Taking a break from the "selections process" to tell you that I may slow down on this blog because.... THE STRUGGLE IS REAL! We've hit the part of construction where we planned on putting in the sweat equity ourselves (along with some VERY special family and friends) to save money and it is kicking our butts! We forgot that we aren't as young as we used to be. Again, something I don't recommend if you can avoid it; I can't say this enough. Save yourselves! It really does cause you to burn the candle at more ends than any of us generally have. I can think of much more relaxing ways to bond with family and friends; and we plan to do a lot of just that AFTER this is all done. 😉
Thanks to the amazing team of people we have had on this home, we have passed all the inspections so far. Now that we have drywall, we have started to install the flooring ourselves. Note the army of helpers below. We wanted the flooring to go in first to avoid shoe molding on the wall base. If you don't have power yet (which we don't thanks to Dominion Energy dragging their feet), most don't recommend putting in flooring material. You need a more controlled environment for that. We felt somewhat forced to keep going so we forged ahead with fingers and toes crossed. My brother, Matt has been a HUGE help with the flooring. He didn't even let a little fall through the deck rafters (narrowly escaping a broken leg somehow) keep him away...he was back for more abuse the next day! That's dedication. This October 99 degree weather isn't making it easy on any of us either. We all can't wait for the drop in temperature any day now.
After we get the flooring done, up goes the trim. Darrell Basinger has been helping with this and he is nothing short of amazing! We were going to do a lot of the trim ourselves too but have found that laying flooring is taking up most of our time so far. So, we may be leaning on Darrell more than we had planned to. Look below as the window and door trim goes up.
Meanwhile, we also had a SURPRISE VISITOR; Rob's brother, Ed from the Catskills in New York. As we've mentioned before, he's a builder and was eager to jump in and help us with this big, crazy adventure. In the first weekend he was here, they started to build the stairs to the mollybydesign (mbd) studio. I'm eager to get the railings installed now because BOY ARE THEY HIGH UP! Ed called again this week and is on his way to help with round two. I imagine besides the railings; all the decks are next so that no one else falls through the rafters.
On another note, since we are airing and sharing, we should tell you that our beloved Caitlin has left us to begin a new journey. We wish her well as she was not only a valuable member of the mbd family, she had become a honorary member of the Leal Cottage crew as well. We started to interview for another assistant, have some great candidates, and were on the cusp of hiring, but decided to put it on hold until we get through this. I have truly reached my capacity for multi-tasking and training someone new just can't happen additionally.
Have I mentioned that we also must get our current home ready to be sold? Today was photo day. Our realtor, David Nicholson sent an amazing photographer over for the shoot. Before that, there was a fury of repairs, mulching, cleaning and staging to get ready. And now that we will hit the market, we need to keep it spotless to be able to show at a moment's notice! WHAT????
As you see above in the gallery of shots, during our floor and trim install our tile has started to go up too. This sent me back to The Tile Shop for a solution for the bottom of the shower niches. We didn't want to use the schluters on the bottom of the niche for fear of water damage, so we needed to find a coordinate stone piece for water to run off. The quartz we plan to use for the knee wall tops and curbs was too thick to use here too, so white marble it is. To make sure it was a matte finish like everything else we are using, I had to strip the stone. Having to LIVE through these last-minute decisions myself makes me EVEN MORE VALUABLE for my customers. There is NOTHING LIKE HANDS ON EXPERIENCE to help you help others! For that alone, all of this is worth it!
Thank you for your patience as we push through this. My customers come first, so getting their needs met before this blog is my #1 priority. I just wanted anyone who is following this (all 4 of you; we're viral ya know🤣) to know that I may need to "take a minute" to continue this blog. Again, prayers are always welcome; I'm sending them out for all of you too - we all have our own "stuff" we need a little help on. Love and hugs....