We made major progress on our last trip to Seminole. The kids and I had to pick Brad up at school on Friday afternoon so we could rush straight to the house. We had a 4:30 appointment with Contractor #1 and somehow managed to drop the kids off at my parent's house and make it just in the nick of time!
After 2 thorough hours with C#1, we walked next door with our heads spinning but seeing the beautiful sunset helped. We ate yummy dinner and headed to bed. Saturday morning started early as we had to run to the office to make copies of our to-do lists for the 2 contractor meetings we had that day! Of the 6 contractors we called, we heard back from 4 and scheduled meetings with 3. The 2nd appointment with Contractor #2 was at 10 a.m. He was equally as thorough but a little less intense. It took about 2 hours too. We had just enough time to have some lunch, get a good game of basketball in and almost fall asleep on the couch when it was time for Contractor #3. He arrived early, at 2 p.m. and we spent the afternoon showing him all we wanted to do to the house. He was the only Seminole guy and it showed. He was the most laid back of them all. I'm not sure he even asked one question and I know he didn't take any notes! :)
The difference between the three contractors was like a story of Goldilocks. Small, medium, large...cold, warm, hot...soft, firm, hard. We liked them all, but they were just so different. #1 talked a lot about rules and guidelines and regulations. He seemed concerned about every little thing, freaked Brad out about termites, carpenter ants, mold, foundations, the roof, and the cellar. There were times I thought he wouldn't even take the job because it was too extensive. #2 was still very professional, the same age as me, and seemed to know his stuff, but he was so much less concerned about things. He took some notes, asked lots of questions and seemed nice. #3 we know from other work he has done on the farm. He basically walked through, nodded a few times and said he could start in a couple of weeks. I gave them each a very detailed list of every job that we could think of that we wanted done and we are so anxious to see what bids they come up with!
When the last contractor left, we made a fun trip to the local hardware store to get some supplies for the next day. Brad had big plans for Sunday and he got so much done! While the miss and I measured every square inch of the house (to know how much we need of everything) he got busy ripping out the recessed ceiling. Talk about immediate gratification! Removing those yellow plastic panels and that dark gridwork has changed the entire house!
Of course the horrid flourescent lighting will come down, but you can really get a good glimpse at the cabinets and the space between them and the ceiling...
Brad also took down a lot more paneling, took out an ENTIRE tree that was growing into the side of the roofline, AND started scraping off the popcorn ceiling. He got the boys bedroom completely scraped before he had to quit so we could head home.
SO MUCH BETTER!!!!!!! although B looks like a crazy person :)
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