Enjoy The Journey They Say

Being A Gypsy Is No Fun

Here is what I did this morning.

I put together wine racks and cubes for the wine cellar in our house we are rehabbing. We knew when we bought this house we would rehab it but the journey has been quite long. Everything was magnified because of Covid.

The building permit took from May until August to get. Covid. Clark County workers were WFH and didn’t have the resources to really WFH….Cabinets were supposed to be September, came in late November. Covid. I ordered appliances from SubZero/Wolf in February of 2021, and the freezer won’t be here until sometime in March of 2022. Covid. Ordered furniture and it won’t be here until June. Covid. Tempered glass for a shower, can’t get it. Why? You guessed it, Covid. Rear sliders and front door, can’t finish them off because they can’t get all the parts. Covid. The basic molding we chose. We got the last bit of stock anywhere and they aren’t getting more because of Covid. I ordered lights and they are late. Some are on a boat. Covid.

The guys working on the job have worked diligently and as fast as they could but many of them came down with Covid and had to take time off. That meant weeks with no workers working on the house.

Once we get it done, we still have one more bedroom to do where all our stuff is right now.

Pardon me if I am a bit sick of Covid.

I have made more trips to IKEA than I care to say. Each of our last three rehabs were IKEA focused, and this one we are using it in the laundry room and for a closet island in the bedroom.

My wife and I have done a lot of the physical demolition ourselves. Even on our apartment, we demolished the floor. She’s done the planning of putting back together. She is an IKEA genius at this point.

Over the past four years my wife and I have GUT rehabbed:

A cabin in the far northern woods remote of Minnesota. Closest Home Depot/Menard’s was a 2.5 hour drive away. Labor is hard to find up there but we found some great people thank goodness. (2018)

An apartment. It was a three-story walk-up in a 127-year-old building. My property taxes in Nevada are cheaper than the ones were in Chicago. (2019)

Another cabin next to the first one. (2020)

Now, this Nevada house. (2021-2022)

I know you are supposed to enjoy the journey, but I am rehabbed out. We have literally lived like gypsies for a while. I have stuff in boxes that I haven’t seen in years.

This afternoon I have to enter the fifth or sixth circle of hell. I am putting together IKEA. Oh, and we couldn’t get some stuff from them…..Covid.

We are moving in next week….I hope. We both have had Covid, so that won’t stop us.