Whether I Like It or Not, Phase II Is Underway

There is nothing the Internet hates more than an abandoned blog. But that is exactly what I did in 2018. I stopped writing about my house project just when we were getting ready for the kitchen and bathroom installations. That would have been the last major hurdle to clear to finish the house. It was also the part I was most excited about.

The project had already been delayed by that point by almost two years. There were various reasons why that happened, but I trusted my contractor and things were progressing well that year. But I had decided to hire a friend who was in the kitchen and bathroom design and build business to handle that part of my project. She was supposed to get started on her end of things once the walls were complete.

When it was time for her to get started, the project completely went off the rails. I descended into a personal hell for the next year. It was so chaotic, and I was such a mess that I never was able to write about what was going on.

Fast-forward to November of 2019, and I was able to get the work permit closed out and I moved into the house. I meant to pick up the blog but for various reasons I did not. Two reasons were the global pandemic that set in a few months after I moved, and a job change I made in June of 2020 which took away a lot of my focus. But the biggest reason I stopped writing was because I was so upset and angry about what happened.

That was a shame, I really enjoyed writing about the project. Not just because of the feedback I got from others, but because I wanted to journal the process for myself. Several times since I moved in, I wanted to restart the blog, but I never had a good starting point. I wanted to pick up the story from 2019 before I got into any of the positive things that happened to the project since then. But I just put it off, primarily because my memory had started to fade, and I would have to do my own research about myself from text messages, e-mails, and pictures to even remember what happened!

I’ve made a promise to myself to go back one day and fill in those gaps. Not just for myself, but I would like a permanent record on the Internet about what my kitchen and bathroom design and build contractor, Niki Sinclair (formerly Nichola Sinclair of Inigo Designs) did to me. For the rest of her life, I will pay for the blog to stay on line so anybody who searches for her will have a very good accounting of what they’d be getting into if they attempted to do business with her in any way.

But all that is for another day. I found my re-starting point for the story, and it is not about Niki Sinclair.

It is now 2024 and I just got my work permits to replace my backyard. I intend to build a beautiful space to entertain, recreate, cook, and grow vegetables in. This time around I found a reputable contractor and I have reason to believe that things will go smoothly, and the finished product will be awesome.

Despite my optimism about the contractor, I am having a hard time getting excited about this project. In fact, I’m dreading it. All these years later, I’m still feeling the effects of the initial build and I can’t help but feel nervous about this next phase. But, at the very least, I want to get back to writing and this feels like a much better place to restart by journaling the project as it happens. So, if you are still around and want to read more, I am happy to have you with me again. In the coming weeks, I’ll document the story of the yard since I moved in, my goals for what I want it to be when it is finished, and progress on the design and build.