A New Beginning

The end of 2012 brought a little mini disaster to the Reslus Arms that is setting the stage for exciting new possibilities in the new year.  My Mother-in-law discovered that our water heater had cracked and was seeping water into the house.  It was Christmas morning and she had stopping by to check on the Old Inherited Cat while we were at my parents for the holiday. Thanks to some quick work by my  brother-in-law the water was stopped and complete disaster was averted.

We arrived home late on Christmas night to this....

The water heater lives under the stairs behind a coat closet. The hardwood floors ins the surrounding areas had already started cupping.  We were sad and frustrated but honestly thankful that it wasn't worse. 

The next day we started making phone calls. A friend that's a contractor came over and helped us get it drained and out of the house. Apparently the builder installed the heater then built the house around it! We had to remove the closet door and door FRAME to get it out. Next our insurance adjuster stopped by and we got the ball rolling with that.  Later the clean up crew showed up with their moisture meters and their fans and then their saws and hammers to dry everything out.....

Then we got the flu. While the fans and dehumidifiers were roaring downstairs I was upstairs with the door closed unable to get out of bed.  

Finally the new year came and the fans and dehumidifiers went away. I was finally able to drag myself out of bed and downstairs to this...

A new beginning...we have always wanted to extend the hardwood floors into the kitchen. This would be a very good time to do that. Of course that means we will need to renovate the kitchen now rather than later. There is always a domino effect when thinking about house projects. I am little excited and a little scared about the prospect of so may changes and decisions at once. I do this for other people every day but it is much harder to do it for myself. I will be posting about our new adventure over the next few weeks (months?) as we make decisions about flooring, cabinets, counters, lights, appliances, etc. and will show you the progress along the way. Let the adventure begin.