Just How High are the Hurdles/how many are there/are they over yet???

In my head, I've viewed the month of October as a series of hurdles to be cleared prior to the actual/physical renovation work.
Packing up all the stuff in the house. This has been relatively easy - tape up a box, insert stuff, tape box, add to the mountain in the living POD room.
Preparing for and holding garage sale. Preparation hurdle very time consuming and more physically challenging. The actual sale was such a nonevent. We almost put more stuff in Jean's car than what we sold! Bridge House has a lot to pick up on Monday.
Delivery of frig and dishwasher. In my next life I want to return as a delivery person. They only have to deliver our appliances to the curb - not inside the house. We've been working on a potion to magically levitate our appliances up the steps and into the house. Monday should be interesting here on Bell St.
Rocking Chairs and Desk. Travis and Tricia also share our love of antiques and family. They are to become the treasurers of 2 rockers that Dad to beautifully and lovingly restored for me many years ago. They have to juggle soccer, work, travel, and life to get here to pick up soon.
Treadmill. Need to keep our contractor in good shape and help declutter our soon to be living space - have to find time to move a treadmill.....
Moving old Fridge. - only way out if the front window/door in the living room. Need to soon move furniture in front of this exit. Timing is everything. Been feeling like my timing chain is definitely off!
Lucky Bags. 600 bags to be done and only 200 completed. Tick, tick, tick ...

Individually these all seem very simple tasks. Collectively they just seem to get higher and higher. And for all who know me, I couldn't even jump over a paper clip if I had to!
What I am constantly remembering is that together we can do anything. Laura, Sophie, family and our wonderful friends and neighbors have constantly been lifting me up and over each of these hurdles. Boy I can't wait for Stacy to take and keys and the controls!
New to blogging,
Lynn

Deuling Infants of Prague

My altars are put away in the empty china cabinets!

The large and medium Infants of Prague are in a face-off in the tall china, while St. Anthony (St. Antny, as I said growing up!) listens and while the Mary Santos looks on...like a virgin!

What a strange little house we have!

Several people have told me that they can't post comments. I think you need a gmail account...not really sure! Don't give up! I still feel like I'm talking to myself!

XO,

Laura

Night Jasmine and Mandevillas

We are making progress...with work and life, things seem really slow. Everyday we get a little closer to our current goal of getting started! Please send good energy our way! We need it!

About 15 years ago, Lynn and I went to visit Bellingrath Gardens in Alabama. There was a very graceful and lovely 90+ year old guiding the tour. She had spoken to me aside and when the entire group was together, she proudly stated, "These lovely young ladies drove all the way here on the High-10. How daring!!! Let us give them applause!" Lynn and I were touched and floored! We have always remembered her for that and also stating, quite emphatically, "Life is grand when the mandevillas are in bloom!" I think she's the reason why we often give mandevillas as gifts and always have a few around...This is our yellow one on the gate. Tonight she is blooming quite exquisitely!

As I walked with the dogs tonight, the sweet smell of jasmine followed us. Our neighbor, Annie, inherited the jasmine with her house, but somehow it smells sweeter with her and Dennis there. After dark, when we arrive home, it is the first thing to greet us-sweet smells and a feeling coming home. We are so lucky!

Lynn goes back to the doctor tomorrow and Saturday is our garage sale! Goodbye to stuff that we no longer need. We've managed to give away the things that held sentimental value or fond memories. It's amazing how much stuff we have that we don't need!

xo,

Laura

Boxes and bubble Wrap and Tape! Oh, My!

we are packing up!!!

I can't believe how much stuff we have!

We are having a garage sale this weekend and hopefully by Sunday, have less!

Speaking of having less...Sunday, on the way to get MORE BOXES, I got a speeding ticket on Airline Hwy. I hadn'e gotten a ticket (just lucky) in years! I made up for lost time! 60+ in a 40! Did I mention, Officer Knight was a STATE TROOPER!!!!???

All is OK! I didn't need that extra kitchen cabinet anyway!

Send us all your good wishes and energy...we need it!

Laura

Timelines...

People are so funny! Complete strangers, if they hear you are renovating, the first thing they say is, "Dawlin', whateva they tell you, double the time for completing the job!" We are not doing that!

We feel strongly that Stacy and Rodney will do a bang up job in record time! Just to prove everyone wrong, we want to finish on time, if not early!

