

Goodbye gross carpet!!

Main Bathroom After

Custom vanity made by a cabinet maker in North Bend!

We added a privacy window to the bathroom 

Love the marble look achieved with porcelain tile!

Lots more lighting!

Much more appropriate sized toilet area

New closet shelving!!

Kitchen Before:

Kitchen After:

Pretty new floors!

It looks so much bigger!  

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!  

The Year of the Pandemic - Part II

Summer 2020

Of this whole year, summer time during the pandemic most resembled our normal lives, although there were still lots of changes. 

James started out the summer with surgery on his left shoulder.  He planned to do it back in March, but all the clinics and non-essential surgeries got postponed due to COVID.  This was his second shoulder surgery so he knew what to expect, but it definitely wasn't a walk in the park.  He was a trooper and was so strong through recovery.  I guess in a way this year was helpful for surgery because all races and athletic events were cancelled so it was a good time to take time off to heal his body.

Cameron's Snoqualmie Early Learning school never opened back up for the Pre-K class which was actually very sad because he spent many years there and we didn't get to do a formal goodbye or Pre-K graduation.  The plus side was that Cameron got to do summer day camp with Nate for the first time!  And his first camp experience was a great success!  Most weeks they did camp at Camp Rad through Si View Community Center and then they both did one week of Disney camp through Big Star Studios.  They had to wear masks every day and practice social distancing, but otherwise camp was pretty normal.  Lots of trips to Elk Horn (a huge kids fort area), games, crafts, walks to the park, playing outside, getting dirty, etc.  We were so happy for them to have social time and so much active time outside.  

Unfortunately ChelanMan was cancelled due to COVID so we missed out on that fun experience this year with our friends and getting to compete.  But we still got to do a week long vacation to Chelan with the Warners like we've done over the past couple of years.  That trip felt pretty normal too except that there were restrictions on how many people could be in the pool and our favorite Slidewaters water park was closed.  But otherwise it felt like a normal Chelan trip--full of sun, relaxation, good family time, etc. And we also got to spend lots of time with the Faders!

One of our favorite summer traditions got cancelled too--the Torchlight run and parade.  We really missed that this year.  But other summer traditions lived on like our annual camping trip and visit to the Packwood cabin with the Spauldings and Antis'.

The other more normal thing was getting to do a small joint birthday party for Cameron and his close friend Vander.  We hosted it outside at the park and everyone wore masks to minimize the risk.  He was in heaven to see his friends again!

All in all it was a really fun summer and we made the best of the unique situation.  It helped us so much mentally to be able to be outside, do some of the things we really love in the summer, have a break from online school, see some friends, etc. It was just what we needed before heading into fall.

Although we had a really nice summer, it was a tumultuous summer for our nation in addition to COVID. Multiple acts of racial injustice occurred to people of color by police officers that were caught on videotape so a wide audience of people witnessed how people of color are treated by police on a regular basis that often goes overlooked. When a man named George Floyd was videotaped being murdered by a cop kneeling on his neck for 8 minutes, protests erupted across not only the US but all over the world. COVID has also hit BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of color) harder than any other populations in the country and finally the multiple injustices that many people live with day after day boiled over. We were saddened by so many things we were reading about and watching, but also inspired by so many people protesting in peace and organizing for change.  Important conversations and awareness were occurring at levels James and I haven't witnessed in our lifetime. We had a lot of conversations with our boys to try and help them understand privilege, the realities of our systems and how many systemic barriers and hurdles prevent people of color and minorities from accessing things that come so easily for us as whites.  This COVID time has continually exposed issues just under the surface that have been ignored for too long and it is time for us to start facing them, listening, and talking about them. 

Fall 2020

The boys started school online in the fall. There has definitely been some grieving around this because Cameron is officially a kindergartener now (yay!) and this is not how we envisioned his kindergarten year to be.  I must say though that during this entire time I've been really impressed by our school district and how they have pivoted, adapted, and supported families.  Cameron has been loaned an iPad and Nathan has been loaned a Chromebook since March.  They have beefed up a lot of technology, come out with pretty comprehensive schedules, and the teachers really have worked so hard to keep learning happening.  Both kids got the teachers they wanted (Ms. West for Cam and Ms. Roberts for Nate) and we bought each of them desks for their rooms to have a designated space for online school.  (Which by the way desks were incredibly difficult to come by as everyone had the same idea we did!)  I've been so proud of our boys and their resiliency.  Cameron has been managing Kindergarten like a champ which isn't easy with being on multiple Zoom calls and trying to stay focused while at home with all his toys.  And Nathan is a very independent little learner--he's on top of things most of the time without me having to remind me and he's very good at managing the technology.  

