"I just get so happy when they finally let her shop."
So: remember, a few weeks back, how I said I had visions of being laughed out of various kitchen-building companies' offices with my smallish renovation budget? WELL. Have I got a story for you!
The good news is, I'm all saved up for my new kitchen-I've reached my goal, started talking to designers, and compiled a list of contractors to call. Yay! One company I've had my eye on is a full-service design-and-build company in Berkeley; they have excellent Yelp reviews, and since I've never done a remodel before, I liked the idea of working with people who could coach me through and help take care of all kinds of details. I could tell from their website that their work was high-end, but my kitchen is small, and I'm not doing any structural work-basically, I knew they might be out of my price range, but I figured it couldn't hurt to stop in Saturday morning and see whether they might be interested in a simple project. Here is what I learned: the average cost of one of their kitchens? Is almost TEN TIMES my budget. $150,000! Hilariously, the saleswoman was like, "well, if you think your budget might stretch a little further...?" Like...to what I have, but nine more of them? At the same time, a lot of what their clients pay for is stuff I don't need. I don't care about custom cabinetry and am planning to use IKEA; I've already chosen and priced most of my furnishings and finishes, so I don't need them to walk me around to different showrooms, or pick stuff for me; I don't mind working directly with a contractor. Also, as stressful as I foresee the renovation process being, it's just not that complicated of a job-any decent contractor should be able to pull this off, no problem. I'm going to assume one-stop design-and-build isn't for me and skip straight to getting some layout advice from an independent designer and then finding a contractor I like. And spend the imaginary $134,000 I save on something else.
I went on a coffee date on Saturday afternoon with the aforementioned Gordon; I liked him! He was cute and kind of dorky-he works in arts administration and is a huge theater nerd. He felt a bit reserved to me, but we had some good conversation and he asked to exchange numbers at the end, and I think we'll hang out again sometime this week. Equally important: it turns out he works with a friend of mine, whom I was conveniently already scheduled to see Saturday night at a party. After she got over her initial "GORDON IS STRAIGHT?!" response-he's neat, stylish, and in good shape, so maybe he gets that a lot?-she was like, actually, I see no red flags for you there. I'm also still in contact with Matt from a few weeks ago, though I'm not sure whether this means we're just going to text forever about nothing, and I'm messaging with a guy I've seen around on a few different services and thought maybe? about but never connected with before. He's a lawyer, cute in a possibly bro-y kind of way, lives in Berkeley, I think has a kid? Anyway, his mom is visiting for a few weeks, but he asked if we could meet up when she's gone. WHY NOT.
The rest of my weekend was busy-chill: making rhubarb bars and attending our end-of-year party for choir, cake and presents at my place for Ben's birthday, watching the Tonys, Weekly Cooking: Race Against Food Waste Edition, and a bunch of cleaning and reading and knitting and sleep-ins. My neighbor and I rearranged our yard and moved her teak daybed outside, which I was skeptical about in theory but am already loving in practice-we got an outdoor cushion for it and have each already enjoyed a nap outside under the plum trees. We also reoriented our outdoor dining set and it makes our yard look enormous, with way more play space for the two little boys who live there. I see a lot of outdoor lounging in our future, and I am here for it. In fact, I would rather be there RIGHT NOW.
The good news is, I'm all saved up for my new kitchen-I've reached my goal, started talking to designers, and compiled a list of contractors to call. Yay! One company I've had my eye on is a full-service design-and-build company in Berkeley; they have excellent Yelp reviews, and since I've never done a remodel before, I liked the idea of working with people who could coach me through and help take care of all kinds of details. I could tell from their website that their work was high-end, but my kitchen is small, and I'm not doing any structural work-basically, I knew they might be out of my price range, but I figured it couldn't hurt to stop in Saturday morning and see whether they might be interested in a simple project. Here is what I learned: the average cost of one of their kitchens? Is almost TEN TIMES my budget. $150,000! Hilariously, the saleswoman was like, "well, if you think your budget might stretch a little further...?" Like...to what I have, but nine more of them? At the same time, a lot of what their clients pay for is stuff I don't need. I don't care about custom cabinetry and am planning to use IKEA; I've already chosen and priced most of my furnishings and finishes, so I don't need them to walk me around to different showrooms, or pick stuff for me; I don't mind working directly with a contractor. Also, as stressful as I foresee the renovation process being, it's just not that complicated of a job-any decent contractor should be able to pull this off, no problem. I'm going to assume one-stop design-and-build isn't for me and skip straight to getting some layout advice from an independent designer and then finding a contractor I like. And spend the imaginary $134,000 I save on something else.
I went on a coffee date on Saturday afternoon with the aforementioned Gordon; I liked him! He was cute and kind of dorky-he works in arts administration and is a huge theater nerd. He felt a bit reserved to me, but we had some good conversation and he asked to exchange numbers at the end, and I think we'll hang out again sometime this week. Equally important: it turns out he works with a friend of mine, whom I was conveniently already scheduled to see Saturday night at a party. After she got over her initial "GORDON IS STRAIGHT?!" response-he's neat, stylish, and in good shape, so maybe he gets that a lot?-she was like, actually, I see no red flags for you there. I'm also still in contact with Matt from a few weeks ago, though I'm not sure whether this means we're just going to text forever about nothing, and I'm messaging with a guy I've seen around on a few different services and thought maybe? about but never connected with before. He's a lawyer, cute in a possibly bro-y kind of way, lives in Berkeley, I think has a kid? Anyway, his mom is visiting for a few weeks, but he asked if we could meet up when she's gone. WHY NOT.
The rest of my weekend was busy-chill: making rhubarb bars and attending our end-of-year party for choir, cake and presents at my place for Ben's birthday, watching the Tonys, Weekly Cooking: Race Against Food Waste Edition, and a bunch of cleaning and reading and knitting and sleep-ins. My neighbor and I rearranged our yard and moved her teak daybed outside, which I was skeptical about in theory but am already loving in practice-we got an outdoor cushion for it and have each already enjoyed a nap outside under the plum trees. We also reoriented our outdoor dining set and it makes our yard look enormous, with way more play space for the two little boys who live there. I see a lot of outdoor lounging in our future, and I am here for it. In fact, I would rather be there RIGHT NOW.