We’re still knee-deep in home renovations for the new place and, man o’ man, has it been a process! This all began in November when my wife and I decided to do a quick consultation with an interior designer to help us pick out colors and make suggestions because, admittedly, this isn’t in either of our wheelhouses.
In the end, we’ve come to the conclusion that the consult was a very good idea but we took a very long and twisting road to arriving at that realization. You see, immediately after the meeting with her last November we questioned almost every one of her recommendations. Now, almost nine months later and after a lot of deliberation, taking home samples, dealing with a zillion different stores and vendors, and changing our minds we’ve realized the designer was right in almost all of her suggestions.
These days there are an almost infinite number of choices of materials and colors. It’s overwhelming and, at times, paralyzing. The only true limit is your imagination and, of course, your wallet. I remember growing up in the 70’s and 80’s when I’d go to a hardware store with my father when he was renovating. From what I remember, back then, you had just a small handful of choices for ceramic tile, wood paneling (yes, that was a thing back then), and carpet.
After getting dangerously close to the point of burnout in this arduous process I finally feel as though we’re finally making some progress (first world problems, I know). So far, we’ve decided on the hardwood flooring for the upper level, the carpet and tile for the lower level. Now we’re fine-tuning the materials for the kitchen.
I’m finding home renovation is an excellent metaphor for life. It’s important to have a clear vision of what you want before acting—otherwise, you end up frustrated and confused, with a whole lot of wasted time and effort. There’s also a lot to be said about focusing on what you’re good at. I’m looking very forward to the day when this is all behind us and there’s something else to focus on other than renovations. Soon, I hope to have some after photos to share.
Thank you
I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for the support of my new sci-fi fiction series, becoming. I have no idea what I'll do with this story, ultimately, but it's been extremely fun for me to work on.
Over a decade after writing my first sci-fi novel, Alarm Clock Dawn (how can that even be possible?), it's been interesting to see how time and life-experience have changed me as a writer.
I'm thrilled to say I've come up with the ending for the series but I think it will take at least six more installments to steer it there. I always forgot how much fun it is to completely immerse yourself in a fictional world. I hope you all are enjoying reading it as much as I'm enjoying crafting it.
Nature is a Vitamin
I’m still experimenting with the iPhone’s camera portrait feature on my daily walks. The wetlands are making their transition into late summer now. Almost everything that blooms is just beyond peak now. Very shortly, within a month or so, autumn colors will start showing. Summer is way too brief in this part of the world.
As you can see from the clips above, our backyard bird feeders have become very popular with the local birds. Yesterday, when I was on the deck reading I had a hummingbird fly within just a few inches of me. I hope to get a video of them soon. I didn’t realize what I was missing out on by living in the city all those years. It’s a different, and much more peaceful world out here. Nature is truly like a vitamin, being immersed in it has reminded me how healing and life-enhancing it can be. I'm so happy we made the choice to escape the city.
All for now. Thanks for reading and enjoy your weekend, everyone!
I've never dealt with a designer before, but I have seen lots of people on TV and it seems there is a bit of a leap of faith aspect to it. I think ultimately as long as they take the time to get to know you and what you like, they probably are going to get it right 95% of the time. Best of luck with the future stuff!
I think it's important to do your homework and check ratings before hiring. We chose a designer that specializes in lower-to-medium budget projects and not high-end stuff. I liked that she had a more cost-conscious angle and gave us advice on ways to accomplish what we wanted within our budget. She even suggested things we could do ourselves. Thanks Jay!
That's really cool! You are probably right, there is likely a huge range of talent, cost, and expectations across the board!
I certainly wouldn't want to deal with a project of that magnitude... sounds way beyond me😀 good luck!
Thanks, Rebecca. I'm okay as long as I feel like we're making progress and moving ahead. It's when I feel like things are stagnating is when burnout sets in for me. After a year, there's going to be a pretty big void to fill when this is all done, but I won't be one bit sad about it. Lol.
And as a good metaphor for life, it teaches us that there are specialists we can seek out to do their job. I've never dealt with such a large renovation project, but if even small changes can be a headache, I can't imagine a renovation of this magnitude. As for the novel, I'm very excited and hooked. I once read that when we write fiction, if we have the ending, we have the map and everything is a piece of cake. We'll just have to wait and see! Have a nice weekend and hugs.
Oh, I don't know how normal it is to see hummingbirds where you live. According to popular belief, when a hummingbird appears near you, it's a sign of joy and positive things to come.🌺
My dad raised my brother and I to do everything ourselves because we could never afford to hire contractors and such. It took a long time for me to get comfortable hiring people to do work around the house but if you hire the right contractor it makes all the sense in the world—they can do it faster and, oftentimes better. I remember all those 3-4 trips to the hardware store a day when I was younger and working on projects! It's nice not to have to do that anymore.
