Anyone else scrambling to get renos done before Christmas??

12 years ago

Arrrggghhh...can't take another delay.

We're staying at the home of friends who are travelling while we do an almost whole house reno. They're back December 19...which should have given us plenty of time to get things wrapped up and moved back into our place. Guess what?? No surprise to any of the expereinced renovators here, but it probably won't be ready. Our contractor, God bless him, says he isn't sleeping at night trying to figure out how to get things at least liveable in time. So what does this mean...Christmas in a hotel??? Not exactly what we were planning.

Just needed to vent on that one. A little extra stress to add to a pretty stressful reno.

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Comments (17)

EATREALFOOD
12 years ago
Ha ! what year are you talking about ?
angie_diy
12 years ago
I have pretty much given up on Christmas... Still some hope, but fading fast!
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criseyde
12 years ago
Our contractors' original end date for our kitchen, pantry, and bath remodel is this Friday (four months so far). I am guessing it will actually be done in about three more weeks (fingers crossed it will be completed before the holidays!)
joaniepoanie
12 years ago
I just emailed our GC today to postpone start of remodel til after holidays. We signed contract at the end of July and I just had no idea it would take so long to pick things out. Part of the problem is DH is gone all week for work so we only have Saturdays to shop and have spent every Saturday for the past 2 1/2 months in tile, plumbing, appliance stores, and granite yards....not to mention Lowes and HD. He just determined 2 weeks ago we could use tile flooring, so am working on that now. Cabinets not in yet either. I think he would like to start in December, but it just makes no sense to BEGIN a reno 2weeks before the holidays! He hasn't gotten back to me yet.....hope I haven't royally ticked him off as I think he is already annoyed I'm taking so long.....if I had it to do over, I would have everything picked out, then signed the contract....
lisa0527
Original Author
12 years ago
I thought we had it under control...everything picked out before the job started, every possible upgrade/decision made. But when you live in an old house you never know what you'll find behind the walls. Like vermiculite insulation between the first and second floors! Why? Who knows. 7 days and $7,000 to have it removed. And DH decided that all the mechanicals needed upgrading...so I have a new heating system, improved wiring and more efficient plumbing venting. All great I'm sure, but behind the walls and not very satisfying for me. And it added at least another week, maybe 2. So here we are...in a hotel for Christmas. Maybe I can persuade the family to go somewhere warm...but I doubt it.
suzanne_sl
12 years ago
Lisa, we spent last Christmas in a hotel on purpose. Our poor, recently jilted son was alone in Seattle, so we went up to keep him company. On Christmas Day we went to the aquarium in the morning and then had a glorious dinner in a lovely old downtown hotel (not the one where we stayed). It was a really nice day for all three of us. It's the company that counts :)

Alternatively, we had an aunt and uncle who went to Hawaii every Christmas, just in case your budget runs to that.
kellied
12 years ago
We are waiting on kitchen flooring now. No one on the west coast stocks it but the manufacturer in Pennsylvania has it in their warehouse. Two to three weeks to get it to us?! Nothing else can happen in the kitchen until the flooring goes down.
Mentally I am preparing myself for not having a kitchen until January, but at least I do have heat and flush toilets.
babushka_cat
12 years ago
yes, am also trying to push to complete but don't think i am going to make it. still need tile backsplash and finish electric plus misc punchlist. my tile guy is booked out past thanksgiving and we do not even have a schedule date for him to start yet. oh well, i have counters, a running water and am just going to use the kitchen as is...
lascatx
12 years ago
Pretty much did that a few years ago -- thinking Thanksgiving and made mostly by Christmas. This year it is new floors and a half bath that are in the wrap up stages -- and leading me to want to paint more rooms and redo our stairs. Never run out of projects.....
lisa0527
Original Author
12 years ago
Well the drywall is only going up in the kitchen today...cabinet install is supposed to be in 2 weeks...then countertop fabrication. So I'm not expecting counters for Christmas. I think I'd better start looking for a hotel. We're close to Whistler, so it might not be too bad...just more $$$. What else is new.
lisa_a
12 years ago
hahahahahaha! Last Christmas I said, "next year, we'll be in our new kitchen." Not even close. We haven't even started on that remodel yet. Right now my prayer is that we'll have a working bathroom, a forced remodel thanks to a toilet failure and flood almost 3 weeks ago, by the Christmas holidays. Not that 4 of us can't shuffle through one bath but I'd rather not. I had to hand off hosting Thanksgiving and quite possible Christmas dinners to my SIL because our DR was also damaged. What a mess....

