Tag Archives: renovations

The renovations are done!

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Sorry I haven’t posted for a while – I’ve been celebrating:)  My lovely family gave me a fabulous birthday weekend and to start it all off the contractors departed on Thursday – hooray!  I’ve captured a few before and after shots to share with you.  We’re still in the process of moving back into our room and until the closet is finished I’ll still be running up and downstairs for clothes.  We’re thrilled with the results though and we are woken by sunlight flooding through our new windows every morning – it’s fabulous!

Before and after stairs to our basement t.v. room – no more carpet covered in apple juice!!

Closet before and after – thrilled to have a walk in – just have to build it out now!

Before and after windows and hardwoods – love my wall of light!

I was a tad nervous when I saw this back in June when I was in the UK!

Before bathroom:  small windows, separate toilet, no tub and poor use of space!

New bathroom!! Open, bright, new windows and a tub!!


Believe it or not I haven’t used the tub yet but my plan tonight is to have a long soak with some bubbles!

I’ll be posting more later to tell you all about how 41 feels and how I celebrated over the weekend!

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Reading material.

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I pity the poor folk who have less IT literacy than I do and try to borrow eBooks or audio books from Fulton library system!  I have been trying to get a few alternatives to listen to and read on the plane on Monday but blimey you need a flippin’ IT degree to figure out the library’s system – I used to work in IT and have still been struggling!  There appears to be a cluster of issues making it nigh on impossible to borrow a book.  A combination of few available books, several file formats, several apps needing to be downloaded, and zero compatibility with my Macbook – resulting in one frustrated borrower.  It’s easier and cheaper time wise just to buy a couple of books on iTunes or go back to the good old paperback.  MM thinks I’m fooling myself anyway – thinking that I will have time to read with a 4 year old and a 6 year old in a confined space for 9 hours is just asking for trouble:)  Anyway the third book in the Larsson trilogy will be joining me on the plane and I will get to read it – though I’ll be sad when I’ve finished it – I’ve loved these books so much.  Next on my list is the new Robert Harris book – The Fear Index.

I’m off to the pool with Poppy this afternoon again to avoid the workmen at home.  I had a sneak peek in the room yesterday and my oh my – it’s all gone!  The old bathroom is completely demolished and the old closet wall is gone!  So we’re almost at the ‘fun’ bit – that is bringing in the new bathroom!  It does look a bit creepy in there now – as MM pointed out – they get their plastic sheeting from the same supplier as Dexter Morgan🙂

I opted for a bit of summer color today with my Boden fab jersey tunic in prune (I have the moss here too).  This really has been the surprise of the season – it is so lovely in real life – the colors really pop.  Luckily I also have the perfect J.Crew cashmere cardigan to coordinate with the orange in it – and my nectarine Tory Burch Revas work perfectly! Apologies for the dark photo again and all the stuff behind me – my packing is in full swing!

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Dislocation.

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Uuuurgh – sorry for the lack of weekend posts.  I have had an exhausting, stressful time running up and down stairs moving what appears to be shed loads of clothes, shoes (some I’d forgotten about – the shame) and cosmetics to the basement suite where MM and I will be residing until the end of the renovations.  In a way it’s quite nice to have the opportunity for a good clear out.  We really haven’t done it since we moved into the house 4 years ago – then we just put stuff in what seemed logical places and now, having lived in the house for a while, I know there is a better way to organize things.  In fact it will be amazing to have a large walk in closet where all my lovely clothes can be hung, and shoes can be stacked for easy access.  You wouldn’t believe the amount of crap that my bathroom vanity had hidden in it.  I must have really suffered with hemorrhoids after the birth of my son – I had about 20 different brands of cream in there!!  Ouch!

Poppy and I took a break from the turmoil yesterday and headed to the salon for her hair cut.  Honestly you would think she is 6 going on 16.  Mom wasn’t allowed to sit with her – but I assure you as I sat in the waiting area I could hear her chit chatting away ‘well ac-tual-leee I can do this’, ‘no reeeeally she said so’, ‘I SO like that’…etc.etc.  Where did my little girl go?  She’s been possessed by a 16 year old mall rat!

The workmen arrived this morning…an hour late…not a good start…but at least they showed up to start the demo.  I now have to stay clear of the house all day till 4pm so I don’t get roped into making cups of tea all afternoon:)  I did manage to get MM to move the only long mirror in the house down into the guest room where we are sleeping for the next 8 weeks – but the photo is pretty dreadful today – I need to move the mirror somewhere where it doesn’t look like I have a light affixed to my head!

The outfit isn’t too inspiring today mainly as I was struggling for ideas after carrying all the clothes downstairs.  Packing for England this week is going to be a nightmare – I already can’t find half my underwear!  I’m wearing my Hudson jeans – all of you in England will be happy to hear it’s throwing it down here too and we have grey skies today.  Paired with the jeans is the Boden Pretty top from last summer – a lovely, ‘pretty’, easy to wear top that is much more girly than my usual attire.  On my feet I have my Tory Burch flannel Revas which are really comfy.  You’ll notice I’m also desperate for a haircut – 6 weeks between cuts really is too long for me.

 

A work in progress.

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We met with our contractor the other day.  He came with his crew to get some last minute measurements before delivering our final quote.  We’ve been in the house for just over 4 years and to be honest the work is really more cosmetic than necessary.  We are having a new master bathroom, replacing the remaining carpeted floors with hardwoods and adding granite and a new back splash in the kitchen.  Much to my delight I have also managed to squeeze in a new walk-in closet into the design!  Well they might as well while they’re here and doing our bedroom floors right?  Our current closet isn’t small – certainly not by UK standards, but MM is gradually surrendering more and more space to my ever increasing collection of clothes.  I’m not very good at getting rid of stuff – or maybe I’m just getting better at choosing clothing I love and cherish for longer?

My current overcrowded closet space (not including my shoe closet or the winter clothes now in storage downstairs!):

The pool at the Y opened yesterday – summer is officially here!  Going to the pool with a 4 and 6 year old always requires preparation, though MM has it down to quite a fine art these days.  Snacks are required so they can refuel on peanut butter sandwiches, watermelon and strawberries, plus of course pool toys, sunblock, towels and changes of clothes.  It’s never a case of just ‘nipping’ to the pool – proper planning is required.

I got to try out some of my new summer arrivals for the first time too.  I really like the Boden towelling hoody especially in this candy stripe – though I’m not a fan of the big white buttons.  I may just cut them off as I think they look a bit cheap.  It’s currently in the sale at $66.30 which I think is a bargain given the quality of the fabric – it will last many summer seasons.  If truth be told it probably is a little too warm to wear here in Atlanta over a bathing suit.  I think it’s much better suited to a blustery Mediterranean beach but I’ll have to wait to test that theory until after the new floors, bathroom and closet!

Yesterday I wore the ruffle trim tankini in Bluebell bud which I adore and wore on our trip to Tybee Island at Spring break.  Today I’m wearing the Apple stripe for the first time – I think I prefer this color but it is a close call.  I’m very glad I bought 3 colors in this suit – plus I have the tankini tops and the bikini tops so I will get maximum wear out of them.  All the pieces are currently on sale and all but the navy stripe are available.  I was hesitant to photograph myself in a bikini for fear of attracting the ‘reader’s wives’ followers but hey I’m here to show you how items of clothes look on real women so here goes – although I did opt to keep my shorts on:)

I hope there aren’t too many Cinco de Mayo hangovers out there today.  I enjoyed a couple of margaritas with my healthy chicken burritos last night so it’s back on the wagon for me today.

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