Demolition and Renovations: Not for the faint hearted

I've got big plans for our house.  It's the first one where I think I could actually stay.  Like forever.  Which, for those who know me, is a big deal.  And for those who know Aaron, is a really exciting hope that he can finally do a home project with the prospect of enjoying it for more than a few years.

But, we also live in the super expensive Bay Area.  So, while I've got our whole house renovation already laid out in my head, I've got to be patient.  My philosophy at the moment is that I'm not going to fill the house with temporary stuff.  I'd prefer for areas to just be empty for now until we save the money to make it right.

Well, that decision for empty space has definitely come in handy the last few months.  Because our closets and future "media room" have served as our pseudo garage.  Skis, Christmas decor, tools, paint, cabinets and more all needed to find a home in our house to prepare for demolition.  Garage renovations while working full-time is definitely not for the faint of heart.

Here's what our house looked like for about 3 or 4 months: 

I knew what I was getting into with going for an non-standard garage renovation project.  But, I had to learn to also control my excitement in planning.  You see, as I mentioned, I've got the whole house reno worked out in my head.  And the courtyard.  And the garden.

And my head relaxes by jumping around from plan to plan.  Thinking about what I'd like to do.  Figuring out the logistics.  And wanting to share all of these things with my fabulous roomie, Aaron. Well, his mind doesn't work that way.  His head relaxes by plowing through a single project.  Executing and marking things of a list in an organized, straight-forward approach.  And getting intense satisfaction from having a clear plan to proceed on.

So, while he was busy doing this:

I was busy thinking about thinking about whether this was the right stone for our courtyard:

And whether we could get a gas line out to our rear patio so that I could create an area with Adironack chairs to look at our water view and enjoy a fire wall like this:

And whether a live edge table like the one below would work ok outside as a dining table.  Whether our ocean air would cause problems or whether this was a better choice than metal (which rusted on our previous table).

And I am totally good with talking these things through with my husband while painting in the garage or organizing all of our re-situated cabinets or trying to figure out what to do with all this trash in the crazy Bay Area where garbage cans are the size of wastebaskets.

But, my marriage lesson for the day was that Aaron's head doesn't work that way.  Figuring out the logistics of how what the heck of "live edge" table is and then how one goes about making it, is not something he can think about while painting and installing a garage door, for example (as a totally hypothetical example, of course). 

Our friend Seth helped with the garage install.  He isn't such a fan of photos, but this one was too good to resist!

Short a person or two and needing to get a door moved.  No problem for Seth!

Aaron's dad and Seth were there to help on garage install day.

It was cool to see the door go up piece by piece.

Thanks to living in a gated community, we didn't have a choice on the garage door design.  HOA rules.  Which felt weird to spend money on a design you couldn't choose.  But, that's life.

Isn't he a cutie?

So, I've decided this is why Pinterest was created.  To keep a marriage like mine healthy.  I store all my photos and file them away in neat little areas.  Waiting for the day when my husband's brain has room to consider them.

And then BOOM.  Ideas unleashed.  Project plan created.  Materials researched.  And the next project has begun.  In between, Aaron can happily cross off his task list on the current creation and I can jump around from place to place.  And the results, I've decided, are pretty darn good.