My Personal Update
Leave this field empty
Saturday, September 09, 2017
By Diana Lundin
Pin It

So... it's been a hectic time here at my worldwide headquarters. And that's because I vacated my worldwide headquarters. After 24 years, I'm not living in my house. No, no, not because I defaulted on my mortgage or got a divorce or got a job in a new state. No, my friends, my house is being remodeled. After an inheritance left my family with a little bit of extra money, we decided to embark on updating our house.

Sure, we've done some things over the years. New roof, driveway, repaint, new bathrooms and kitchen. But we've never undergone a whole house renovation and that's where we're at now.

And that's meant a lot of packing and a lot of storage and lot of discarding. A lot. I had a very busy time with my pet photography leading up to the packing. Oh, let me tell you why we had to repack everything. You know those old acoustic ceilings? Cottage cheese ceilings? Popcorn? Yeah, we had that. It was added on as a design feature in the 1970s. And guess what? It had low levels of asbestos. Which required more than just your average scrape. So we had to move everything out of the house and that also made the house reno snowball. Because if you think about it, if the house is empty, isn't there a lot you can do?

My partner for sure wanted the acoustic ceilings out. And she wanted the floors refinished. So that's top and bottom. And so there's more to do between. And that's where it's kind of getting away from us. We packed up the entire house in four days. As ex-newspaper reporters, we are deadline artists. By the time the movers showed up on Tuesday, we were good to go.

And now the ceiling has been scraped and the contractor and his subs are figuring out their moves. We've ordered a lot of the new things for the house -- vanity, toilet, shower fixtures, ceiling fan, paint, etc. But after the electrician's visit, we need to get the lighting down. Most rooms will have cans, some will have ceiling lights. Anyway, I won't bore you with the details, suffice to say, there is a lot of refreshing and repairing going on in the worldwide headquarters.

I rented a storage unit aside from the main one where I could put some of my photography things so I have easy access during this transition. The reno isn't expected to be complete until some time in October, fingers crossed. We were going to move back in to one of the rooms to help oversee the project after 10 days but now we're thinking that isn't such a good idea. Why? Yes, our sweet boys.

Kiwi hung out in the back yard while the house was moved and he was fine. Mango hid behind the washing machine totally freaked out. We moved into a short-term resident hotel with them and oh my, they were so unhappy. Hid under the bed for a day, then Kiwi began making his way out. Mango is still traumatized. So we are considering staying for the duration of the renovation so they aren't subjected to any of the construction and demolition noises. As always, it's all about the boys.

As for the pet photography? Bring it on, I can take it! My cameras are accessible and I have my top-o-the-line laptop and what else? Oh yeah, PLENTY of time. Come on, save me from my hotel room! Please!

Anyway, here's a few pictures of the boys on the day of the big move. Quite a difference between Mr. Cool As A Cucumber and Mr. I Am A Scaredy Cat Cliche! But we love 'em both.

Leave a comment: