Arriving and Getting Settled

So the last few days before we left were crazy - we had a million to things to pack or get rid of, with no boxes left or ways to get rid of things.  There were a million last minute errands to run, but no time to fit anything in. It was hectic and frustrating, and then we finally got to the point of putting everything in the car and arriving at the airport.

We ended up with 8 checked bags and 6 carryons, plus the stroller-- 'unwieldy' would be putting it nicely. We split up, leaving me with the bags and Spouse with the kid and the rental car. I quickly found one of the baggage guys with a huge cart, that just rolled me and all the bags to checkin, while he returned the car.

Once we got through security (which was one of the nightmares that kept me up at night), we were able to head straight to the lounge, one of the many benefits of flying business class. It was amazing, of course, and then it was time to board the plane.

watching the airplanes from the lounge

watching paw patrol and drinks in the lounge

On the plane, we each had our own pod. It was ridiculous. If I hadn't been watching him the whole time, it would've been amazing. No one slept for more than an hour or so, and then we landed. 

his own pod to watch PawPatrol

just a little sleep was had

At the airport, thankfully we had help getting all our bags in a truck and getting a ride to our new apartment.  Once we arrived at the apartment we had a quick problem with getting in- another family was still in our unit until checkout later that day. We waited very unhappily in the hall with all our stuff, thinking about the cats arriving at any moment. Eventually they found another unit in the same building and we quickly moved in. The cats arrived a few hours later, and everyone napped.

our little kitchen

living room (he's playing the harmonica)

a little dining room/office area

our room

he thinks our bathroom is an elevator

his room

We spent the weekend getting unpacked and settled. We took a couple short walks to get groceries and cat supplies. Then, as soon as we were getting a little under control, it was time for Spouse to start work and for us to be on our own. 

So far, I've only been brave enough to go where we can walk. We've explored the playgrounds within a short walking distance, swinging by the grocery stores on the way home. 

Thoughts so far: 

• They only seem to have freeze-dried coffee. We need to find real coffee-- it's an issue. 
• This kitchen is made for appearances only - there are knives, but no cutting board, and ovens, but no baking sheets. I would be disappointed that I can't cook, but the premade stuff in the grocery stores is pretty good. 
• The closets are tiny - we can barely fit in the stuff we have, and our airship boxes aren't here yet. 
• The weather is cold, drizzly, and gray - but about 20 degrees warmer than the DC weather we left. So that's nice, but not great for getting to know neighborhoods. 
• On that note - the sun goes down around 4pm every day. 
• The kid is still really jet lagged, so I'm hoping he (and I) can finally get turned around tonight. 
• It's already starting to feel like maternity leave - I need to find adults/ a job. 

Preparing to Move Abroad

So - now that our bosses and teachers all know - I thought it might be time to make this blog-official - we're moving to London in a couple days. For the last year and a half, we knew this might be a possibility, but weren't positive it would come together - leaving us in an awkward state of purgatory as we waited but couldn't move forward on other options. Finally, sometime this fall, the offer came together - and it became a real thing.

Why are We Moving?
Both Spouso and I had been in our jobs for a few years, and were starting to look into new opportunities, when he got an offer out of the blue. We're both excited about travel, but don't get to do much of it here. Kiddo is still young and not in school yet, making it an easy transition for him. We can stay there for 2 or 3 years and be back in time before he starts school, and at a good time for me to get a new job - so everything sort of fell into place.

Sorting through all the stuff
As soon as he signed the contract, I was overwhelmed by the mass of all the stuff we would need to move or get rid of. I started a list of all the places I knew our stuff tended to accumulate - the kitchen, garage, closets, etc - and then assigned them to each of the 6 weekends we had free. We would spend Saturdays sorting through all of the stuff, pulling out the things that were broken, unused or outgrown, creating huge piles of unwanted stuff. This worked out fine in the beginning when we were sorting the easier rooms, but because of the renovation, we couldn't access a lot of our things. So when that finally was finished, we did a huge blitz sort of all the remaining rooms. Everything got at least a quick once-over, but we didn't get to sort some things as thoroughly as I'd hoped.

all the small appliances that won't work

Getting Rid of the stuff
Sorting things out turned out to be easier than actually getting rid of most things. Obviously, we did some huge trips to goodwill for anything that could be used again but didn't have big value. We did a big trip to the dump for things like paint that couldn't be reused. We also did a trip to a second-hand construction store for house stuff, like old lights and doors that had value. Some of our bigger furniture got sold on Craigslist, and lastly we sold our car. We didn't want to store anything here, but ended up with a pretty big pile of things to be stored at my dad's house, including tools we won't need there, plants, and any small electric device (like lamps) that won't work there. We also sold our car, which was sad, but ultimately easier than figuring out how to store it.

