Besides doing loads and LOADS of laundry (and loving it!), there has been a lot of action here at 23 Magnolia since the start of 2023. Given the gloomy January weather, we are thrilled the work is now taking place inside the house, rather than outside in Prince Paddy’s mud puddles. The major developments can be broken down into three categories: floors and cabinets and showers. Oh my!
FLOORS
We thought we’d spend the NYE holiday finishing our downstairs concrete floor. Tache has never buffed and polished concrete before, so this undertaking was new to both of us. I googled the process, watched some YouTube videos, and outlined what steps we should take to perfectly finish our floors. Tache ignored me and went to A+ Rentals for a floor buffer and said, “Let’s see what this does.” Great plan, Tache.
He sprayed water on the floor and then steered the buffer around, sanding off layers and layers of muck that had accumulated over the past year. Up came gunk tracked in from Prince Paddy’s mud puddles; dust from 2000 sq ft of drywall emerged and transformed into muck; and most interesting, we saw layers of concrete efflorescences sanded into a powder that when mixed with water turned into… you guessed it: MUCK! My job was to follow Tache around and attempt to mop up the thick, clay-like sludge. A single mopping just made a bigger mess. The second and third swipe simply pushed it around. So I got on my hands and knees with a shower squeegee and literally squeegeed the 1000 sq ft of our downstairs floor.
Even after all this, it still wasn’t clean. For the next week or so, I mopped the floors a few times each day – literally one bucket at a time. I would mop a section of the floor, go outside to the hose bib, rinse the mop in a bucket, dump the water, add new water, ring the mop, and go back inside to mop the next section. I’m pretty sure I mopped more in one week than I have in my entire lifetime. Eventually, the dirty mop water was clear-ish and we called it good enough. Tache then coated the concrete with a highly toxic sealant. So toxic in fact, it killed all insects that had moved in before us (flies, moths, spiders, pill bugs, etc.). To be safe, we left the doors open and aired it out for a couples days. It’s looking good now!
As for upstairs, we decided to go with cork floors given its eco-friendliness, hypoallergenic properties, and sound dampening abilities. Tache went to Seattle to pick up the flooring I found online. He had it all loaded into his truck when he decided to open a box and see what it looked like. Apparently I ordered waterproof cork flooring, which takes all the benefits of cork and then glues a layer of cheap laminate overtop. Oops! Tache then unloaded everything he just loaded and called to politely inform me of my error so I could order the correct flooring. Still waiting on that.
CABINETS
A couple weeks ago, our Cyber Monday appliances arrived. Home Depot took $500 off each appliance purchased, which made our brand new, super shiny refrigerator totally free. It’s so big, but then again any fridge looks giant after years of boat and trailer mini-fridges. But it actually was too big – it couldn’t fit through the front door. Luckily the movers were able to remove the Styrofoam packaging and squeeze it in. Phew!
Then, last week, our cabinets arrived. Who ever thought shelving would be so exciting?! Tache’s fishing buddy owns a cabinet and countertop business, and kindly gave us the fishing-buddy discount. If you’ve ever had to buy cabinets, you know how ridiculously expensive they are. I won’t tell you what we paid and truthfully the number is larger than anything my 20-year-old self would have ever thought I’d spend on shelves and drawers that hold Goodwill mugs, random bowls, and a mish-mash of Tupperware containers. That said, we got a great deal!
Tache has been waking up super early thanks to his fresh start to the new year (I would say bright and early, but he told me it was literally still dark out!). He was installing the cabinets this weekend before I even woke up. Once I had a couple cups of coffee in me, I obviously offered to help – I made breakfast!
SHOWERS
You know what, I’m just going to say the guest bathroom is AMAZING. You will see it when you come visit. Let’s leave it at that. For now, Tache and I will be enjoying long, hot showers in our own home. This means no longer showering in public bathrooms, or at the yoga studio, or pool, or at my sister’s, or cramped in the teeny-tiny trailer shower, or ever again needing quarters to operate the showers at the marina. Life is feeling pretty good these days. Oh my!!
Impressed!!! So happy for you guys.And thanks Lyndsay for keeping us up to date!
You guys have really put your Heart and Soul into this House. Looking good and the house too.
Lots of love joanne
Ahhh! Yay!!! So excited for you guys. Everything looks so good and really coming together. Hugs, Britt.