It’s been a hectic few weeks on our beach house renovation, and things haven’t gone as smoothly as we hoped. This week we’re sharing the story of three setbacks that hit in quick succession: a missed deadline, discovering the house had no water line, and an unexpected medical complication. We’re honest about how renovations can be messy and unpredictable, but there’s a bright side: we powered through nearly 20 hours of tiling, discovered a handy gadget that made working without electricity manageable, and had some memorable moments along the way. Sherry still refuses to be a clean freak, and we describe what it was like to attend a live recording for a huge podcast where lines wrapped around the block.
You can download the episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and TuneIn Radio – or listen to it below. Use this page to find the links, notes, and photos we reference. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may need to click through to the post to see the player.
What’s New
- The photo above sums up the recent beach house chaos: an excavator hunting for a mysteriously missing water line while we raced to get tile installed in four rooms within 33 hours.
- Good news: since we recorded the episode, Burger has fully recovered. He’s off his medications and his eye is nearly back to normal. We’re so relieved.
- The image below was taken just before we left for the beach when Burger was still a little winky from an ulcer. He wasn’t exactly thrilled with the slightly melted dog cookie shaped like him, but he ate it anyway.
What’s Not
- For those interested in daily cleaning habits, Good Housekeeping’s list of 7 Things You Should Clean Every Single Day is a useful reference.
We’re Digging
- The photo above shows how we tiled after dark using a $30 Ryobi area light we bought before heading to the beach house. The USB port kept our phones charged and proved essential. At one point we used a phone flashlight while Sherry adjusted spacing on a few of the blue tiles in the master bathroom by hand.
- Below is a shot of the downstairs bathroom and mudroom. Because they connect, we used the same slate-style tile in both areas. The floor needed a cleaning in the photo, but you can see the little spacers and yellow wedges from a tile leveling system we tried for the first time. It worked well, especially with larger tiles — we’ll share more details in a future post.
- If you want proof of how hot it was working without air conditioning in Virginia’s summer humidity, here’s a photo of how sweaty I was after about 30 minutes of unloading the car and carrying tile inside — before we even started tiling.
- For fellow Real Housewives fans, Sherry recommends a hilarious recap podcast hosted by two comedians, including Casey Wilson. It’s a fun listen if you enjoy light, funny rundowns of episodes.
If you’re trying to find something we mentioned in a past episode but can’t remember which show notes it was in, we maintain a master list of everything we’ve “been digging” across past episodes.
Finally, thanks to The Annie Selke Companies for sponsoring this episode. Check out Annie’s new bed & breakfast, 33 Main, and if you shop at AnnieSelke.com you can use code YHL15 to get 15% off eligible orders on bedding, furniture, rugs, and more.
Thanks for listening, everyone!
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