One person said to us, "Umph! You'll be lucky if it less than 6 months that you are out of your house!" Well, all we can say to that is, "You don't know us!" We have done everything to have this job go smoothly! All appliances are purchased, the cabinets and countertops are waiting to be ordered, and we are buying as many fixtures and other stuff, so when the boys are ready for it, it will be there.

In the meantime, we are packing up. Pretty much, everything is packed but the bedrooms. We are having our garage sale next weekend to have some breathing room around here. Jeanie is getting her space ready for us. We went there today and set up Sophie's bed. It is going to be so great!

Laura

Thank you, Lynn!

Today after work, I met with Kimberly at Armstrong kitchens. Lynn encouraged me to meet with Kimberly and really go through the kitchen design, tweak it, and sort of finalize the basic design.

I did and it was so much fun! Kimberly is very patient!

I chose cabinets and a countertop that we both love. No pictures for Erin! I want some things to be a surprise! The cabinets are sort of traditional and the counter top is quartz. Lynn and I chose the perfect pulls and I tentatively indulged myself in a glass-front corner cabinet! We'll see of the budget can handle that in 6 weeks...

Thanks if anyone is reading this. I feel like I am talking to myself!

XO,

Laura

As we begin this process, it is Saint's season and it is, as Sophie says, "The month of Halloween!" She gets her love of fall and Halloween decorations from me!

These are 2 areas of lucky bag storage in the hall. Each bag contains 100+ small choking hazards, 50 action figures, 25+ miscellaneous toys that no child really wants, and at least one toy a child does not realize his/her parent has given away!

KoKo is expressing the feelings of all the animals, as he sits on his perch, very unhappy about the boxes and the turmoil going on around him. I think he is staying on the perch so we can't pack it! (KeKe, Deuce, Zoe, and Lizzy are equally confused and unhappy about boxes in the house!).

This is our wonderful sidehall! It is going away in the renovation. The wall of windows on the right will be the only wall on that side of the house. We'll miss the great gallery for our Jazz Fest posters. If we don't have wall space for them in the "new" space, some of you might get them as gifts!

This is Sophie's closet. It will expand in the renovation!

This is the "study." That's code for the room that is supposed to be a third bedroom (only according to realtors and extremely tiny people), but is really only good for a chair and a desk. It will be the Master Bath.
This is a blurry picture of Lucy, our friends', Andree and Ben's, baby. She is sister to Lainey and Zachary. She is so cute! She can also help us, along with seasonal pictures, chronicle the blog. Lucy is now 7 weeks old...let's hope the renovation is over before her 1st birthday!

My friend, Erin, is a pro at blogging. She has a great blog that chronicles her wonderful life. It has hits from around the globe...she inspired me to blog the renovation (or anything!).

I decided to add a few pictures to the blog to fill in the blanks for some of you...

Baby steps!

These are the two areas that have been cemented! It look so neat and ...well, done!

About 5 months ago, we contracted with someone to complete some cement work around the house. We planned this long in advance of the renovation, thinking it would make it easier to haul things out of the house during the demo, for a work space for capentry, etc...well, 5 months came and went and the only thing we had in the space where cement was supposed to be was overgrown grass!

Today, the cement guy showed up and completed about 1/3 of the job! We are very excited that the cement might actually be finished by the time we begin demolition!

I also want to say, "Thanks" to everyone that has commented on the blog. I have no idea what we're getting into, but I do know, that no matter what, we know and love a lot of very good people!

We love you guys!

Packing around ISL Fest!

Lynn has spent the day packing boxes and stacking them around 1,000+ Lucky Bag items...these items are not really "Lucky" but that's what we call them so children will buy them at the upcoming ISL Fest!

Lynn is in charge of Lucky Bags and we are decorating and filling 600+ this year. Unfortunately, the lucky bag loot is in our hallway...bags and bags of fast food toys, parade throws, and various other treasures found under car seats and in the bottom of toy boxes.

The good news...as we pack...the house is in disarray...we can blame it on the Lucky Bag!!!

We'll be packed up soon!!! Any empty boxes? Call us!

This is our tiny hallway that leads to the bedrooms and back of the house.

This beautiful, gourmet kitchen is an inspiration for eating out and...sledge hammers!

This is our dining room. It will be opened up into the kitchen. That white door is a FULL bathroom...

This is our current living room...soon to become the POD! We are moving all of our junk from the pocket doors to the back of the house into this room!

