I’ve got new housemates….I’ve not said much here as typically my daughter Kalissa blogs over at The Pink Shoelaces and this is really more her news than mine…but Kalissa, her husband Craig, and her three boys have been spending a lot more time here. I don’t know if it classifies quite as housemates…but kind of.
This spring Kalissa and Craig remodeled their laundry room… from this to this!
Um….wow, right?? No more old fluorescent lighting!! YAHOO!!
The room was really dark with no windows…almost cave-like and Kalissa didn’t like it. Admittedly, it wasn’t attractive. They ended up taking off all of the sheetrock and discovered that long ago there were windows on the wall to the left. They put windows back in, added a stackable washer and dryer along with the amazing cabinets, and WOW, what a makeover!!
The second I saw that, I knew what would be happening next. Next, the adjoining kitchen, I was sure would be done next…and I was right.
I’ve remodeled a couple of houses in my lifetime and I know how it goes. We’d fix one room and the improvement was so nice, we just had to do another room and another…and that’s what’s happening with them.
Knowing that I said to Kalissa, if you want to move here for a couple of weeks, that’s totally fine. When we were remodeling, I would have LOVED that offer!! She said that they would wait the remodel out for as long as they could at their house, and if it got unbearable, she’d take me up on the offer.
As I said, I know how remodeling goes so once the kitchen was torn down to the studs, they were trying to figure out how to match up the kitchen to the adjoining dining room. I told her to just do the dining room too…and they are.
So far it’s going well. They are sleeping at their house. It’s so hard with Anders as he is crawling and putting everything in his mouth. EVERYTHING. They really only have the living room that they can be in at this point and at some point, that flooring will have to go too.
So at least a few hours every day they are hanging out here. We kind of have it worked out that Kalissa will bring part of the ingredients and we kind of make supper together. It’s no problem with me and I’m eating a little better. HA!!
As I said, when we were remodeling I would have loved to have somewhere we could have stayed so I’m happy to provide the place for Kalissa, Craig, and the boys.
Gannon loves the arrangement as he says I have the best toys. HA!! By that, he means my pincushions. Two blog readers sent some pins for him to sort and he’s been in heaven. He seriously just arranges and rearranges the pins sorting them by color and then by theme. Gannon and I both thank you for the gift of pins!!
I was sewing when they came last Tuesday. The two older boys came out and hung out with me. Anders stayed with Kalissa and made supper. What a great treat to spend time with the boys and have supper made when I came downstairs.
That’s our take on the new “living arrangements” for now. We’ll see what we all think in six weeks when it’s not done and we’re all ready for each other to be in our own homes. HA!! We’ve gotten through lots before and I’m sure we’ll get through this too!!
UPDATE:
Kalissa and Craig did a big clean out of their garage. They moved the couch out there along with their make-shift kitchen and dining room. It’s not perfect but they are making due. I’m sure the remodel can’t happen soon enough for them.
The remodeling takes a lot of patience as well as work. My husband and I did a lot of remodeling for folks. The mantra should be if you’re remodeling plan on finding things going wrong. The results can be gorgeous or very good with care.
Praying for you all.
Whew, that’s a lot of work and will be a big improvement! I’m grateful every day that my youngest became a builder. He’s made so many improvements around here, which really helps my outlook on life, lol.
Love their Laundry Room! Beautifull and so much storage space!!
How great for Craig and Kalissa, to have a remodeled house and to have YOU! I was wondering what Kalissa had been up to. She always has something going on!
My grandkids always loved playing with pins also.
Jo, your previous post is still…a mess. Can’t read it.
I also can’t read it – it is just code. I tried on my laptop with firefox and MS Edge as well as my kindle fire.
And, the remodeling looks great!
I can not read birds of a feather.
I can’t read the previous post either. I love the remodel!
Wow what improvement for Kalissa’s laundry room. The storage and counters are really needed. Wonderful! How fortunate for them and for you too, to be able to get away from the chaos for a meal and you get your meal fixed – win win. Keep us updated.
I’m so excited to see what happens to their home, how exciting for them. I did see some pictures on her blog and thought to myself, its so nice that Jo is right down the street with a full kitchen. Lol Super nice to be able to cook together and just spend time together having dinner together. Enjoy the time.
Nothing like a Remodel- we are getting set to do that too but the difference is that the kids have moved in. We are expanding the outside garage to make a home for our single son. The acre backyard will get a shed cottage for our single daughter and two granddaughters. And the house garage will become my sewing area… Then if my other daughter comes to visit- she can have a guest bedroom… lol… it’s how it goes nowadays with family. Enjoy your great meals and sewing buddies.
Jo, I can’t read Gotcha day. It is all gobbled up. Kalissa will be so happy once everything is done in her downstairs.