The Aftermath

It's been an official two days since the Rabbits have been "done" with our house.  After a very long three months of surprises, bad attitudes from the Rabbits, and a little bit of stress in between, Jared and I are VERY glad to have the guys out of the house.  However, it seems as though Pete left us a parting gift by way of a huge mess and several issues in his work.  Though the Rabbits are technically done with their work, our house is far from being ready for real living.

Before I get to the bad things, there are a few pluses to this story.

Our laundry closet is just about functional.  The stacking washer/dryer that we got didn't come with the kit to secure the dryer to the washer, so we are waiting on that to come in.  Due to a last minute decision, we painted the room with the reject pint of color that bought originally for the kitchen.  I think the splash of color is super fun!  Though lacking baseboard and crown molding, this room is pretty much complete!

We also got half of our countertop order in Thursday night.  The bar part of the counters was ordered incorrectly, so, as if we haven't been waiting long enough, they will be in at a later date.  When I first laid eyes on the counters, I had a moment of panic when I realized that there was just something wrong about the way the kitchen looked.  And then it hit me.  We had picked the countertops under the assumption that we were going to use our first choice in paint color.  The cabinet/countertop/wall color combination was just NOT doing it for me.  After all this time, I was so frustrated to find that, at the end, it seemed nothing could go right.  So, even though I am still not impressed by my previous choice, I'm reminding myself that it's infinitely better than what we did have!  I do think that eventually, something about the kitchen will have to change, be it wall color or countertop color.  I know what you're thinking; why would I want to get new counters so soon?  Actually, I've been looking around on the internet for ways to improve laminate countertops, and there are some viable possibilities out there.  I would honestly rather recover the counters than paint the entire kitchen again.  Still, all these contemplations are going to have to be pushed back to a time when the house is not in a state of disaster.

Also installed Thursday night was the counter in the new bathroom.  This beauty turned out MUCH more to my liking, and I'm very pleased with it.  I'm already contemplating color schemes for the new bathroom.  And yes, it's DONE!

No more twenty minute round trip showers!  We have a fully functional bathroom!  It was finished a week late, but the point is, it was finished.  Friday evening, after the Rabbits had cleared out, I reveled in what is a convenience for the civilized world.  Even though I had been able to take showers at Jared's work, the sheer inconvenience of it made my disposition during our renovation slightly dim.  Now that we have a functional albeit unfinished bathroom, the house has started to feel more like a home.








Unfortunately that was pretty much the extent of the good news.  The bad news is, the Rabbits didn't clean up ONE BIT.  The aftermath of their stay here is all over the house, and Jared and I have a long few weeks of cleaning ahead of us.  Keeping in mind that Jared's mom is coming on the 17th, we have a lot to do.

Just because I feel like venting a little, how difficult is it to throw away a little bit of trash?

Even though the Rabbits are done, the family room needs to be sanded in preparation for paint, and Glenn has a crew coming in Monday for that purpose.

Even though there was some patchwork for Jared to do in the living room, we really didn't need all this sheet rock.  Yet here it is.

Perhaps the biggest annoyance has been this discovery.  Someone spilled a large amount of PVC glue on a complete box of unused tile.  Not only is the tile ruined now...

The floor has been affected as well.  The poor floors in this house have taken a beating since the Rabbits first started working.  If I could show how horrid the floors look in a single picture, I would.  The thing that really gets to me is that the gorgeous hardwood floors were one of the redeeming qualities about this house when we first discovered it, and now they look terrible.  Though I'm happy to have the Rabbits gone and their work done, I'm not happy with the fact that the floors really need to be refinished because of them.

Now on to Jared's mess!  Saturday was our kick start into our work on the house.  As Jared was moving some unnecessary items into the attic, the finicky light switched off, making it impossible for him to see.  This caused him to misstep, and he slipped, falling through the ceiling in the living room.  Among the sheet rock and foam insulation that crashed to the floor, the packing peanuts that someone back in the day decided to use as insulation created this giant mess.

When I came around the corner, Jared's leg was dangling through the hole, but I was so spooked, I didn't even see it.  I ran up the stairs to the attic to see if I could help, but Jared being the super man that he is had only a little trouble getting himself out of his predicament.  Luckily, other than a scraped leg and a small amount of bruising, he's just fine!  Our ceiling, however, is not.

After opening up the hole to make it easier to patch, Jared joked about making it into a skylight, which I quickly denied.  Among all the other projects on hand, I think this has been the accident of the site.












As of today, we have thirteen days until our company arrives.  Tomorrow (Monday) the sheet rock crew is coming to finish the family room and any other random spots that need to be sanded.  By the end of the day, pretty much everything should be paint ready.  Tuesday, the clean up crew will be in to get rid of the Rabbit's mess.  Wednesday, I'm planning on painting my butt off.  Ok not literally.  The pantry in the kitchen and the family room need to be painted.  Due to time constrains, the bedrooms, bathrooms, and living room are lower on the list of things to be painted.

We also have not had time to assess the main bathroom.  It's usable, though pretty gross, and with company coming, we're at odds with what to do with it to make it bearable.  So even though the contracted work is done, we are far from close to the end of this whole experience.