If you remember, as the pandemic raged in mid-2020 we happened upon a listing in an idyllic setting in the Pacific Northwest just an hour outside of Seattle. Not only was the property in a beautiful far flung corner of the world, but it was also a particularly meaningful spot for me. The house sits a stone’s throw from a hidden Puget Sound beach that I grew up combing with my mother and grandmother when I was small. I was thrilled by the thought of getting to share this undiscovered area with my six-year-old and bring my family back to place that meant so much to my childhood. With the future so uncertain, we also wanted a spot to be closer to our immediate family, so we dove in head first, like I shared all those months ago, I thought we’d undergo a quick three-month spruce-up to ride out the rest of lockdown with our nearest and dearest. The bad juju of 2020 had other plans in store.
Just as we were about to get started, the property suffered major water damage from a faulty dishwasher hookup. Floors and walls throughout the kitchen and living room as well as the rooms in the basement below suffered severe damage that was not salvageable. Suddenly, this project took a whole new turn. We were left with the only option of doing a much bigger makeover. Needless to say, our three month “spruce up” was blown wide open. Thankfully this isn’t my first rodeo. had me well prepped to tackle this turn of events. There were certainly more uncharted challenges ahead though. I thought you’d be interested in some of the other related obstacles this project faced:
– We only had 20 minutes to walk the property before deciding whether or not to put in an offer.
– I got to see it one more time for 45 mins before I needed to start on the design process
– The entire project was designed and managed remotely as I couldn’t travel from San Francisco. Yay for Facetime.
– Continual supply chain issues pushed many furniture and final finish deliveries back 12-20 weeks longer than expected