In the first week of February we got a call from the family to say that we had water in our basement. This is nothing new for us as we have had 2 sump pumps go out, down spouts leak and a window well fill up with water and seep in through the window. However, this was not a problem that originated in the basement this time. When it got below freezing for a week in late January a pipe INSIDE our washing machine froze and burst. This caused water to gush into the Laundry Room, Family Room and Kitchen and then rain down into the Basement. We called State Farm and found out that it was ALL covered! Praise God! Since we were having to rip out the cabinets anyway, Troy said we could do the remodel that Aby had proposed to us about a year ago. She put up with so much from us! Listening all of our ideas and trying not to beat me over the head every time I said "What if we do this..." or "Is it too late to change this...". Love you Aby!
Once the demolition crew showed up and started determining what was all damaged we ended up with about 65% our our house torn up. Walls, floors, ceiling, everything! They even had to tear up my brand new carpet in the Living Room. Since most of the living space had been damaged all of our couches, chairs, ottomans (we have many, I love ottomans!) and various tables needed to find homes out of the way of the workers. This meant that 2 out of the 3 bedrooms, the front entry way, dining room and the hall to our bedroom were stuffed full. We could not get to our bedroom without climbing on 2 couches so Troy's parents let us to stay in their spare bedroom. We were able to move back in to the bedroom/bathroom/office side of the house after a couple of weeks but since I did not have a kitchen we still went over there to cook lunch and dinner. During all of this Troy started his new job and had to be in Chicago Monday through Thursday every week. I didn't want to be alone in the house while the workers were coming in (they had a key) so I stayed with his parents during the week.
Sutton's Remodeling was doing the work and had 1-3 guys there most days for around 10-11 weeks. To save money, Kathleen and I painted the new drywall and Jeff and Spencer (I helped a little) did the electrical for the kitchen. Once all of the walls, floors and ceiling were done we just were waiting on cabinets. We ordered them from a guy at our church who gets them from an Amish guy near Arthur, IL. They are gorgeous and exactly like I was picturing!
After the cabinets all there was left was countertops and Sutton's had one day of small stuff to come back and do (trim work and installing my faucet, stuff like that).
On May 6th we were officially done with the remodel! We now just have small stuff to complete over the next couple of months. Hardware on the doors, new appliances, glass for 2 of the upper cabinets and new bar stools. After that I think Troy wants to redesign the front of the house....