School in the fall was much more structured and complicated since in the spring everyone was just trying to get by.  We quickly got into a good rhythm although I must say it's been very hard trying to work from home and help the boys with school.  We are so grateful because both sets of grandparents help the boys with school a couple days a week which is a HUGE help to us. And an unexpected gift from this year--to get to spend days with grandparents again like when they were younger.  If life was normal right now, they'd be at school and wouldn't get that special time with grandparents.  Not every day is easy and there is a lot to juggle, but overall I'd say online school has been pretty successful.  

 

As if we didn't already have enough going on, we also got the crazy idea to do a big remodel project in our house.  We'd actually been planning it since April, but the bulk of the work happened in late Sept and early October.  Apparently we weren't the only ones as contractors were really booked out.  I guess since everyone has been home so much, lots of people were finally motivated to do some updates that have long been dreamed about.  I'll do a separate post about the remodel.  But it certainly added more adventure to an already very busy and disjointed year.  

Kids sports have mostly been cancelled since COVID started.  But Nate was able to do just a little bit of soccer for a couple weeks this fall.  They never ended up playing any games against other teams due to state restrictions, but he attended practice for a few weeks and got to scrimmage his teammates. He met some new friends and had a great time.  You can tell he's improving his soccer skills every year. He looked so good this year and it's a bummer we didn't get to see him truly in action. 

We also got to still do one of our favorite fall traditions--the Fall Drive with the Warners. Nature hasn't stopped for COVID which has been so therapeutic actually.  In fact nature is probably thriving under these conditions since there is less cars/pollution and less people out and about.  The fall colors were gorgeous this year and it was nice not to have this treasured day cancelled like so many other things this year.

COVID cases started to rise pretty heavily again starting late fall which wasn't surprising.  State restrictions tightened and it was recommended that people not get together in large family gatherings for Thanksgiving.  Luckily we'd been seeing grandparents on a weekly basis so we felt comfortable still doing Thanksgiving like normal. And our siblings were open to it too since they'd been seeing parents regularly too.  It was a nice day with both families, although we missed our favorite Turkey Trot tradition.  So instead we did our own Spaulding Family Turkey Trot at Centennial Park the morning of Thanksgiving. 

And we wasted no time getting into the Christmas spirit right after Thanksgiving.  The next day we started decorating the house and last minute decided to run and get our Christmas tree.  A lot of tree farms decided not to operate this year so we were worried trees might go quickly. We made it to the Keith and Scott Tree farm just 30 min before closing and found a beautiful tree--one of the last ones left.  Then we kept our annual tradition of visiting the Bellevue Square Santa with grandparents the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  Seeing Santa was very different this year--and kind of odd. It made me sad actually because it was so odd. But I guess it makes for memories the boys can tell their grandkids someday!

An early Christmas present arrived on Dec. 19 when our second niece/cousin was born!  June Lillian Warner came into this world pretty quickly (after being a week late from due date) and what a bright spot in this challenging year!  She is adorable and Laila is a very proud big sister.  Congrats Ryan and Carly!

For the Christmas season, we missed doing Black Friday in Downtown Seattle, seeing a Christmas play or music concert, watching our kids perform in the SVA Church Christmas musical and getting Danish at Nielsens Bakery on Christmas Eve morning.  But a lot of our favorite traditions still continued like Santa Train, James' and my Christmas shopping day in Bainbridge Island, and our normal Christmas Eve and Christmas Day traditions with family.  

Whew!  This has been a really long post.  But I wanted to make sure to capture as much as I could remember from this year that's been unlike any other in our lifetimes.  I think we'll be processing all that's happened for a very long time.  And even though we're now in 2021, we're still grappling with many of the challenges and issues that started and were revealed in 2020.  There have constantly been disappointments and adjustments, and at the same time gifts, healthy realizations, and benefits from this time.  I guess that's why it's hard to process my feelings about it.  It's a constant bittersweet-ness feeling inside.  A tension of wanting to get back to "normal" but also not missing some things from "normal".  I get anxious in my stomach when I think about having to go back to work in person again.  There's elements of this adjusted life that I've gotten used to and actually like better.  So it'll be fascinating to see what residual affects stick around and how we as a society have ultimately been changed by all this.  

What I do know for sure is I'm so grateful for the three boys I get to do this life adventure with and that I've gotten so much time to be home, to snuggle and soak them up this year.  If this had to happen at all I am grateful that it happened when the boys were at these ages - 8 and 6.  What an amazing time to be home with them and get more time with them. If they were babies or toddlers, I think I would have enjoyed it, but been exhausted.  If they were teenagers I think there would have been more tension at home. These ages are golden. They can take care of themselves for the most part, they are creative and love playing, they go with the flow and adjust to things so well, and they still really like being with us.  :)  I'm grateful that I've really gotten to enjoy them so much more and in different ways than I have before.  And I'm confident that no matter what life throws at us, we'll be ok as long as we have each other, keep our eyes set on what's truly important, and try to be lights in the darkness as much as we can.