On Friday, January 10 we awoke at 4:15am to catch our
early-bird flight out of Knoxville. We barricaded our cats up in the master
bedroom, and said adieu to war-zone
downstairs. We arrived in Fort Lauderdale to board the Celebrity Equinox (same ship as our honeymoon) and learned
our room had been complimentary upgraded from a window to a balcony room. We
couldn’t have been more ecstatic! The next ten days were filled with
sleeping-in, room service, beachfront naps, massages and tropical drinks. We
still kept in touch with events and decisions being made back at home, but
really enjoyed ourselves while we were away. The contractor and workers had
started piecing our house back together from the day we left, so great progress
was made in those ten days.
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| St. Thomas, USVI |
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| Barbados |
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| Champagne Coral Reef |
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| Champagne Coral Reef snorkeling in Dominica |
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| Hot Springs at Trafalgar Falls, Dominica |
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| Dinner date with my love |
When we arrived home on Monday, January 20th,
nothing could prepare us for what we saw as we walked in the door. The walls
had been torn down to the studs, insulation was removed, and plastic was hanging
everywhere. We were literally living in a construction zone, and still are! In
the meantime, they’ve insulated and hung new drywall, replaced all baseboards,
and painted all walls, baseboards, crown molding and trim. The new flooring has
been acclimating inside for a week and they begin that project on Monday. We
went shopping for all new appliances, and purchased items to be delivered next
weekend. Lastly, new custom cabinets won’t be in for a few weeks, so this
project will ‘be continued’ until I can unveil official ‘Before and After’
pictures. It’s been stressful planning a complete redo of your entire
downstairs, but all-in-all it has a silver lining to the entire fiasco. Our
insurance company, American National Property & Collision (ANPAC), has been
awesome throughout this entire experience, and I can’t say enough positive
things about the way everything has been handled. Afterall, we’ve only been
homeowners for six months and now we will have a completely renovated
downstairs. The first three photos are before the disaster, and can be read about here. Here’s some photos taken while we were gone and also the progress made this past week:
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| Note location of kitchen window as reference guide. To the very right of the photo is the back patio french door. |
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| Butlers Pantry across from dishwasher |
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| Long view of kitchen. To the left of the fridge is the garage door. Note fridge location (this is where the leak occurred in the ceiling/wall) |
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| Studs and concrete slab floor exposed (note window and french door location) |
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| Kitchen window and looking where the stove should be |
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| When we arrived home, drywall had been put up and the entire bulkhead removed (YAY!). You're looking at the garage door, and to the left the hallway containing the laundry closet and half bath. |
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| Butler's pantry location (left door is the pantry and right door is the half bath) |
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| Current living room view (old fridge and stove under plastic). Note new baseboards, newly painted walls and molding. |
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| Kitchen window and french door |
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| Kitchen view with garage door |
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| Butler's pantry |
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| Hallway into dining room |
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| Half bath |
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| View from dining room back into kitchen (Jack is very unhappy with the renovations) |
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| Dining Room (new flooring in the boxes) |
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| In living room looking toward front door and dining room |
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| Reesie is also very unhappy with the current accommodations |
Stay tuned for the final installment, The Great Flood of 2014: Part Three!!
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