sneak peak

Here we are, still in the midst of our remodeling adventure. It's been about three months, I think. And I must say that I could very well go insane from it all. Remodeling here in Saudi is way different than in the US. There's the whole cement house versus wooden house thing. And then there's the whole labor issue. In the US you usually hire a crew to come remodel your house. This crew will come every day until the job is done. Day by day you see the progress and feel accomplishments despite the interruptions to your life. Well, here that's a bit different. We did hire a crew and they do come and work but not every day. It's here and there. And as you can imagine that means days go by with no progress. It's very frustrating. We've been living on the 2nd floor of our house for two months now. We have a total of three bedrooms, one of which we converted into a living room for the time being. There are times when it feels cozy (there's only the three of us), but often times it feels crampy. It's like we're confined. The thing I miss the most is my kitchen. I was okay for a week or two, but now I just want to cook already.

Despite my complaints and our discomfort in all this, there has been some slow progress. I wanted to wait to do before and afters however it's just taking too long. And I know my family in particular are anxious to see some updates on everything. So today after school, I went downstairs and snapped a few shots of our progress so far. If you don't remember the "during" pics I took awhile back, take a look here.

Our floors are finished, our painting is finished and our new lighting fixtures have finally been installed. We bought two of the same fixtures because we now have one big open space and felt the two main fixtures should match. Here is one of our two fixtures in what will become our living room:

Here is the second fixture which is hanging above what will be our dining room area. I took this shot to show the two paint colors we chose. Most of the room is the lighter shade which is called something like, "Spring Meadow". We also chose a darker shade for one side of the room which is called, "Hollywood Hill".

I'm also able to show you our new sink. Now, when I first heard of a sink being outside the bathroom, I thought this was strange. But after living in Saudi for almost 6 years, it's so normal to me now. Here in Saudi, hospitality is a big thing. And you will find many things that cater to your guests. In most homes, you will find guest bathrooms which are located near the guest sitting room. There may or may not be a sink inside the bathroom, but almost always you'll find a sink (and many times 2 or even 3 sinks) outside the bathroom. This allows your guests the convenience of washing up before a meal, and after a meal. It also provides a place for guests to wash for prayer. In Islam, Muslims wash their hands, face, parts of the head, arms, and feet before praying.

We thought about putting the sink in the bathroom, but decided to keep it out as our bathroom is pretty small. Before, the sink was located in a sectioned off area where is didn't interfere with the other rooms. But now that we have this big, open space, I wanted to be very particular about the sink we chose. It's completely exposed to the whole 1st floor. So we went with a sink that looks like a piece of furniture. This way we get the function of a sink, but the look of furniture which will blend in with everything else. You'll notice the bathroom off to the right. Btw, re-installing the bathroom door is on the list of "things to do". Here is our new sink (the mirror came with it):

Below is one more view. You can see my poor sofa which stayed because it's difficult to move (even though we're now planning on new furniture). Also, notice how everything has a white dusty look to it? When you build/remodel a cement house, this stuff gets everywhere. And I want to get in there and clean, but considering they're not finished, I must wait. My housekeeper is also itching to get in there and clean. It's driving us all mad.

That all being said, it is nice to actually see this much progress. I just can't wait until it's completely finished and we're back to a normal life. The only bad thing is that we still have an upstairs bathroom to do and hubby wants to redo the entire staircase...I wonder if I'll survive the craziness? ;)