My worst nightmare has come to life....

So this happened this week. Flea infestation. [insert gag and cringe]

Worst nightmare ever? Yup.

Phobia of microscopic bugs? Yup.

Anxiety, stress, frustration? Yup.

Getting bitten EVERYWHERE? YUP!!!!

Going crazy trying everything to get rid of them? Yup.

Vacuumed like a mad woman, washed clothes in super hot water, sprayed bug spray, bought flea lamps and left them out for these damn fleas. Yup.

Frantically looking at my body and clothes for any fleas clinging on!! (Disgusting!!!) Yup.

This has been a week of punishment. This is truly a living hell, nothing could be worst than my biggest phobia coming to life. We think it's from the feral cats that wander through our yard but who knows. I will win this war.

Eaten alive,
The Lady

Week 9: Painting's done, Tiling Begins

Week 9 started off pretty much in paint mode. I would've never guessed that painting would be such a pain in the butt. Wow. So much work goes into painting. Prepping was the worst part I think. The Man and I along with friends and family members worked till wee-hours of the night painting 5 rooms in 3 days/nights. What an achievement!! Now for the other 7 rooms in the house......(big sigh)

(The Man sanding down the edges since the GC did such a crappy job of it)

(The Man sanding down the edges since the GC did such a crappy job of it)

(The Man's friend helping us out)

(We even called our moms to help us out)

(The Man starting to paint the edges first)

(The Man and I painted till the wee-hours of the night. It's like college all over again)

(The outcome - we are pretty happy with the grey. Behr Ultra Premium - Color Sparrow)

(Why yes, we did go BLACK in the bathroom!!)

(Yes, black's a bit dramatic. We wanted dramatic and elegant/classy)

You know, I should not be surprised with surprises anymore. In fact, I should expect it. This whole reno process has been one surprise after another. However, every time I see an unforeseen surprise or something that doesn't look right, I get an anxiety attack. It's just my nature I guess. I need everything to be perfect. And with an old house, ya just don't get perfect, son!

Breaking point for the Lady. The tile guys and GC just about did it for me. I lost my temper and every bit of confidence I had in them. The height of the "floating cement" came out to be ridiculously unreasonable. It is more like a "curb" rather than a leveling. Floating cement should be 1"~2" at most, not 4"~6"!!!! W.T.F!?!?!? What is going to happen with our transitions? What about the thresholds? What....what.......what.....my god, it's a nightmare.

(I wish I could just forget this whole floating cement nightmare....)

(There is actually 3"+ floating cement towards the back of the powder room...)

(UGHHHHH!!!! When I see this I cringe. W.T.F!! Look at that height difference!!)

(Kill me now, that is the transitional height difference from the kitchen to the living!!)

Please wake me up,

The Lady

Week 3's Nightmare: The process of getting bids from multiple vendors

This Week 3 has been particularly hard for the Man and the Lady. It's frankly been a huge nightmare. We found out some daunting news about our newly bought house, which has made us think twice about this house. Too late now, we're in it 100%....

We have been working everyday after work (our day jobs) at the house, scraping the ceiling and taping off the rooms with plastic sheets. Mentally, it's an exhausting job. I know the Man and I are both pretty burnt out. We get home to our current apartment, which is nice and clean and construction-free, and it's so comforting to be there. We hardly sleep because we have to work afterhours on our house till late at night, it's just like being in college finishing projects, except it's our house.

Nightmare might not be a strong enough word for this week......it's surely been like hell. As I anticipated, once you start opening up the house, it's like opening pandora's box. It's bound to release bad things. We found out that the foundation of our house is basically useless. Our home inspector at the time of the sale told us that the brick was bolted down to the foundation. This past weekend, we had two foundation specialist and structural engineer come out to inspect and evaluate our house. Turns out, the work the previous owner had done to the foundation was basically crap. If anything, they said, it "weakened" the structural support of the house. Basically, we need a new foundation by means of a "sister" foundation.....which short story short, is going to cost anywhere from $30-$40K.....ouch. That's a big slap in the face.

On top of that horrific news (which the Man was very upset about), there's the asbestos we have to get rid of in the house and COMPLETE renovation of the upstair master bathroom and downstairs kitchen/laundry/powder room. Don't get me started on that!!! Okay, Lady has to vent a little about that......sooooooo, I am an interior designer/architect and being in the trade, I know of certain construction details and home renovations. I'm in the business, of course I would know a thing or two. Right? Right. My very first mentor, who taught me pretty much everything about this business, whom I respect and to this day keep in touch with told me long long ago, that General Contractors are like aliens. You'll never quite get their rational and neither will they. They are just from a different planet and don't think like you.....or so interior designers say.

To close off Week 3, we found a leak in the drain pipe for the upstairs bathroom. Another wonderful surprise that comes with an old house. Yay us! NOT!

(The Man on a ladder looking at the leak from upstairs)

(A hole in the drywall ceiling the Man created to get to the source of the leak.
Fantastico! We have a hole in our ceiling!)

When will this end....,
The Lady