While it’s been wildly delayed, we’re finally here!
Over the past 9 months I have been quietly dealing with a ton of challenges and getting everything ready. It has been a wild ride.
As promised, here’s the rundown of everything that’s happened over the past nine months:
May 2020
Had the crazy idea to start looking for a new home during a pandemic. A lot of things in my old home weren’t working for me and it became abundantly clear while in isolation with a newborn.
Found an amazing Victorian in Merchantville that also happened to be in a B-2 business district that meant I could also have my dream lingerie boutique and studio in my home!
Saw the house, fell in love.
Brought out a contractor for an opinion and estimate.
Made an offer and started preparations for this massive undertaking.
Despite being in the business district, the home was currently single family so I had to apply to have the property rezoned to multi use in order to have my studio and boutique.
Filled out the application (all 30 pages) hired a lawyer to represent me at the hearing, and was approved.
This makes the process sound much easier than it was, it actually took about two months and was extremely involved. Filling out the paperwork alone took almost two weeks and most days I was filling out paperwork with Parker in my arms and half exhausted.
Business is still shut down due to covid so I also begin the process of rescheduling all of my clients to a later date when I’m allowed to reopen safely.
June 2020
Got a timeline from contractor for the many many decisions and items that had to be chosen. This list was daunting and with a baby during a pandemic, visiting stores to choose anything was not something I was looking forward to.
July 2020
Packing and preparing. That’s a feat in itself.
July 31, 2020
Settlement, yay!
August 2020
Building restoration began and moved Parker, Bella, and myself into my aunt’s while work was being done. Had all of my belongings put into storage.
So many issues, some were known, some were a surprise. Here’s a quick list of all the work done:
Foundation issues. Oh fun. The whole center of the building needs to be resupported under the kitchen and under the boutique.
The two back rooms (breakfast nook and office/reveal room) are sinking. Badly. Both rooms need to be entirely ripped up for new support and flooring.
The entire back porch is rotting and needs to be cut to access the back rooms. Replaced that.
Entire kitchen redo. Appliances ordered in June are delayed except for the stove. After multiple calls and pleading with the the owner that I needed a fridge because I have a 6 month old, the store sends a tiny fridge. I don’t have a dishwasher or microwave. I’m literally living in Victorian times at this point.
New flooring through house. The flooring I picked is out of stock everywhere. Visited several stores to find new flooring. Contractor worked some magic and found it. Another delay.
Opened second door to downstairs bathroom so you can access it from to front hall. Replaced sink and toilet. Faucet leaks. Replaced faucet.
Installed air conditioning. Of course I needed special parts so that caused another delay.
Entire house patched and repainted.
Opened door for service stairs to second floor.
Attic stairs replaced.
All electrical updates from knob and tube
Installed new ceiling fans upstairs. They all malfunctioned. Replaced them all.
Installed washer and dryer. Can’t install dryer because hookups are gas and my dryer is electric. Of course I forgot to check this. Also have to build a special pedestal in order to vent dryer properly.
Call in locksmith to rekey all locks AND change all of the interior door handles because people keep getting locked in rooms ??♀️
September 2020
Finish most of the work. Move in. Start process of never ending unpacking (I’m still not done)
Apply for permits. Everyone at the borough who does inspections only works one day a week so it’s takes some time to get everyone out. New issues arise.
Need to have a fire rated wall between the boutique and rest of the house.
Bring in an architect to sort this out. The walls are plaster and only have a 30 minute fire rating. Fire rated wall = one hour fire rating of sheet rock + plaster or insulation in the walls.
Calls to every inspector and mayor to try and get this worked out.
Begin process of 6 months to get this sorted.
Order new dryer. Arrives dented. Second dryer doesn’t work after ten minutes. Takes six visits from a repair man and six months of calling the manufacturer to get a new one sent out. In the meantime I have tons of baby clothes to wash and it takes an a tire day to dry one load of laundry.
October 2020
Appliances finally arrive. Life gets a little bit easier.
Bella starts having bladder issues and is peeing blood. Three visits to the vet, antibiotics for a UTI, talk of possible cancer, taking her outside hourly… a month later it’s determined she has a really bad UTI and needs antibiotics for a month to knock it out. She’s all better now!
Still working with a broken dryer.
Downstairs toilet malfunctions. Need to replace toilet.
Heater breaks down Oct 30 and it’s pretty cold. HVAC guy comes out and it needs a part replaced. Begin panic to find space heaters to keep the baby warm until the next morning or plan to stay with someone. Neighbors and friends drop off heaters.
Heat is fixed the next morning.
November 2020
Heat breaks AGAIN. HVAC guy brings another space heater (we’re up to 3 now) because it’s actually supposed to freeze that night.
After continuous back and forth with town, finally get a final answer on fire rated wall. Need to install insulation. Company comes out to quote and takes weeks to tell me they don’t have access to the material needed for the job. At this point I had called several companies and no one could do this job. Cue another delay.
December 2020
Insulation company finds material! But it’s in Rhode Island and is going to cost a small fortune to get it here.
Architect and inspector find some regulation and combination of items that allows the use of a different material that doesn’t have to be hauled from RI.
Insulation scheduled for Dec 28. Worked open walls to find out… there’s sheetrock on the wall of concern so IT IS ALREADY FIRE RATED. Proceed to insulate ceiling to code.
Half of the order for the boutique is delivered but I can’t do anything with it because the boutique is in shambles, there’s dust everywhere, holes in walls, and it’s basically a disaster. Luckily I took two weeks “off” for the holidays, because I needed them to get this work done.
January 2020
Contractors return to fill holes in ceiling/walls, repaint, replace ceiling fans, and faucet.
Washing machine floods laundry room, find out sewer line is filled with roots. Plumbers come and fix this issue.
Inspectors come back to confirm work and issue permits.
New dryer is FINALLY delivered.
Still awaiting other half of boutique order.
And during all of this I was juggling schedules for sessions, Parker, having contractors come out to fix things, repairman visits, and deliveries of various appliances.
It has been a labor of love, I’m glad to have gotten everything repaired and fixed. I’m sure I’ve forgotten to list a few things, the last few months have been a blue. It hasn’t been easy or quick, but it’s been so worth it. Thank you again to everyone for your patience during this time and for your understanding with rescheduling.
Appointments will be available soon for the boutique! Just a few more loose ends to sort. Tickets for the giveaway raffle are still available, every ticket automatically gets a $10 gift card to the boutique (if your name isn’t drawn for another prize) and you all will get first access to the appointment calendar for private shopping!
Last chance to grab your ticket here: https://arowanphoto.bigcartel.com/product/holiday-raffle-2020
