Tim has left the building

According to my calendar, Tim marched purposefully into our lives on March 5, 2026. We had been talking about him for about 15 years. We started making solid plans for him last November after our beloved kitty died and we had more freedom to escape Tim if need be (and need definitely beed). Although we invited him in, Tim nevertheless totally disrupted our lives and sanity for almost 6 months. Man, it’s been a long ride.

Just so we’re on the same page, Tim is not a person. Tim is a sizeable Woodhaven remodeling project involving lots of flooring and a new kitchen and raised floors and ceilings and a roof repair and engineers and inspectors and permits. Lots of moving parts, complete with a spreadsheet and a 10-page document of specs and details and decisions. You can read more about Tim if you scroll back to March.

The Before 
Woodhaven's Breakfast Nook
Pretty much all original from when
we bought Woodhaven 22 years ago.

The Before
Woodhaven's Kitchen
We changed out the counters and the wall oven
and switched to a gas stove shortly after we
moved in. Otherwise, all circa 1993.

In the midst of Tim
Kitchen is to the left, breakfast nook
is in the back corner. The room
with the glass doors is officially
called The Sun Room but it was more
the Water Leaks in Storms Room.
Now it's just called The Kitchen.

In the Midst of Tim
Standing in the breakfast nook
looking into the kitchen.

In the Midst of Tim
Hopefully repaired the roof once and for all.
That plus storm doors will hopefully eliminate
panic with every windy rainstorm. Cuz those
happen occasionally in the PNW.

In the Midst of Tim
Florescent lighting gone!
Wall framing the kitchen gone!
Ceiling raised!
Cabinetry being installed!

During these disruptive 6 months, we at times lived out of our bedroom and master bath, using a backdoor to access the rest of the world. Laundry Day required checking the weather and trotting through our backyard to access our laundry room from the garage. Our bedroom was peppered with suitcases, snacks, a printer and shredder, files and checkbooks. Our bedroom was the closest thing we had to a sanctuary, but it was often noisy and distracting on the other side of the dust-barrier-sealed door. So, we left. Sometimes to hotels within driving distance (I just counted - we stayed in over 20 different places during Tim's visit, including a cruise ship for 33 days). Sometimes much farther away.

Enjoying a snack in Poland!
Tim who??

Leaving the country for nearly 2 months while our house was under reconstruction was absolutely one of the smartest things we have done in a long time. We have worked with our contractors for over 20 years, so Mel and Randy know us well and we trust them implicitly (clearly). Although we still came home to about 3 weeks of noise and decisions and dust and disruption, it helped tremendously that we were in the “putting it back together” phase and had missed most of the demolition and re-engineering.

Randy and Mel
We don't trust Woodhaven to anyone else

I’m deeply relieved and grateful to say Tim did not go significantly sideways at any point in the process. Sure, a few things worked out differently than anticipated and had to be redone or rethought, but nothing that’s worth mentioning or remembering. Overall, the entire adventure went substantially according to plan. WOW!

We have been moved back into our new kitchen and dining room for a few days now. It’s been both instantly familiar and surprisingly jarring.

We had our first home-cooked meal at home a couple of nights ago. I actually had to go grocery shopping for the first time since February. Good Lord, have you seen the prices of food these days?!  Of course you have. But I hadn’t. I was shocked when I saw the total price of my handbasket of items. I stood at the register and scrutinized the receipt, convinced several items had been double or triple scanned. Nope. Yowza!

Post-Fair and Post-Tim restock

Eating an old family favorite recipe (Hobo Stew, not politically correctly named but I wouldn’t dream of changing it) while sitting in our living room watching an episode of “The Love Boat” was a familiarity and routine and recharge I had been craving since March. But making the meal – trying to remember where I put the pan and the skillet and the bowls and the Tabasco sauce. That was unexpectedly perplexing. I was not expecting to not feel at home in my own house.

Rob brought Hobo Stew to our marriage.
I can make it, too, but it tastes better
when he makes it.

Ground turkey, macaroni, and Manwich Sauce
Paired with a nice Zinfandel and Captain
Stubing and Doc = perfection

That’s been the weirdest part. Some rooms in Woodhaven are gloriously comfortable and haveny and where I've retreated for over 20 years. Others are brand new and unfamiliar and feel like someone else's house altogether.

The new laminate floors that replaced the old tile feel and sound different when I walk on them. The kitchen smells different – more “new appliance” and less “the smoke detector went off again.” The refrigerator motor is higher pitched than our old one. I will get used to these things in time. It’s just strange and disorienting at the moment.

