Meg Logan’s Blog

Well, We are renovating the house. We currently have about 15oo square feet in our living house, and about 500 square feet in an adjacent “apartment”. (The “apartment” has water but no toilet). When we moved here four years ago, the house was a MESS. We had no A/C, the heat was electric baseboard and it cost an arm and a leg and didn’t even keep the house warm, (so we turned it off instead!). We had yucky floors all covered with Old, dirty linoleum, and a poorly designed kitchen, with no dish washer, among other things. (Well my husband likes to say that HE had a dishwasher, aka, ME! lol)

In the first four years we upgraded the flooring to cheapo, self installed carpet, in the main living room, and a nice, cheapo professionally installed carpet in the Playroom. Plus we installed cheapo vinyl (which has held up remarkably well for the low price we paid!) in the kitchen. We were blessed with those things, plus a heat pump, which here in the South is plenty to both cool and heat our house for a very reasonable electric bill. The Lord blessed us with an automatic dishwasher in the third year, and a great deal on a new stove in the beginning of the fourth year. Last year hubby re-roofed the “apt” and had someone finish up the main house (as he was too busy to get to it!) The roofing required removing three layers of asphalt shingle, and replacing many boards.

This is what we have done in the last month and a half.
- gutted the “apartment” including removal of a chimney
- reinforced the roofing beams, and leveled the ceiling (”apt”)
- built walls in the “apt”
- installed sheet rock in the “apt”
- painted the “apt”
- painted the whole inside and outside of the house
- pressure washed the outside of the house
- got new vinyl siding on the “apt” (so now the buildings match)
- had all the windows re-glazed (we have old fashion windows), and the trim painted
- taken numerous trips to the dump, one such trip my husband did alone, and he loaded up and off loaded a total of 2.8 tons in one load!
- Removed all the old cabinets from the kitchen
- installed new cabinets
- installed new counters (almost done)
- killed weeds in the front gardens, trimmed back the bushes, and laid down some nice pine nugget mulch

And this is what is left to do:
- finish the kitchen: the counters, the backsplash tile work, the kitchen sink, the peninsula and counter, finish the vinyl flooring
- Finish the flooring throughout house: new carpet EVERYWHERE and in the “apt”
- freshen up the front yard, and plant something pretty in the flower pots
- seal the chimney
- replace a toilet seat
- Clean up all the dust from the remodel!

Ahh and then we shall be living in an amazing house! Right now, I am living in a construction zone. It is fascinating! My whole living room is taken over by boxed cabinets and such, my kitchen is only half way done, and the kids rooms are full of furniture that we will be moving to get the carpet down. It is interesting to say the least!

And what have I learned??

I have learned that God works on HIS timing. That contractors work on THEIR timing and that MY timing really doesn’t matter! LOL.
I have also learned that my husband is a genius! Not only can he do amazing things with a computer, but he can build walls, install cabinets, be a mason, eat practically nothing while the kitchen is a mess, deal with serious stress and missed “deadlines” and STILL smile. Not to mention that but he is seriously strong! The man can carry two sheets of 4×8 sheetrock ALONE, and can lift and install ceiling height 42 inch wide cabinets by himself! He is also amazing with math, determining the EXACT reason that a ceiling is sagging, and how to fix that, plus finding out what the slope is on the kitchen floor and making the cabinets level. HA, what a guy! Just an all around Renaissance man over here.

Mrs. Meg Logan