Sunday 27 the clock is ticking...

As I went to the house today, driving in a grey mist of fields that looked to end, or never end, mixing with the equally grey sky, the hugeness of this project struck me...and with it the doubts. What have I gotten myself into? Will the money last? What if they don't? How am I to manage this on my own? I am really deep into ... this time...
And then I entered my house to be reaching a complete mood shift...

Stepping into a house blasting with music, 3 builders and an electrian who tried to shout over the music, could have been fun if they did the whole YMCA thingy, maybe thyy do when I am not around...had I landed into "build and demolish with dancemoves"?

Never the less progress had been made:

 

A wall had been built from the hallway to the kitchen, the floor was done all through the kitchen and the hallway so no more stepping into thin air!

a door that they found in the attic had been mounted.

wall from kitchen to hallway, with a door and electricity...almost!

Radiotor, pipes, old electricity... all removed, and replanned. The walls to my future bedroom are waiting for the last finish, read: hanging sheet rock"gipsskiva", prior to painting and floorfixing....

The bathroom prooved to be a challenge. Not only for me finding tiles, sinks, shower, and a tub... My plan with big tiles on the floor, had to be scrapped, Fredrik tried to sooth my disappointment saying that it may still be possible to fix it the way I want, but not completely. After this project is over he will be suitable to apply for a job mediating at UN  between wild ideas shooters and "know it all's"

 He did look a bit scared today as it seemed as it had just dawned on him that this is a BIG project! Apparently his Christmas was spent underneath my house trying to get the drains to connect. He had had huge problems of creating new drains as it has almost been impossible for him to get underneath the floors to get them in the right place. Apparantly this had completely crashed his time plan. I was under the impression that he didn't really have one...

Anyways here's the ground for my new bathroom floor...hmm hope it looks better tomorrow.

Merry Christmas

On  my way to do the Christmasthiungy with thé family and to take some time for decisions on how I really want tthe bathroom and kitchen to look, Hopefully I wíll be back with new ideas, input and decsions so that we can get going on the building part before new year.

Love

Livia

some before pictures from the salespresentation

As in every sales presentation all rooms looked a lot better in the presentation, the outside, however had really been in the focus of the former owners who had presreved every little detail with love and care, the only thing that is not close to the original is the color as the house used to be yellow, but all will come in due time....

      

           

          

   library.... fake parquefloor  

  

sittingroom parquet missing in all corners, maybe they ran out?

    

Would you keep this kitchen?

'

  
   

hallway

       

most of the hallway is gone today as the walls are 1 big kitchen instead

....more to come but right now it is way..wa...past my bedtime and in a few hours I am leaving with the kids to do the Chritmasthingy for a couple of days in Stockholm. How am I going to cope without getting to my house every day?

                            

the magic flying stairway, the magic of beams, and the magic of kids

Today the former owner dropped by to leave some papers and some extra keys, fortunately I was not there to see his reaction, but according to the builders he was in a state of shock- As he is a cool guy he survived without a heart attack and his last comment before leaving the house (for good?) was..It's a good thing that I'm not the nostalgic kind of guy. 

I can only agree . This is what met me today, I came over expecting to see a new wall and a kitchen floor instead I almost fell into the basement (again) as the floor in the hallway had been removed. Interesting when you see the stairs practicing free hanging acrobatics,  challanging any natural energy force that may work aginst it. Either way it was still havging there as long as I was in the house.

The kitchen wall is getting back up again so that the electricians can hang the new fuse cabinet on something more than air. The thing that I don't get is that Fredrik (carpenter)  argued that he had removed the wall to begin with because he wanted to lay the floor in one line...hmmm something's rotten in the country "Svalöv" I suspect that he tore the wall down in a "tear EVERYTHING down frenzy" and then realized that he had gone berserk with one wall to many...

Anyway  as you can see I am starting to get a nice kitchenfloor.

As we are tearing things down things magically start to re-appear. This pipe was covered with modern bricks, as we removed them  this beautiful line was hiding. Still not sure if I can, or want to keep it like this though.... as I am planning to insert an fireplace on this side....

...and get the fireplace to work on the other side. Can you believe how beautiful the floores were underneath the parcque (parkett in Swedish...)

The floor that I have choosen in the kitchen is follwing the same line (almost the same dimensions) as in this room even though the floors are not half as nice as these original ones.

Removing theroof that came falling down in this room this is what was underneath, I will definately keep  the beams in this room as well...oh well okey... .maybe fixing it up a bit ; )

Bathroom to be ? Hard to believe right now but the beams are...yes you are guessed right outragously cool.

So Friday night again and the place is still a mess, less than a week to Christmas, I am starting to prepare my boys to the fact  that it may be so that we will eat a lot of pizza and sleep in the same bed for some time, they laughed and said, it's ok mom, We know that you are a bit crazy but we will have fun togther.

 love my boys.

Monday and no kitchen roof...

Great news, arrived to the site today to find that now I could look up into the attic standing in the basement.

