No human being can fully comprehend the idea of a full kitchen renovation until you go through it. I suspect that there are support groups somewhere that can assist you in maintaining sanity. Those of you who do know the feeling – I walk with you. You are my brothers and sisters. We’ve been to war together. To be more succinct – renovating your kitchen fucking blows. Going into it, we knew well enough it wasn’t going to be much fun, but now that we’re near the end and can reflect a little bit, I’m comfortable saying that it’s something I have no desire whatsoever to experience again.
It was roughly 9 weeks ago (October 11, to be exact) when our kitchen sink and stove were disconnected. Since then, our entire kitchen has been spread around the house, along with a layer of dust that just won’t seem to go away, despite the vacuum. Kitchen renovations laugh at vacuums. They say “is that all you’ve got? Come on, bring it! At one point in November, each and every room in our house was affected by the displacement of our kitchen.
Now I’m happy to report that today, Decemeber 9th, we have a functional kitchen. Is it painted? No. Is it tiled? No. Is there more work to do? Uh….yes. But we can cook again. And run water. So when I told the electrician that if he saw me curled up in a corner of the kitchen, in the fetal position and crying, not to worry – those were tears of joy. He heartily laughed. Then he asked me for another $1000.
Which brings me to my final point – 9 weeks ago if the electrician asked me for $1000, I’d think that might be a heckuva lot to cough up in one fell swoop. Now it feels like I’m just picking up a Peppermint Patty in line at the supermarket. Need $2k? No sweat – let me run upstairs and write that check for you – that’s actually not bad! A $300 lamp for the bathroom? Hah! Cheap!
Time to run downstairs and turn on the water now. For no reason. Because I can.