HGTV can suck it: the finale

painting ordeal mostly behind us (the kitchen still remains primed, yet unfinished to this day), it was time to move on to "smaller" projects like lights, cleaning and new furniture.  i'm using the term smaller loosely here because our past home improvement history should have warned us this would be no cakewalk either.  and if it were a cakewalk, i'd somehow burn the cake or drop it on the floor.  thats just how i roll.

we hired a professional company to come clean the carpets.  they were supposed to arrive at 2pm on a saturday.  true to customer-friendly fashion, they arrived prompltly at 535pm.  J needed to be somewhere at 7pm, meaning i would be left to spend time with the semi-sketchy carpet pros all by my lonesome.  all in all, they did a pretty good job, but no one warned us we wouldn't be able to put our furniture back down on the floor for 24 hours AND that we needed to keep the condo doors and windows open to help speed the drying process.  i spent a chilly night alone sitting on a plastic sheet, bundled up in a comforter, watching TV.  who said remodeling wasn't glamorous?  oh wait, i did.

next, we bought a new sofa and loveseat, to be delivered the day after i moved in.  again, in true customer-friendly fashion, the furniture arrived around 5pm, and we had to bolt to J's football game as soon as the furniture was (literally) wedged in the door.  ah yes... in order to fit the pieces in the doorway, we had to remove the door from its hinges, thus rousing our nosy, elderly neighbors from all sides of the building.  it was like baby jessica was stuck in a well; everyone has an opinon or criticism to offer, when really we just wanted them to STFU and go away.  after that drama, the furniture was in.  as soon as the plastic was removed, i, OF COURSE, found two blemishes in the microfiber.  they tried to tell me it wasn't a big deal, but i refused to be minimized.  this resulted in the eventual return of a furniture magic fairy who was able to fix the two marks.  five months later, of course, we HATE the furniture.  i guess its just another excuse to do more shopping next time we move.

all in all, i'm glad to report that we made it.  throughout our 4 month project, i joked several times that if we could make it through remodeling together without murdering each other, we were all set.  in actuality, it's been a great test.  lots of physical and emotional stress really brings out the best and worst in people, and as a couple, we got to see that in each other. 

as we close the HGTV fairytale, i'd like to say that i will NEVER EVER be a do-it-yourselfer again, unless i absolutely have to.  looking back, i'd much have rather dropped the cash to pay someone else to do it all while i watch DVR'd episodes of cheaters and cops.  time is money as they say, and in this realm, my time is better spent with joey greco and my money is better spent with a contractor.

but at least we can say we did it.  in our first place together.