Home Renovation Update

Now that carpet and counter top businesses are opening again under tight regulations to keep all participants as safe as possible from COVID-19 transmission, Jackie and I have been to three different places looking at materials for our home renovation project. We were the only customers in the store in all three places, so we got super fast service, and very low risk of getting infected.

 

We’ve visited Carpet Liquidators, where we selected the new flooring for Jackie’s kitchen and my entryway/kitchen/hallways and bathroom, and where I chose a grey carpet for my bedroom and living room. (Both carpets desperately need replacing.)

 

The fellow who helped us at Carpet Liquidators (Jason) was wonderful. He steered me away from one of my favorite (and more expensive) carpets by saying it wasn’t cat friendly; if a cat scratched his or her claws on it, it would break fibers and cause them to stick up and destroy the pattern.

 

Then he pointed me to a cat-proof, very pet-friendly Mohawk carpet that cost less per square foot and comes with an amazing warranty and testing that was bonkers and bizarre. The Mohawk people put it in under elephants, camels, and other zoo animals and under super messy children and even mud-ders (people who work in mud) to prove how nice-looking it stays and how well it holds up. I’m sold!

 

The carpet in my den cleaned up very nicely and is still in good shape, so I’m keeping it. I have posted a note at the door of the den, though: “No Shoes Beyond Here! Thank you!” because it’s a cream color carpet and it gets dirty-looking too fast when I (and others) wear shoes on it, so I’m putting the kibosh on that. Only stocking feet and cat paws allowed from now on!

 

At Great Floors (big box store) and Lakewood Cabinets (local company), we looked at several options for quartz counter tops.

 

I think we’re going with Lakewood Cabinets because the customer service there is out of this world and it’s a local business. Their prices are a wee bit higher because they can’t order in bulk the way big box stores can for multiple outlets, but it’s easy to pay the extra when the service is so much better. (There can be up to a six -week delay at the big box stores for installing counter tops; that won’t be an issue at Lakewood Cabinets.)

 

Lakewood Cabinets has taken a real hit because of the earlier COVID-19 shutdown, too, so it feels good to be able to help them as much as they’ll be helping us. They refuse to buy from China because of the shoddy workmanship and conditions they witnessed there, so most of their products are USA-made or made in Vietnam, which also has a good reputation for quality fabrication of quartz counter tops. (Michael has visited the manufacturing locations to see their processes in person and gives them a thumbs up.)

 

Home renovation projects are exciting to anticipate and sometimes frustrating to experience. Michael at Lakewood Countertops promises an easy installation process that leaves existing counter tops in place until the day his people are ready to install the new ones. Taking out the old and installing the new in a project our size usually takes only a day. He also knows electricians, plumbers and other capable professionals to help with any other aspect of the home renovation process, including flooring installers. (Jackie already has someone to do most of the prep work for us. Unfortunately, he’s allergic to cats, so he’ll be miserable on my side unless I get the two carpets replaced first–which I hope to do to help him out!)

 

I’ve decided I can’t afford what it will take to install a walk-in shower where my bathtub is because there’s too much that goes into altering the space to make it a viable option, but that’s okay. I can always use Jackie’s walk-in shower when I get so decrepit that I can’t step over the rim of the bathtub anymore which (knock on wood) won’t be for another ten or fifteen years or so!

 

I’ve taken some “before” pictures so I can post them with “after” pictures when everything is finished. I don’t want to post the “before” ones now because you’ll feel bad for me until the new counter tops and flooring are in, and I don’t want you to feel that way!

 

I had a mickey mouse handyman install crappy vinyl-based counter tops for me years ago and I’ve hated them ever since. They’re hard to keep clean and they aren’t very well sealed to the counter in places, so they’re kinda bubbly-looking.

 

They will be easy to pull up and remove, but I can’t do that until the new ones are ready because then I’d be prepping food on bare plywood or something, and that would be even less healthy than what I’m prepping food on now. (I do use acrylic baseboards to prepare food; I don’t do stupid stuff on crappy counters!)

 

I also chipped off the ceramic edging in one place to be able to pull the refrigerator out to clean underneath it or service the back of it, so there’s a very visible spot that looks like Fred Flintstone took a sledgehammer to the counter top edge and beat it to death.  Yuk!  So that’s why I invite so few people into my home right now. I may throw a housing-warming party when everything gets to be the way I want it. (Just joking about that. Relax, friends! You’re off the hook!) It won’t be long now!

 

You may be sure I’m eagerly anticipation my “extreme home makeover”!