House Refreshing

In an article in the New York Times, Allison Arieff wrote about the long house hunt she and her husband went through in order to find a home that hadn't been upgraded and remodeled to within an inch of its life, preferring instead a home for the long haul, a home to grow old in instead of flipping it in resale.

I guess that's we we are, these days, in a home we've lived in for 21 years, and hope to live in for another few years or so, until we sell or give everything away and move into our retirement condo.

This home was built, as near as I can determine, about 33 years ago.  We have three designs in this tract of homes, and we call ours "A."  From the outside the passerby sees faux boulders on a small wall, bordered by a three-car garage and a small porch.  One large living room window and two other small windows in the upstairs punctuate the board and stucco siding.  We are not the newest owners on our street, and not the oldest on our street, as many bought their homes from the builder and are still here.

I've stripped all the 70's wallpaper off, room by room, and some have been painted and repainted, purposed and repurposed as our family has grown, just like some of the commentors on Arieff's blog.  We replaced all the flooring about five years ago, and the now-cracked tile in the wood-sub-floor bathrooms upstairs are being replaced as well.  Kitchen counters and window were done last year.  But now our house has now really come of age: we're refreshing a bathroom this month--installing a new cabinet, countertop, sinks and shower. I stopped by the cabinet guy the other day with a basket of Things We Use in the Bathroom (radio, hair dryer, curling iron, tall bottles of shampoo, etc.) in order to measure the shelves in the pullout section of our cabinet.  Two stops the next day trying to pick out handles. . . or should I use knobs?  I picked up the sinks from the plumbing supply store and they are stacked in my dining room along with the new plumbing fixtures.  It's like I'm nesting again--only the layette is for the bathroom refresh, not for a new baby.

I'm sort of dreading it as construction begins the same day as classes begin at my college; I'll have to juggle the first couple weeks of classes (a fluid and challenging experience) while we're juggling bathroom reconstruction (a fluid and challenging experience).  Dave and I will tag-team on being here while the contractors work, trying to be available for the myriads of other decisions that will surely pop up.  Other than all this prep work, all we can do now is wait for it all to begin.  And then to end.