For the most part, everything with Tim turned out as envisioned. The kitchen is gorgeous, and I love the countertops – I was worried the small sample piece was too swirly. The little cubby (named Sammy after Sammy Sosa, a Chicago Cub) for our keys and wallets is fantastic. The extra cabinet for all my small appliances is better than hoped, freeing up much space in a pantry and on the now-copious counters. The overall storage space in Woodhaven's new kitchen is incredible. I currently have two completely empty cabinets. What?!

Our selections for countertops,
cabinetry, flooring, and paint.
I can only envision to a point. SO
GRATEFUL this all turned out to look
better than I was hoping!

Sammy!
It took over some of the closet
behind it but totally worth the
lost space. Randy named it. 
He gets us.

Small appliance cabinet in the nook.
There was a large, awkwardly shaped
cabinet there before, with glass doors.
This is MUCH more functional.
Super happy with this!

One of my empty cabinets. I'm sure
I'll find things to put there eventually!

There have been a few disappointing surprises, though.

The fancy utensil drawer in our new dishwasher prevents our wine glasses from fitting, even though it’s simply an updated version of the model we had before. The grates on our new downdraft cooktop are heavy cast iron instead of the more Toni-friendly porcelain-coated metal featured in the 2006 version. None of the drawers in the kitchen are big enough for our now-donated favorite cutting board. The downward-facing sconces to provide task lighting for the breakfast bar don’t face down despite web descriptions to the contrary. And the new smoke detectors required in the bedrooms feature extraordinarily bright green ”I’m working!” lights that are waaaay more nightlighty than promised.

The appliance guy said the cast iron grates are 
considered an upgrade. The manufacturer switched
to them based on customer desires to be more
fancypants. Clearly those fancy customers don't
have weight limits due to titanium in their backs.

Aren't those sconces pretty? They were going to be
upside down per the description online. But, no way
to keep the globes in place. So now they are pretty 
mood lighting. Sigh.

All decidedly first-world problems, all already solved, all just small, momentary barriers to me feeling at home in my new kitchen.

The only regret I have about not being here for the full Experience of Tim is the paint. The kitchen is very yellow. And the breakfast nook is very blue. If I had been onsite, I might have asked for some white to be mixed in to turn down the volume a bit.

We spent hours with little paint chips, moving them around Woodhaven on different walls at different times of the day in different weather conditions and with different lighting sources. Short of painting the walls ourselves, we could not have been more thorough.

Even if we HAD painted walls to test out the colors, I don’t know if that would have changed the decision. Because the lighting in Woodhaven is super duper wonky. It’s different on practically every wall. I absolutely love the happy, cozy yellow of “La Luna Amarilla” on 90% of the walls coated in it. But those other 10%? The ones that are mostly in the shadows? The ones that make the breezy yellow look more like Big Bird? Yeah, that’s a lot of yellow.

So Big Bird! And yet, two feet to
the left, the lighting is brighter and
the yellow is much more calming.
It's the same yellow in the photo 
with the sconces. And Sammy.
Paint and lighting is maddening!

I’m more at peace about the very blue of “Vast Sky” in the breakfast nook. It’s just a lot brighter than the 2-inch sample square promised. I also know, based on over 22 years of Life at Woodhaven, that the blue…and the yellow…will fade over time. The south-facing windows that provide such a peaceful view also provide bleaching sunlight. Often this is vexing. Today it is reassuring.

So blue! But it's the same blue as in
the photo with the small appliances 
cabinet. It's a different shade on 
every wall. Not by design.

We have a couple tiny minor tasks until we are completely Done with Tim. Tasks involving spices and Crockpots and anti-slip drawer liners and storm doors. But we are done enough that Woodhaven’s windows are being cleaned as I type. The Porta Potty was picked up moments ago (much to the collective disappointment of all our delivery drivers). And Woodhaven’s air ducts will be blown clean of all construction dust in a couple of weeks. And then we will be done done. Thank God God.

We've had the potty next to our driveway since
February. I only used it once. Rob, however,
was sad to see it go.

Am I happy with Tim? Absolutely. 1000%.

Am I glad we undertook such a large, disruptive project? Now that it’s over, absolutely. 1000%.

Are kittens in our future now that The Chaos of Tim has settled? Absolutely. 1000%. But we don’t have a timeline since we need to catch our breath first.

Am I ready to settle into the quiet peacefulness of my new old house and remember where I put the strainer?

Absolutely. 1000000%

The After
The Breakfast Nook with this 
moment's version of Vast Sky. 
Super happy!

The After
Woodhaven's New Kitchen
It's so much bigger and brighter!
And now that it's over, absolutely worth the effort.
Thanks, Tim!
And HUGE THANKS to Mel and Randy!!