Costs

Since this is the blog of my home renovation journey, the joys and the griefs - the place to put in black and white all that is taking up my thoughts at the moment so that I don't vent it out at the next person who happens to say hello - it would be rather counter productive not mention the stuff that is really taking up my mental space at the moment - the costs!*

I am of the belief that whatever needs to be done, needs to be done well - especially if I am not actually doing it, and just paying for getting it done! But costs are not always financial, a lot of the times it is patience, at others it is clarity, sometimes it is being a good communicator, or trust, sometimes it is getting advice from the right people, or a lot of people and then using your head to make sense of it all!

Now, I need to get the kitchen/living area renovated which includes basically,
- the kitchen itself,
- the appliances - including the range, oven and range-hood
- the bench top (you wouldn't believe how expensive this darn thing is!)
- the living area cupboard
- the TV island
- the flooring;

I'm not sure how much information to put out here about my finances, but basically, it is not being covered with my meagre savings; I have to get my property refinanced (which in plain English means, since the property value appreciates, you can get more loan money against it.) This would be simple enough, except my car is breaking down and I need a new one! And I don't want to compromise on what I really want, so I need to gain clarity of what I really want - because not having that clarity costs dollars, which I don't have! Right! Now, I can get car financed thru work, and to be honest, I don't particularly mind that but I don't want to be paying money that I could have not paid. That means I need to be talking to people, a lot of people and figuring out how it all adds up! But it doesn't end here - of course, it doesn't, what were you thinking (!?!) - I have a holiday planned (or two!) Did anyone tell you holidays don't come cheap? Well, they don't and I don't have too much savings, and hence I am back to the question of what on earth do I want out of my life - back to basic level clarity!!

Do realise here, I am NOT whinging, when your life's most difficult decisions involve holidays and renovations, you've got it good - you've got it excellent!! But don't tell me that if my head is going round in circles, I don't have a reason - I do and I am still tired and grateful!   





*and with that sentence, I have joined the rather illustrious company of Mr. Charles Dickens in having an opening sentence a whole paragraph long - I hope my sentence lands on its feet as well! (where I am referring to White and Strunk, I think)     

Upstairs, downstairs OR where's the strongman?

Among the most unexpected challenges that the current apartment imposes are the narrow doors, the flight of stairs and then, rather whimsically, another flight of stairs within the apartment. I get the wonderful European problems without the great European location or history! That these challenges are unexpected is rather disconcerting to me. I am able to comfortably overcome that that feeling every time I see the sun shining thru one of the windows - "Okay, I make mistakes but I can't be all wrong!", I tell myself.

Currently, I am deciding to get stuff ready for the bathroom renovation that hopefully will be undertaken around September August, let's try and be positive. I would like to not spend a huge amounts of money there! So, I decided if I am going to get a bath, let me get it second-hand. I found a rather quaint claw foot cast iron bath tub on gumtree, and now I need to bring it upstairs - I need strongmen! Where does one find strongmen?

In the meantime, consider these (as I leave the decision to even have the bath or just a larger shower area in the bathroom to my wonderful renovation guy, CB!):

 

Update: The renovation guy has spoken - the bath will have to go - that it is a cast iron bath only makes matters worse for him (and was one reason why I loved it!)

In other news

Guest Room
The guest room has now got only emptied out boxes, instead of full ones and I cannot wait to start using that room. It is the brightest room in the apartment that gets sun the whole day long. (The bedroom on the other hand gets the rising sun.) 

A friend suggested I break up tasks and put them on post-its to solve for the procrastination due to not finding a big enough chunk of energy or time. I think it is a brilliant idea. For the guest room, my list includes:
1. Empty out the white cupboard;
2. Give away and return things that accidentally came from the old apartment or do not belong here, now;
3. Move one of the sofas down the stairs into the guest room;
4. Get rid of the cupboard;
5. Bring in the right tables for the room - I've got a beautiful round oak table that will be replaced in the living area soon.

Flow
The kitchen/living area is going thru waves of cleanliness and messiness; but I love my dishwasher, washing machine and vacuum cleaner! :) I need to find a routine to empty out the bins and pick up the mail. It is not entirely surprising but I still didn't quite grasp just how very important flow is in living spaces. As a recent example, I had moved the pot plant in such a way that the guests didn't see the bin all the time, but it also obstructed me and then ended up with me not getting rubbish from the kitchen bench often enough. Also, once I moved my pots and pans to the right, logical spot my cooking got better.

I need to organise myself a charging station, at the moment that situation is in a bit of a mess.