Make Yourself At Home: Rehab at My Sister's

 If you follow along on the Serendipity Refined Facebook Page, then you know that I'm spending a few days at my sister's home this week helping her with a few rehab projects.  She's got a week off from her job and decided to make the most of it...

                                                                         by updating the entire first floor of her home.....in five days.

It's like Extreme Makeover...without hundreds of blue-shirted neighbors coming to assist or Nate Berkus...without Nate.  We've been fearless rehabbers and we've taken on a whole variety of projects this week, including some that I've never done before like cutting marble tile for the fireplace surround but so far, it's going really well.

We're now on a first name basis with most of the friendly folks at the paint store and the home improvement center....it's almost like being famous... only on a much smaller scale. To put it in perspective for you, I figure that the reach  of our fame is about 12 people

                                                                                                .....and all of them are related to us.

Of course, when my sister phoned a week ago to tell me about her plan, I was so excited that I couldn't wait to show up and figure out a way to take over her projects help.  On the schedule: new solid surface flooring in the kitchen, mudroom, laundry room and bath and new carpet in the dining room, great room, master bedroom and bath.  The flooring is being done by the pros.

On our list of projects to complete in four days: painting the laundry room, mud room and kitchen. Installing new marble around the fireplace, installing glass mosaic back splash in the kitchen, changing the hardware on the kitchen cabinets. new switch and outlet covers and a rehab of the storage in the laundry room.

 
I laughed right out loud when I arrived at her home Monday evening after work. The sight of her range in the garage beside her washer and dryer and all of the doors from the first floor made me smile.  When I saw the kitchen table and fridge in the great room next to the sofa I looked at her and said, "Oh my gosh, you didn't have to go through all of this trouble just to make me feel like I never left home." 
 

Given the state of things at the farmhouse, having to spend a few minutes locating the fridge before being able to have cereal in the morning really isn't a big deal but at her house, it's not a normal occurrence. I forget that sometimes. 

In the last 72 hours, we've finished 90% of the painting, installed marble on the fireplace, installed 2/3 of the glass back splash tile (back to the home improvement center for more mortar), changed the hardware on about 1/2 of the cabinets (another trip to the home improvement center for longer screws).

The solid surface flooring is installed and carpet will be installed today. (Oh, did I mention that we my sister and brother in law had to move four rooms of furniture before the carpet could be installed?) After that, we can grout the fireplace. 

We've got about 36 hours left to finish the back splash, install new storage in the laundry room, finish the cabinet hardware and do the touch ups in the kitchen. It's a whirlwind and it has been so much fun doing this stuff with my sister and niece.  I forget how much I miss being around them. More updates next week...right now, I've got to run to the home improvement center!