Walls May Come and Go, But Toddlers Requesting Breakfast Out of the Garbage is Forever | Do Try This at Home: Walls May Come and Go, But Toddlers Requesting Breakfast Out of the Garbage is Forever

Friday, November 07, 2014

Walls May Come and Go, But Toddlers Requesting Breakfast Out of the Garbage is Forever

My partner in crime and I and I are a perfect match for each other home improvement and DIY-wise, because he lets the perfect be the enemy of the good, and I never finish anything.



Which is just a different way of saying we've had cement floors in our dining area for half a year now, and we're barely creeping toward the finish line.

I wanted to post "before and after" pictures, but the truth is that I never take before pictures, and by the time we ever finish everything, I will have forgotten where I put these "during" pictures.

So I offer my normal: during and during pictures.


I'm pretty sure I posted it on my Facebook page when I decided I couldn't stand the carpet in the dining area one more nanosecond.  Of course "before" pictures would have wasted that nanosecond, but click here to see it in all its the bar mitzvah  prep glory back in 2010.


Here's how it more or less looked from the kitchen side, although the refrigerator had been pulled over and the pantry door opened and the garbage can providing back up reinforcements to keep all cats and toddlers out of the bare cement dinging room.

Because.  Our cement floor has a great big old sign on it that says, "Use me as a litter box!"  Apparently.


The bad part was, the carpet that used to be on top of the bare cement also apparently had a huge sign on it that said, "Please PLEASE use me for a giant litter box!  For the love of cats, there is NO other place to relieve your furry self in this entire house!  Especially not the litter box."

And so I did the logical thing which was to ignore the problem as long as I could and then start ripping up the carpet on a day when I couldn't stand it even a moment longer.


Then my partner in crime needed to help me, because to paraphrase my off site travel journalist (who was then two or three), He "wants it the way he wants it!"

Here's where the surprise came in for me.  After five years of talking about taking down the wall, I just figured that talking was as far as we'd ever get.  What I didn't realize was that my partner in crime would not want to move forward on replacing the carpet until the wall had disappeared.


So then I figured, "Well okay, no big deal.  My partner in crime has plenty of hammers and mallets in the garage."

But he kept throwing around words like, "load bearing" and I decided against throwing caution to the wind.  Because you just never know when wind might turn in to the next hurricane.  So that's why we hired someone to knock down the wall instead.


There's still PLENTY to be done.  If you've ever known the joy of NOT doing the breakfast dishes on a Saturday morning, you'll realize how wonderful it was to have my partner in crime working directly over the sink and dishwasher right after breakfast:


And that's why, a kajillion dollars and much blood, sweat, and tears later we are still no closer to having something besides bare cement in the dining area.

Which only goes to show that walls may come and go, but toddlers requesting to eat breakfast out of the garbage is forever:


To totally change the subject without warning, last month I promised a free recipe card printable.  I've been lollygagging a little, because I've never actually offered a printable before, free or otherwise.

I think I have this a good, workable size (4x6) but if you have any trouble with it at all, I will certainly be willing to tweak it and re-post.  Please let me know how and if it works out for you (in the comments).

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD



If you'd like to see more of the kitchen re-do, try these posts:

If Only We'd Have Known We Could Have Just Locked the Cat in the Bathroom, We Wouldn't Have Had to Do this Whole Kitchen Renovation Thing

Our Kitchen Renovation Has Leaked Out All Over the Living Room

Of Digestive Disease and Washi Tape (I had no idea putting washi tape on drinking glasses would be so popular!)



11 comments:

MarkD60 said...

Looks like quite the project! I look forward to progress reports!

Unknown said...

Big BIG project. Looks great.

Vanessa said...

How awesome. I can't wait to see it all done. I love the wall gone. We did that to our kitchen and wow made a huge differences. How funny about your kiddo. Cutie

Jill said...

Thanks Mark, Patti, and Vanessa!

Joanne T Ferguson said...

G'day! What a transformation and Thanks for coming to our #SayGdayParty Please make sure to revisit if you haven't already and say G'day to the hosts and another person at the party Pinned Cheers! Joanne @What's On The List Sharing is Caring!

Life Love and Hiccups said...

Oh wow you have it all going on! i cant wait to see the end result xx

Natasha in Oz said...

G'day! It looks like you are managing everything beautifully. Knocking a wall down is hard work but soooo worth it!

Thanks for sharing the free printable and for linking up to the Say G'Day Linky Party. I've just pinned this!

Best wishes,
Natasha in Oz

Arizaphale said...

Oh Gee you crack me up!!!!! As I don't seem to have a partner in crime, I applaud your shared ability to take your time over these things. After all, there are big decisions to make which you are going to have to live with! Although could any of them be worse than cement floors?? hha

Bruce Johnson said...

You know, polished concrete is the in-Vogue floor covering these days.

And if it has been in the garbage less than 5 minutes,.....it is still good.

Jill said...

Thanks Mickey, Sonia and Natasha!

Right Arizaphale?!?!

Bruce - We wanted polished concrete. But you have to be out of your house for kind of a long time because of the fumes and stuff.

Lou Lou Girls said...

Hello cute lady! You will love it. We did something similar at our house. Pinned and tweeted. We really appreciate you taking the time to stop by our party. It wouldn’t be a party without you. Please join us on Monday at 7 pm. Happy Monday! Lou Lou Girls

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