D-day at the cottage
The cottage, as we know it, will cease to exist as of August 3. The insurance company has made an initial payout to us to cover personal property, which, instead of going toward buying new furniture, went to pay off the remediation company that tore the house up and made the decision that we had to tear it down. It's essentially $25K down the drain, or river.
Fun memories part 1
When it's ok to watch TV at LHOTR
So what's a girl to do? Browse Facebook Marketplace for replacements at pennies on the dollar. All told, I've spent $50 on four bedside tables, four lamps, and the coffee table.
Cool. Comes with a USB port to plug in your phone.
The best things in life are free, and kind people even help you load them in your car.
This, only in reverse.
So what's it going to look like up there once the walls come down, other than a big hole?
We are going up in the air by about 4 feet. It may not feel significant, but there's peace of mind knowing we are protecting our asset. That means the crawl space will legit be a basement, although smaller than the typical basement. Dave the Builder is going to clean the space up, square it off with concrete, build up the foundation, and then apply a thick liner that will protect the space from future flooding. Our plan for the space is to have everything neatly stored in totes so that when it happens again, it's a matter of hauling the totes out and simply putting them on higher ground. That means snowmobile suits, the Christmas tree, even extra blankets, have their place.
And, DtB is going to salvage what he can from the house, like the pine boards, so we can have an accent wall to remember the old place by. He's even going to try to salvage the windows, esp. the large picture window in the kitchen area.
We are moving the entrance to the house to the east side, so we can build a wrap-around deck. The doors facing the river will be French or center swing. The great room will stay more or less the same in dimensions, but the kitchen is going on the east wall in an L shape, and the living room is going on the west wall. The bathroom will be in the center between the two bedrooms, where we will get closets that are easily accessible. And a laundry room! So little improvements all around, including a bathtub that isn't in the dark.
Currently, 90% of the contents of the cottage are in the basement. Not knowing what the interior is going to look like, I'm going to say that honestly, only 60 - 75% of it will go back up north; some of it just won't have a home up there anymore. Due to mold and mildew, we already discarded some items like the plastic storage containers. Dave the Husband is already voicing his desire to restrict the amount of stuff that goes back into the cottage based on how much we had to haul out of there. I'm feeling defensive about some of it since he wanted me to discard my books, but I get his point. I was so adamant about tablecloths and napkins, but we didn't use them past the first year. I could cut back on my serving bowls and platters too. Maybe decide to go all new - or newish - on the pots and pans, get a nice set instead of the garage sale mishmash I currently have.
I remember typing six years ago, "such a lovely problem to have." I'm not feeling those exact feelings this time. My old roommate Missy acknowledged the melancholy of the situation in saying, "You put a lot of love into that cottage," but acknowledged a new place wouldn't be so bad, maybe I won't have to work as hard this time.
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