The "For Sale" sign is up....with a "coming soon" sticker on it (that came after I took the picture). It'll be ready for showings as of Tuesday November 4th. Everything is coming together now. All of the last minute panics have resolved themselves starting with those effin IKEA fridge panels.
The first panic came when IKEA informed me that the fridge panels that I needed to complete my kitchen were on back order indefinitely. Apparently there is a manufacturing issue with them. So I reached out in any way I could to get those panels somewhere. I posted on Kijiji offering to pay double to anyone who had one kicking around. I posted on Facebook and checked IKEA daily in case someone returned one. With all of that I got the two that I needed. A slightly damaged one had been returned to IKEA and I got there fast enough to snag it up and an old high school buddy of mine saw my post on Facebook and offered one of his up to me. Then, just yesterday, this random person from Kijiji messaged me to tell me that she had seen my ad a while ago and now noticed that someone was selling one so she linked me to their ad. Isn't that cool? A random stranger took a few minutes out of her day to help me out. I'm always saying that most people are good in this world and this is proven to me over and over again.
The next issue was the countertop. The granite guy would not measure until those fridge panels were in place because he needed everything in it's exact place before he templated the granite. Once templated and measured it typically takes 2-3 weeks to get an installation date. I practically begged Paige at Vespa Marble & Granite to rush this order through in 1 week and she did!!!! The countertop was installed today and it's beautiful. I wish I could have splurged and went with a thicker slab of granite but at this point I can't be going overboard. I am WAY over my planned budget. It'll be great once the backsplash is on and the walls are painted.
Another issue was my custom shower curtain. I paid $868 for a frickin shower curtain!!! And that was a discount, by the way, because I almost fainted when they gave me the original quote of $1180. I think the designer saw the colour slowly fading from my pale face and decided to ask her manager if they could cut me a deal. I still would not call that a deal but, again, it's going to look great. It's hanging in my closet at the moment. I wouldn't want to wrinkle that thing! This shower curtain was supposed to be ready in four weeks which would have been last Friday but I got an e-mail from the designer last week saying it was going to be another 2-3 weeks. I politely flipped out on her and surprise, the shower curtain arrived today.
The final issue was my porch/deck. I spoke to my brother a long time ago about building it for me but then he was unexpectedly hospitalized so I lined up another contractor who thought he would be able to get it done in my time frame but I wasn't totally convinced. But then out of the blue one morning as I'm sound asleep in my bed the doorbell starts ringing repeatedly along with profuse pounding on the door. That could only be one of two people who would act so obnoxiously - my brother or the other which I'll leave nameless to save face. I dearly love both of the obnoxious men I speak of though. I crawl out of bed, open the door and see my brother standing there. He says "What the hell are you doing sleeping? It's almost 7:00 a.m. You wanna build a deck or what?" I really have no option at this point so I quickly throw on my pants, chug a protein shake and head off to Home Depot with him to load up on wood. I have learned that if my brother is in the mood to work you better run with it because his attention span is about that of a 2 year old.
That's my brother carrying the wood.
So now the final touches. I have a painter coming in tomorrow to finish off the last few things. I told him he's not allowed to take the weekend off. The job has to be done by the end of the day Monday. I am going to rent the staging furniture tomorrow from Shirley at Smart Choice. God I love the customer service from that lady. She's an absolute doll. Last coat of paint goes on the deck tomorrow and this weekend I will clean, hang curtains, hang artwork, clean up the yard and remove the last of the construction debris and then I think it will be safe to say I am done! I took almost 5 months to the day to complete this project.
If nothing else, I am proud. I directed the entire project from start to finish by myself. I sincerely enjoyed every last minute of it. I learned so much, I met a ton of great people, I had a lot of laughs and I contributed to the value and esthetics of a culturally rich neighbourhood. I would do it all over again in a heart beat!
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