I'm so glad to hear you're into the new novel! It's not getting nearly as much engagement Alarm Clock Dawn did back in 2016 but these are very different times. I just have to keep reminding myself of that. I'm having so much fun writing it and that makes it worth the effort. Ideas about the story are running in the background of my imagination all the time. The middle parts of fiction are always the toughest for me. It's almost like I have a 10,000ft view of the story arc in the very beginning and I just need to zoom in and drill down into the details. I have it now though. I might even extend it beyond 12 chapters.
We never saw hummingbirds in the city but they're abundant out here during the warm months. They'll be migrating to South America in about a month. It's hard to believe they can fly all those thousands of miles. This is the first one that's come so close. They're such curious creatures! I remember one in Sedona, AZ when we were staying there in 2023. It would come visit me every day when I sat in the hot tub in the afternoon and just hover about 6ft away. I like the sound of positive things to come! I can always use more good energy! Thank you Nancy! I hope you're enjoying your days off and having a few beers by the sea.
Your kitchen choices look nice and modern. Is that white countertop quartz type counter top or marble?
And I have been really enjoying reading your Sci-Fi novel (the first six parts so far :) ) My favorite sci-fi Epic of all time is Dune Series by Frank Herbert, his son and Kevin Anderson did good as well, but it is not the same...
Thanks, we're going for clean Mid-Century Modern-ish. That style seems pretty timeless and we want it to fit a variety of tastes when it comes time to sell this place. This countertop is from a company called Cambria and it's quartz. It's so heavy. That little sample piece weights about five pounds.
I'm glad it's held your interest! I'm going to be away for a few days this coming week so it might be a while until the next installment. It'll depend on how much free time I have while I'm out of town because the laptop always comes with me when I travel. : ) I love the Dune Series! Have you read/watched the Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov? The series is on AppleTV and it's amazingly well done. It's probably my favorite of all. It's so rich with detail.
I have read Foundation Series, in fact I even own a couple of those books :) I have not watched the series yet, will try to convince my wife and daughter to watch those...
Quartz is a great choice, very practical compared to granite or marble.
Awesome! I want to buy the books to add them to my library. The series on AppleTV is phenomenal. It took me a good three episodes to get into it though but once I was I was hooked.
That's good to hear. We've never had a quartz countertop. We had granite in our old place and it was a nightmare—delicate (it chipped on the corners) and not fun to maintain.
Glad to hear you are getting things set up. Personally I'd be happy to never think about design. Or just stick up the same wood paneling in every room that every single house had when we were kids and bring me some of that nostalgia warmness.
Honestly, interior design isn't my favorite thing but I love architectural design—specifically Frank Lloyd Wright's work. I was going to school to be an architect before I changed my focus to writing. I gravitate towards simple, clean, design. I'd be perfectly happy with one of the old traditional Japanese-style homes like the ones featured in The Last Samurai. Something about those homes calls to me. We had wood paneling in all the bedrooms in the house I grew up in.
We just bought a new place and I've been already renovating in my mind between two and four am. I'm pretty good putting colour together and designing even if I do say so myself. Not surprisingly, my algorithm is throwing me tapware, drapes and tiles. Yep, there's a lot of choice out there!
Don't stress, you will get through it.
After a hurricane took our roof, my husband and I stripped the house to the studs. It was a 4 bedroom two bath. We did all the work ourselves, except for the drywall, floor and bathroom tiles, and new roof. We lived in the backyard in a 20 foot camper with a rotweiler, a dachshund, and two cats for 18 months.
I only begin to feel stress when progress starts to stall out or indecision sets in. That's a lot of work to do a full reno down to the studs! My parents were caught in four hurricanes when they first moved down there to FL but, luckily, only lost their car port. I bet you guys were happy when that was all fixed!
Yes, we were happy to get it finished and everything new in it, and 6 months later, we got a letter from the county saying they wanted to widen a road, and they said if we did not sell to them, they would take it.
That’s horrible!
Nature is lovely. Touch grass is never the insult it masquerades as. I think... as we all age, we all get into bird watching. I watched a super fascinating video about birds and ultrasonic microphones, and how a bloke stored a PNG image into the soundwaves, and got a starling to mimicry it back at him, as a sort of self portrait via sound.
Really beautiful stuff.
Just renovate the kitchen so you can spend some time outdoors, though; yeah?
It is lovely. I feel so much more at peace out here and, honestly, would like to move out even further on some acreage. I much prefer living in nature and traveling into the city instead of vice versa. Once we make that connection with the animals it's amazing the connection we feel with them. Last summer, before we moved away from the city, we had the squirrels in the city park eating from our hands. I could whistle and they'd all come running towards us. These animals are so much smarter than we give them credit for, in many ways smarter than us.
That's the plan! We hope to be wrapping all this work up before Thanksgiving in November.
#hive
#hive #posh
Nice to read more wow