Couch for Sale

After having a kitchen fire in early June, we are finally making progress toward having our home restored. The restoration began last week with our ceilings being primed and painted. The kitchen cabinets have been ordered, microwave has been ordered, and the new flooring has been picked out. I am so ready for this to be completed!!! But just like most things in life, when you redo one area it really exposes other areas that need to be redone too. Now it seems we need new living room furniture.

The living room, kitchen, and foyer were painted this weekend and most of the dining room is complete. Since we have vaulted ceilings we had the professional painters do the cutting in around the ceiling but my dear husband painted the rest with the help of his sister. We saved some considerable money doing it ourselves and it looks really good. It looks really orange, too, I might add.

The samples I posted last week just do not tell the story of these paint colors. They are vibrant and bold. Really bold. I must admit that I like them though. But they don't match any of the RED furniture we had in the living room. Red couches on vibrant orange walls just doesn't work too well. I told dear husband that this would be the case but maybe that is his way of making sure we buy some new (to us) stuff. He really wants a recliner and hasn't had one in 4 years. Poor thing.

Since we don't believe in credit cards or going into debt anymore we will just have to save up the money to buy new stuff. Until then, we have a used, large, red, micro suede, sectional couch for sale along with two large, red, micro suede ottomans.

The Painters are Coming! The Painters are Coming!

The Painters are coming tomorrow to prime our ceilings and walls! Thank you Jesus!

They are going to be here at 8:00 am and we've got to get this place ready for them. We are moving most of our stuff into the garage and then just covering up the larger pieces of furniture and electronics. I find it totally ironic that my husband insisted on having a cleaned out spotless garage and now I'm going to junk it up again!

I've been very lax with housework this summer because I have a mental block. Or I'm just bone lazy. Or both. With the kitchen a wreck from the fire and the walls and ceilings a striped gray and black mess, I've not really cared to keep everything looking good. But hopefully all of that is behind us and in about a week I will have everything back to normal. Then I can just be my normal lazy self without the mental block and without any good excuses anymore!

Can anyone guess what those color boxes are at the top?

Yep, those are the colors dear hubby picked out and since I'm eating crow because I started the fire, I will have to live with them! What do you think?

Finally, Some Progress with the Insurance Company

When we returned from vacation and there was still no email, no voice mail, no snail mail, nothing from our insurance company regarding the kitchen fire, I sent off a very firm email to the company and let them know that I was highly dissatisfied with their lack of customer service and that I would be seeking another company for our property insurance and other policies that we carry with them. This morning I checked their website and I saw that our case was now closed and a check was being processed.

I then received a phone call from the person in charge of our claim asking me if I had any more questions or concerns and his apologies for lack of clear communication. He then said he deducted our $1000 deductible from the estimated contractor charges. I asked him to look again, because we have a $500 deductible. "Oh, well, then we will cut you an additional check for $500 for the difference. And last, I now need you to itemize every, single item of food and any food related supplies that was damaged and inedible due to fire." Before they just told us to list "food" as a general category.

Looks like I will be going to the grocery store tomorrow, not to shop but to list current prices of everything I threw out. Thankfully, I took pictures of everything! I'm sure 10 Heinz ketchups and 14 boxes of Duncan Hines cake mix at full price will look very foreign to me! Oh well, I have to list "replacement" costs.

With news of our pending check, our contractor ordered our paint and supplies tonight and he will get that rolling on Wednesday. The cabinet guy is coming Friday. Yippee! Maybe, just maybe things will be done before I return to school on August 11th.

Still waiting on the Insurance Company

It has now been 17 days since my big kitchen fire. NO money yet from the Insurance company! They said they couldn't really do much until they received the fire report from our city fire department, which was faxed last Tuesday. They had to make sure it was an actual accident and not intentional. Hello! Listen to the 911 tape if there was any doubt. I was a shrieking, crying mess.

My contractor is ready to go, my microwave has been ordered, cabinets are complete, we just need a check and all of this mess can be fixed in about 1 week. Except the painting. That is going to take a while.

Our kitchen and living room are really one big great room with a 20 foot vaulted ceiling. The entire ceiling has to be primed, retexturized, and then painted. Then we get to prime and paint all of the walls, doors, trim, and base boards.

And, help, because my husband now wants to paint the great room orange! No, not an actual Florida Gator orange, but a color called "baked clay" and then use "persimmon" as an accent color. My furniture is red! And unless he is planning on buying new living room furniture this stuff is going to clash more than Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan! Yeah, my husband, the decorator, Not! He thinks that just because our yard looks gorgeous that he can now decorate the inside walls too!

Fighting my own Frugalness

In listing items that were damaged or destroyed by the fire and smoke I found it to be excruciatingly painful to say that items are no longer usable. Everything within me says that it could be salvaged or it could still be used even if it is not in perfect condition. But out it must go, especially any items that my baby might come in contact with while playing or scooting around. Still, it hurts my frugal soul even though I know that I would not want anything in our house that could be potentially harmful.

Note to self: just let it go.

Fire Update

We had a very nice Father's Day yesterday despite the fire and evidence of it everywhere in our house. We are hoping that the insurance adjuster will come out today to give us an estimate of what they are going to do for us in terms of replacing damaged items. On Saturday the Service Master cleaning team came and began to clean all of our hard surfaces. They will be back today to start on some of the deep cleaning and detail work.

The house will be a revolving door today. The insurance adjuster is supposed to be here. The cabinet guy is coming by to take measurements and to see if they still have this same style in stock. The cleaning team is coming back. The air conditioning team is coming to clean our all of our ducts and vents.

I have made a list of everything we have thrown out from the cabinets and kitchen, including my precious stockpile of baking goods and condiments. We have no knives, as the entire butcher block of them was destroyed. Three pots and 2 baking sheets were destroyed along with my wood cutting board I've had since we got married. The carpet in 3 rooms will need to be replaced and possibly 2 sets of curtains. And my husband's antique quilt made by his grandmother will need to be professionally cleaned. Oh, and then the entire house and all of the ceilings will have to be primed and painted.

So, we will see what the adjuster says and go from there. It's going to be a busy summer after all. Thank you for all the prayers, posts, calls, and email. It is such a blessing to have friends in times like this.