Buying New Stuff
As we went through each room, I found a number of items we were missing, like wine glasses that had been broken, or winter gloves with holes. Since it's cheaper and easier to shop here and I didn't want to land and have to do any extra errands - I started shopping for anything we needed.  Of course this was a little contrary to the getting rid of stuff goal - but helped make me feel a little more ready.

while shopping for a new winter hat, boyo checks out the bikes.

Fixing Up the House
Our plan is to keep our house for when we return, so we needed to find a way to rent it out. We contacted a management company, but then they advised us to fix up the house wherever possible to get maximum value. So - obviously we had a major renovation going on already, but then also tried to fix up anything else, like the main bathroom and office, or general paint touchups. There were a million things on that list that I wanted to get to, but ultimately ran out of time.  We had a mad scramble to pull things together for a photographer to take pictures, and then basically considered it done.

just a reminder of the new beautiful kitchen

office finished

The Last Fun Things
Getting through all the to-do's was really a full-time job, but we tried to squeeze in a few fun things. We planned two date-nights for fancy restaurants that we'd always wanted to go do, and managed to fit in one last trip to some of our favorite museums.

a nice night out

a very nice meal out

last trip to the national aquarium

trains at the botanic gardens

checking out the American history museum

a final meal at one of our favorite markets

Family and Friends

Even though the timing of all of this was terrible in most ways, it was rather handy that we were leaving over the holidays because it gave us an opportunity to say goodbye to all our family. We had my mom for Thanksgiving, spent Christmas with my mother-in-law, and then got a chance to see my Dad and brother just after Christmas. We were even able to squeeze in a quick trip over to visit my grandfather.  We did not get to see everyone, but tried to make an effort. A big sendoff party was discussed, and then squashed, as it sounded even more stressful and chaotic after 2 very stressful months.

Thanksgiving with my mom and family

Christmas with my in-laws

2nd Christmas with my dad and brother's family

a quick stop with my brother to see our grandfather

Thoughts - 
The timing of all of this was a total mess, but completely out of our hands. Obviously, we wanted the renovation to be done much earlier so that we could actually enjoy it ourselves. Having to pack up and paint over the holidays was just terrible, and on top of that - my work got super busy at the end, leaving me to work up until the last minute instead of being able to take off earlier. None of that was anything I would ever choose to repeat - but I was thinking it would be nice to sort through all of our stuff more regularly so that things don't pile up so much. Maybe I'll try to remember that before it's time to pack up and come back home again.

What does this mean for the blog? 
Well, we're moving into rental housing, so this blog will no longer be about house projects. Instead, I imagine this will be my main way to keep family up to date on all our adventures, hopefully with lots of fabulous travel photos. Currently a group of large men are busy packing up everything we own - and we fly soon - so the next post will hopefully be after we land. Wish us luck!

Finishing the Office

So once the renovation was done - the entire house looked amazing, except for one remaining spot. The small office off of the master bedroom was now painfully unfinished. So in a quick 2-day sprint, we got it finished up. 

the office is just a collection of misplaced items

freezing cement floor

Paint

First up, I just cleared everything out of the way and painted the walls the same blue-gray as the bedroom. 

all emptied out - but still a mess

blue walls

all painted

Carpet

We knew the floor had to be finished because even though we had a new baseboard heater installed to warm the room, the cement slab was just freezing. We originally wanted to do an engineered floor, but decided wall to wall carpet would be easier. Without time to order anything nicer, we just picked the best in-stock option at home depot and brought it home. In a whirlwind nap break, Spouse got the materials, put down the nail strips, padding, and carpet all in a couple hours. 

exhausted but finished

carpet is in

Trim

So lastly to make it look a little more finished, we put up floor trim. I cut it all and then glued it in place because we knew there was brick behind the sheetrock. Then I painted it and called it a day. 

trim gets held in place while the glue dries

done

crown molding covers a gap in the ceiling. 

So - this is definitely not our best project. It looks significantly better than before, but we didn't have the time to really do it right. I am proud to say that house projects are done for a while - any every part of this house is now officially finished. 

Fixing up the Entryway

Over the summer,  I had to kill some extra vacation days and decided to take on a small project while we waited to get started on the big renovation. I just finished it up now.

Every fall, as we dig out the gloves and winter hats, it becomes clear that the entryway is a problem zone. Not only is it the first thing you see when you enter the house, but it's the gateway for all the stuff that comes in - a critical factor in the clutter-level for the rest of the house.

As far as the appearance - the floor tile is just ugly. I never liked the red tile pattern, which is partially cut off on one wall, and there are a bunch of broken tiles that make the house look run down. The walls are always scuffed up by strollers and the chair, so it just looks unkempt.

