Talking to our contractor this week, they commented on how well organized Scott and I were with where with setting up a rack to place all our food and dishes, having our coffee maker, microwave and toaster available;  having a place for everything that we all will need access to.  Even having food pre-made and frozen so that all we need to do is to microwave some veggies, and maybe make rice in the rice maker and we have a complete meal.

The one thing I have been surprised about this renovation is how dusty and how dry the condo has been.

Let me be clear – I knew it would get dusty, I’m just surprised at how quickly after the first day of demolition and just how far reaching.  There’s dust all the way into the bedroom, even keeping the doors closed.  Obviously covering things up goes a long way to keeping the dust off our stuff, unless, of course, your dining room and living room are acting like a makeshift kitchen.

Having a great vacuum helps.  Scott and I have been vacuuming the condo every day, where we can.  Mainly the floors but we also did a bit of a dusting of the entertainment unit and surfaces we could access.  I’m very glad for HEPA filters on vacuums these days.  Honestly – Dyson all the way.  I would not consider any other vacuum on the market today.

The other issue we’ve had is around the humidity level of the condo.  With all the dust and stuff flying through the air, the humidity level has dropped quite a bit.  Add opening the door to the balcony or opening windows and the humidity level dropped to about 21%.  There’s a fine balance to opening up and getting fresh air in the place, the vacuum and pressure that causes spreading dust around the condo and the humidity level.

We a run a small room humidifier to help things out, which also shows the humidity levels in the air.  Closing up the windows brought the humidity level up by 10 to 20 points alone.  To really boost the humidity level, Scott and I having our showers in the morning helped as well.  And that has helped up to be able to breathe better.

The bathroom renovation of 2012 really showed us the stamina required to get through a 2-3 week renovation.  Now for me, I have to admit I’m struggling a bit more because I was away for most of the bathroom renovation.  Hats off to Scott who lived that complete renovation and this renovation.

Next week is drywall, painting and electrical panel installation week:

• Dry walling – Bulk head, and a two-foot wide wall 
• Patching any holes and such in the kitchen and laundry room
• Painting of parts of the kitchen and the laundry room
• Hopefully getting our washer finally repaired and all setup
• Getting the electrical panel replaced

By the end of next week, we should be able to put the laundry room together and be done with that, freeing up a considerable amount of space in the living room.

Once our new electrical panel is in, we can then get rid of a whole bunch of stuff in the bedroom.  Mainly our boxes of Christmas decorations and the tree, that live in the storage room where the electrical panel resides.

I’m probably dreaming, but It would be really nice if the cabinets arrived a bit early so that things could be installed that much sooner.  April 15th can’t come soon enough, admittedly.  If all goes well, then the week of April 22nd will be final electrical, and counter top installation and backsplash by April 29th.