The great part in this is that my roof is app 25 cm higher than before creating even more space, and the "balkar" (don't know what they are called in English but they are holding the construction...) are really beautiful. Without hesitation the decision was made, keep this beautiful roof as is, preferable just by painting the wood...And as an extra bonus I figured that I would be able to do without the spits...you know the ones that would cost me so much to install in my discussions with the electricians...

As I spent the weekend shoopping for tiles, lighting etc I also found a way to have a great lighting concept without having to install spits, that should maker the electricity even more cost effective..or so I thought..

My Sweet Electricians informed me that that would not be the case as they now had to dedicate ther time to drilling through "balkar"instead of installing cables....It didn't help that I pointed out that Fredrik could help with the drilling while they did the installing. No that was not possible,

MAIN MESSAGE stop complaining and changing your mind lady, spits you wanted, spits you get, or at least if you change your mind the price still sticks...Either I didn't 4step them enough, know I didn't as most of my timeline only allows for straight into adoption... or they have far too much to do to even bother with customer satisfaction and flexibility?

pipe to the old fan...very close to start a fire according to Fredrik. All I can say is thank God for my preference to tear down before I build up.

 
It is intersting how one argument to why it was so expensive to do the electricity to begin with isn't really releavant when turning the page.  Honestly I didn't really get the why, but then again...all I really care for now is to get the tearing down part over so that they can start building...

Weekend window shopping and naming a blog...

Spent the entire weekend planning kitchen layouts, looking for sinks, fans, tiles to the bathroom and other inspiring things.

No problem in finding new ideas, huge problems in finding a budget that meets the demand. Oh well, that wasn't all that unexpected.

My love came over to spend some time with me this weekend, and fortuntely he is in the same mode, house shopping and refurbishing his own new home,  so he didn't mind coming along. What he did mind however was the name of my blog..How can a blog be named single mom when he-my solid support in life.existed...Well he did have a point, my point however is that whether you have a person by your side supporting and loving you or not it isn't really that relevant when it comes to my blogging. My point, inspiration, idea...is that the power to pull through this project on your own comes from within whether you have that special someone by your side or not. It is still me taking the decision, me taking the fights with the contracters, me doing my job, me picking up my kids between school activities, christmas carolling, baking Christmas activities, and creating a more or less sustainable reality for everybody involved. That is why it named ensam mamma...(single mom) because it is about me doing it single handedly. Not about me searching for new men.

God knows that my man toghether with my 2 boys is all the testosteron that I can handle....(told you that I would write it !=))

meeting the plumber...

the old livingroom is finding its original floors

Wow, the site is a mess...If I thought that we had gotten anywhere Yesterday it is nothing compared to what I saw today.

Arriving the first thing that met my tired gaze,  was a huge crane dumping, insolation, floor and God knows what in my yard.

containers are starting to look filled up already, will there be place for more or do we have to order another one?

In the kitchen Fredrik, my carpenter, met up,. covered in dust-as always-big smile on his face, teamed up with a somewhat smaller guy...Eurueka-the plumber.

I tried to get into the kitchen not a very easy task in high heels but I mangaged the balancing act (not a very nice site but then who cares? ) without ending up in the basement. Yes you read correctly...THE BASEMENT!

Many places in the floor was missing, replaced with sand, dust and a big hole down to the basement. Interesting, we're really doing a thorugh job here, is what my positive side said...What the helll, was what the less "charming" side of me said.

Explanation, the floor in the kitchen was in such a poor condition that it had to be removed completlely. The positive side on the other hand is..that the plumber had free access to whatever he needed access to (pipewise that is) which gave him the uncomfortable assignment of saying that it would not be that big of a job since most of the areas are freed up. I can't wait to see what that means in money..

wiew of my kitchen from the basement ; )

bedroom in the making...

Hey, it just struck me week 1 is over!

1. 30 hours of carpentry (mostly demolishing) is done.
   
2. Electricity is unplugged,
   
3. plumber has been to the site.
4. 2 Christmas carolling events with tone deaf rosy and happy children
5. 2 developmenttalks, endless hours of preparing
6. endless hours trying to find kitchen/bathroom bargains at blocket and Tradera

has passed by,  and I survived....

What a week! I am going to grab a glass of whine and just melt into a nice caoch potato position.

 I Deserve it! and by the way...so do you ; )

Rostfri diskho RR2 - Diskhoar

Rostfri diskho RR2 - Diskhoar & Diskbänkar - Studio10.se

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playing the feargame to get fair treatment?

Or is charm combined with desperation and rudeness the secret recipe?
Either way...

New offer arrived today and we're down to almost half of the original offer. I am not sure if it is my absolutely fabulous negotiation skills or the fact that my Italian sounding family name scared the guys into action. Possibly fearing repercussions from my "famiglia" Either way...It worked and today I feel releived and happy. Who knows I may even get my Italian cook outs in place according to the plan...

So what's next? The plumber didn't arrive today either so my carpenter said that he couldn't do much on teh site today and focused on other asssignments. Either he is really honest and nice letting me know when he is there or..is he scared shit less by me as well.