But, mark my words, "Next Christmas, we'll be in our new kitchen!"

I hope all of you with kitchens in progress get good news from Santa. Or your GC. Whichever one gets the job done. ;-)
NewToYou
12 years ago
I can SO relate! Our deadline had been Thanksgiving but the carpenter hurt his back. So now we have our fingers crossed for Christmas..........and we are living in the house during the renovation. It is aggravating but we will have a wonderful new kitchen at the end of this dismal tunnel! Love and light!

~Anne
shelayne
12 years ago
YES!!

Oh wait, did you mean THIS Christmas? Because we've been scrambling to finish by every Christmas since 2007. ;^)

It's a TWISTER, Auntie Em! :^D
colorfast
12 years ago
We thought we were so close that it would be no problem. Most of the work being done, with "most" being a famous last word now. Yes, we did get all the moldings stained, finished, cut and up. Hooray!

We have more recessed lighting to install (the boxes are there in the attic wired and capped, waiting for final steps). Husband had avoided doing a full ceiling sheetrocking; seemed eco-friendly and budget friendly at the time. (These decisions always do.) The sheetrock around the old light fixture had years of heat and whatever. Therefore, plaster just crumbled when we put the Halo can in. Argh. Many phone calls. Patching. I need to go to a special store. Will the "mistake ring" arrive at our lighting store soon and will it cover enough of the problem? These are the days of our lives. When we're not chasing down our kids.

Stairs to the family room, still not done. Subcontractor had to make those special, wanted to finish some bigger jobs first. More famous last words.

Goes it without saying that I too lack a backsplash? I liked a "value" (really a relative term) glass tile from Ann Sacks. But then I find out that really I want the clear poly grout, and the installation really goes up in price. And too, I have the rest of my granite on hold. I have enough granite to do both my bathroom vanities upstairs. And I ought to do those tile backsplashes at the same time... A decision before February is needed.
NewToYou
12 years ago
I can SO relate! Our deadline had been Thanksgiving but the carpenter hurt his back. So now we have our fingers crossed for Christmas..........and we are living in the house during the renovation. It is aggravating but we will have a wonderful new kitchen at the end of this dismal tunnel! Love and light!

~Anne
zeebee
12 years ago
Fingers crossed for you all that your kitchens are liveable for the holiday!

We dodged that bullet when, during kitchen planning, we decided to open up the back of the house to bring in more light (replacing two tall narrow windows with large picture window, replacing wooden door to backyard with double French doors). DH, bless his pointed head, thought we should break ground this past September because surely, surely the cold weather would hold off long enough for the back of the house to be flayed open, and the contractors could just "whip in and out". (This, from a man who witnessed our last renovation, estimated at six months, stretch to 22 months before we got final signoffs). After I finished laughing hysterically, I convinced him to start in the spring instead. So we'll be in our old kitchen this Christmas, but (fingers crossed) a new one for Xmas 2012.
tracie.erin
12 years ago
It will be "done enough" for Thanksgiving. We are DIYing our cabinets, so the goal for Thanksgiving was to finish the oven cabinet and get the ovens installed, which should happen this weekend.

Anyone else scrambling to get renos done before Christmas??

Comments (17)

EATREALFOOD

angie_diy

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Anyone else scrambling to get renos done before Christmas??

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