For organization - it just doesn't work as well as we need it to. There isn't a good place to store mail, bags, strollers, etc - so that stuff just overflows into the living room and rest of the house.

So - knowing I had a whole week at home to myself, I finally got my chance to fix it up.

closeup of broken tiles

view to the right - random stuff

view to the left - piles of stuff

the cut-off floor tile pattern

Tile
I tried to remove the old tile, but quickly discovered that wasn't going to work. A contractor once remarked that our house was built before cement board was invented, so the tiles are set in a bed of concrete that would need a jackhammer to be removed. I thought he was exaggerating - but after 2 hours with a hammer and chisel, I had barely removed the row of  broken tiles and decided to call it quits. Instead, I decided to just tile over the old stuff. I figure that a future owner may appreciate that the original tile is still there anyway.

Laying the tile was super easy - and then I just used tile snips to cut a bunch of the small tiles in half for the edge pieces. Grouting was harder than usual because the marble is not polished, so the grout really stuck on top. I ended up using some haze remover plus a couple hours gently scraping it off with a flat screwdriver. Lastly, I cut new shoe molding, stained it, and nailed it into place.

new tile goes down

gets grouted

shoe molding finally gets attached

Paint 
A quick coat of paint helped fix all the spots where the chair and strollers had marked up the walls, and the patch from where the air conditioner guys cut into the wall.

Stuff
I picked up a couple things from the Container Store to help better organize the space - with a mail sorter and basket to hold all the mail that comes in until it gets sorted. I also picked up another big basket for hats and gloves, and a new storage ottoman to replace the chair (which scuffed up the walls), while also holding umbrellas and helmets. We also switched out the massive running stroller and small umbrella stroller for one new one that serves both purposes and can collapse nicely.

new stroller and ottoman

Shelf
Lastly - I realized I could get more storage out of the bookcase by moving the shelf as far up as possible and then adding another shelf below. I just cut a spare board from the garage, stained it to match, and then screwed it in. Now there are two shelves for shoes, which is enough space to keep them from spilling into the living room.

third shelf fits kid shoes

mail sorter on top

So - still not perfect, but a huge improvement. Now that winter is here, we are much better prepared for all the hats, gloves, and coats.

Final Renovation Reveal

I think things were pretty much finished up in my last post - we just had to clean up and put a few last things away. The big difference has been actually moving back into these rooms and getting to use them. Finding out if all of our years of thinking about this project, planning, and imagining how the space would work would actually pan out. 

In the kitchen - we had to make a few compromises, but mostly this is exactly what I'd hoped. My favorite part is still the short wall the holds the coffee maker and all the dishes. It turned out to be big enough to also hold the liquor stash, so now coffee cups and coffee maker are next to each other, just like wine glasses and wine bottles - so one of us can pop in for a refill without getting in the way of 

the chef. 

my favorite coffee and booze wall

We added lots of new workspace by the stove and on the island. Now it's much easier to move between the stove, fridge and sink, but also to have two cooks at the same time. 

bigger workspace between the stove and fridge

huge island workspace

a good space for a second cook to chop

The other huge improvement is the lighting. It's amazing what a difference it makes - but just having a few options and the flexibility to turn things brighter or dimmer as needed is huge. It's hard to remember how dark this kitchen used to be. 

pendants matching the mudroom

so many lighting options

very different view of the back door

The other big layout improvement was moving the sink - now I can wash dishes with a clear view of the dining room and living room - making the endless task seem less horrible because I can stay involved in the rest of the house. Generally, even though we couldn't make the kitchen any bigger, we definitely made it much more functional.

view from the sink

washing dishes while watching the boy eat

getting coffee

 Upstairs, the new master suite is such a huge improvement. Instead of having three awkward space - the small master bedroom, unfinished sleeping porch, and small spare bedroom, we now have one cohesive suite.

view of the new suite

The new bath is amazing. Not only do we have a double vanity, we have two separate medicine cabinets so we don't have to share toothpastes.  The shower is huge and gorgeous, and nicely separate so that someone can be brushing their teeth while the other is in the shower without being in the way.

double vanity and double mirrors

view toward shower room

huge shower

view back towards the bedroom and closet

By removing the old closet in the bedroom, the master bedroom got huge. We can fit the bed in the space where the closet used to be, squarely under the new skylight. It really opens up the floor plan for the room. The skylight is also just a huge improvement - this room was so dark before, but now we don't need lights on during the middle of the day anymore.

the bed fits in the alcove where the closet used to be

cats like the new skylight

view towards the office

big open floor space in the room now

So - I think it's officially done now. The contractors are gone, the dust is mostly cleaned up, and things are pretty much put away.  It's been a long couple of months, but we are relieved to finally have our house back, and so much better than when it started.

old view of the bedroom closet 

the old kitchen

the old sleeping porch