Well if fear is the secret recepie to get theese guys going then fear it will be !!!

more demolishing...day 3

Rushed off to the site today together with my wonderful 8 year old. He immediately settled in on a pile of bricks making himself comfortable.  Wonderful Samuel,  this kid is an angel when it counts. But then I think he knew how to handle a hammer and a nail before he walked.

Both Electricians were there smiling (I would too with clients that knowingly are comlete suckers) and all I could say to them was:

Ok Guys, the budget is WAY WAY WAY out of my reach so just fix whatever needs fixing and leave the rest. I really don't care how I will fix the rest but I will figure that out as we go along.  
Needless to say I was nowhere near the nice person that once walked them through the possible assignment. (that was only 4 days ago)

Both with faces expressing , ok she is already loosing it, reacted instantly. Either way the result was pleasing:

They promised to revise their origial offer and get back to me with a second suggestion...hmmm...can't wait to see what that means...double up ? ; )

In the meantime my carpenter, covered in dust says...so do you want the good news or the bad first? He really must be joking did I look like I could handle any news at all?

kitchen in the making...

hallway

the not so much kitchen...

So the walls are down and the place looks like a mess, tomorrow I will try to remeber to bring my camera to get some valid pictures.

this piece of the wall is still there as I have noone to fix the elecrticity ; )

Electricity and light in the dark?

...and so I went to see my "house" today, Kitchen completely demolished with electricity hanging down the walls. Coming home after hearing my oldest singing Christmas carrols completely out of tune but full of joy at School ( Oh joy) I call to hear what the status is:

Well we are not planning on going there tomorrow because we can't do anything without the electricity being fixed...

So I call the electrician asking for the offer that was due last week, oh sorry but I'll get right to it.

Finally got it, 98000 sek, in verbal agreement nothing in writing yet.  And that is just for the ground floor, man these guys are really pulling my leg, and there isn't a thing I can do about it, Without electricity, no kitchen, without kitchen no food, which in one way would be good, because the only thing that is getting fat these days is my belly, it certainly isn't my wallet.

I can only imagine what the plumber will have to tell me on pricing....

Man what have I gotten myself into? I am really getting scared. But hey, I have survived worse,  I should l be able to get over this one as well....I hope...

and we're off

Today I signed the final papers at the bank, and while I was doing it I realized that the demolishing part was altready up and running. The contracters got the key Yesterday and at 1 pm today, driving to the bank, they called me to let me know they were already half way through the first demolishingpart. What would I have done if the sellers all of a sudden would have had second thoughts?

" -ooops sorry, I guess I was a it hasty but hey, look att teh bright side I am sure that you still wanted to change your house around a bit ; =)

 The kitchen area is getting in place and once all the walls are down I will be able to see what to do with all that space. The kitchen will be almost 50 square metres, but then where do all the parties end up if not in the kitchen?  My idea is to open up, teraing down walls, so that the kitchen will be palced in the hart of the house, letting  light in from 2 sides. Today this part of the house was very dark as all of it was facing North.

Budgets, electricians and here we go....

The electrician caught me on the phone between 2 meetings explaining why or why not my plans on spits in the roof is not going to work. It turns out that the old spits will soon be replaced by the new improved ; ) led system but of course the led system is  still too new to be cost efficient ...or light efficient for that matter. Ok great we're already breaking budgets, half day into the project.

This evening the carpenter called, saying that they looked at the floors underneath the plastic carpets, (the ones that I was hoping to be able to save...) and ...he did not think that it would be worth saving, Did I want to plan for Siljan floor not only in the kitchen area but also in the hallway?

Hmm scary, so 1 day into the project I am already leaving my original plans and budget, surpreied? Not really.

But still with anticipation and a smile ;  )

Building my dream

Let's see if this can be done...

I  just bought a house, contract signing on Monday. And it is an absolute crazy idea that got me going to begin with. 

I live a comfortable life with my 2 kids, no real work at home except for cleaning up every second of the day when my boys are home. I totally refurbuished the house prior to moving in 18 months ago, but living in a condo with 2 wild kids every second week is becoming unbearable. Not to mention the fact that my neighbours seem to know more about my whereabouts than me. 

That is one of many reasons that got me going on a house hunt this summer, but I never would have guessed where it would take me. 

I looked for every possible opportunity to stay put in my current living area as it would mean that my kids could stay in their schools, but as it turned out, my area is overly priced...to the the verge of being obnoxious, so the hunt went on and moved furher and further away from my original plan, and one day

 ...she was there


... On Hemnet just smiling at me. 

"Hi I am soooo charming.... sooo not where you want me to be.... and soooo impossible to say no to!"

So now I am onto my 4th  total demolish and rebuild journey and this time I thought that I would share it with you. This time I am doing it on my own, no guy on my side, just my 2 crazy wonderful boys and me...the "single" mom working full time. So far the real estate agent, the different contracters, the plumbers and the couple that sold me the house have looked at me with a smug expression. But the more they doubt me and this decision, the more convinced I get, that this will be a trip. Crazy but definatley a trip.  

Want to come along?