The Beginning!

Dear Friends and Family,

This will be my attempt at creating a blog! Lynn, Sophie, and I are beginning our Bell Street renovation. We have planned this renovation since BEFORE we purchased the house! It is a long overdue love fest for this little house that we love.

After years of planning and hoping and dreaming, Lynn and I finally sold Beverly Garden Drive. Many of you shared countless hours of fun in that wonderful space. When we moved here, we could only hope of having the same feeling of home and warmth we experienced at BGD. We had Three 50th B-days, a wedding reception, an 80th birthday celebration, and a couple of 25 year anniversary parties, endless kid birthdays, and 14 years to decorate that beautiful space for the holidays! The final chapter of BGD enabled us to share our home with family members displaced by Hurricane Katrina. It was one of the most wonderful chapters of our life in that house. Now that another lucky family is there, we are ready to move on…

Bell Street is so wonderful! We live on the best block in our neighborhood! On all sides, back and front, we are surrounded by friends! Our neighbors are the best in the world! Lynn and I are so lucky b/c at BGD, we had neighbors that over the years became treasured friends. We still talk with Ms. Yvonne and Eddie often. The big difference between Bell St. and BGD, is that when we moved in, we felt like we had just been away from home! We returned to fruits and flowers on the porch, warm smiles, and laughter all around.

Our house is small and strange, but while waiting for the realtor to show up, we decided to buy it! We ignored the strange features (bath in the dining room), small spaces, no closets, and the ugliest, least functional kitchen in the universe!!!! We ignored the fact that it would take a major renovation to truly make it ours…we just knew we were home.

That brings me to the way in which we looked at the renovation…Before we purchased the house, we called on our nephew, Stacy for his eye, his heart, and his good sense when it comes to renovating old, old spaces…Bell St. is well over 100!!! Stacy said, “It’s got good bones. It’s a good house.” That’s all it took to reinforce our feeling that we needed to love this house and keep it forever.

When we began talking seriously about the renovation, we also consulted our neighbor and friend, Joe. Joe lives next door, but he also takes very good care of us. I can call Joe, (and I have), at a moment’s notice for help and Joe is there. We asked his advice and expertise and he advised us well. He wanted to bid for the job, as did another friend and neighbor who is a partner to an ISL parent…lots of connections…So Jed and Kevin and Joe all placed their bids. Stacy, of course, was a bidder as well due to his love and connection for us and the house! We were so luck to have such wonderful, trustworthy, and competent contractor/designers at our service!

After much contemplation and consideration, Lynn and I had to follow our hearts and ask Stacy (and his partner Rodney) to complete the job for us. Stacy just knows me and Lynn and how we feel about this house. Stacy knows how we feel about the city we love. Stacy just knows us better. In this process, Lynn and I learned that we believe in the concept of home and unconditional love. New Orleans is our home and we love it, good, bad, or ugly. We’ve come to realize that “New Orleans” is part of our family and no matter what, we will not give up on “her.”

When we came back to the city after Katrina, many thought we were crazy, and maybe we were. We knew, however, right or wrong, it was what we had to do. It was more than buying a house inside the city limits… it was getting into the guts of the city and finding the heart of it all…Mid-City! We re-planted seeds and instantly had roots!

Our tiny, tiny house became our sanctuary and we fell in love with it and our city all over again. Our commitment to that love, in part, is this renovation. Most of all, we hope to teach Sophie that when you love something or someone, that love should make whatever (whomever) you love better. We did that on BGD. With every year, we made the house better. The more we loved it, the more “home” we created in that space. The same goes here on Bell St... We want to take this little, long, strange house and love it, love it, love it. We want to make it better, ultimately to teach our daughter about commitment and love and hope. We want her to know that our house is not just ours, it is for our neighbors, friends, family, and for our city.

It looks like another part of our wonderful family will be helping us on this journey. Jean and Becky have offered their “backhouse” space for us to live in while we are displaced. We cannot begin to thank them for easing our stress with their generosity and hospitality. We love them so much! Sophie is also very excited to be staying with Aunt Jeanie and Aunt Becky!

This blog will chronicle the journey of the little house. It should begin sometime in October and end 3-4 months down the road. I hope that you will find time to visit it from time to time and share in our progress. I also hope that, when all is said and done, if you are reading this, you will join us in a BIG party in the new, old space!

We love you,

Lynn, Laura, and Sophie