all moved in!

Imagine every room of your house filled with boxes...that was our place on Monday, July 12th!

We could not move it was so bad :-)

136 boxes/items is a lot to fit into an apartment that is approximately 800 sq ft.

The move went smoothly. The moving company brought up our boxes through the WINDOW! Yep...I think F might have taken a photo of the lift they used. I will post it soon. The boxes were coming in so fast that it was hard to direct where to put the boxes. But we managed and everything got to the right spot.

The first few days were pretty hectic luckily M's Mamie was able to come early on moving day and the day after. F had to work the next day but Wednesday was Bastille Day and he was off to help unpack more boxes. By the weekend we were pretty much all unpacked.

Attached are the remaining boxes in our apartment. Mostly electronics and computer stuff F has to sort and organize. There are more boxes in the Cave and in our bonus room (separate room above the apt).

We still have to organize the items we have unpacked and decorate. I will post more photos as soon as we are all settled in.

the big move...

Tomorrow is the big move FINALLY!!!!

The movers should be at our apartment at 8:30am (Paris time). M is being watched by his Mammie at the temporary apartment. While F and I organize the delivery. I am forecasting a long day.

This weekend we spent the entire time cleaning and preparing the apartment for our shipment. We got a lot done.

Here are some pics of our bedroom floors (in some of them you can see the before and after). We revitalized them with some kind of Parquet chemical (I attached a photo of the product we used).

More pics to come...

Enjoy!

update on promises...

The contractor did come yesterday and he installed the Water Heater. Not sure if he connected our water exhaust to the neighbors or not...This is important so we can actually USE the new bathroom.

He should be installing the surround for the shower today (as he asked what kind of glass - clear, opaque or one with a decoration on it)...we went with Clear btw.

I will update with pics later tonight as we usually go after 3pm when F's parents arrive.

promises

The contractors promised that they will be here tomorrow - Sunday. YES they are committing to work on SUNDAY! That is amazing for The French. Let's see if they keep their promises...

F's dad finished staining and buffing the floors today. He still needs another coat of wax. But it looks 100% better already. I included one before pic (sanded and unsanded floor) foe comparison.

no progress...

That's right the contractors did not come on Monday nor today!!!! F is mad and so are his parents. They called the contractor today but I had a hard time understanding what was said. I think they are going to connect the water execution with the neighbors on Thursday. They had to make an appointment with the neighbor. If that is true then MAYBE they can at least get the shower finished by our move out date which is Tuesday. Wednesday is a holiday here in France...a big one. Bastille Day ~ July 14th. It is like their Independence Day. So there might be a lot of people on vacation this week for the contractor. Not sure what is going to happen if we don't have a shower. I might be washing my hair in the kitchen sink!

The only progress that was made was by F's dad today. He put the stain on the floors and he will polish it tomorrow. Then a polish of wax will go on after that. Not sure if it will be done tomorrow or Thursday. But Saturday we will for sure be able to move in M's toys and furniture into the room!!! Then we can finish organizing the rest of the space before all of our stuff arrives ;-)

floors

F's dad has been working tirelessly for 2 weeks now sanding the floors of the bedroom and hallway.

Here are a few pics of his progress. Next step is staining and waxing them which will take place this week. This will complete the bedroom.

I have more photos to post of the completed bedroom once we get some good shots with our wide angle lens (sorry can't do it till this weekend)...stay tuned!

Pic # 1 is his first attempt and Pic # 2 is when it is completed (darker flooring is the bedroom next door to compare sanded vs. unsanded.

in construction part trois...almost completed

As you can see the walls are completed and painted and the bathroom is tiled and the shower is in! We are currently only waiting for F's dad to stain and wax the floors and doors to complete the bedroom!!! He will be working on them this week.

And as for the bathroom this is a whole different story. In the bathroom photo looks completed but we are nowhere near completed. The contractors still need to connect the water execution to the neighbors, install the water heater, toilet, sink, and finish up the shower installation. They assure us that this will not take too long. But our Sea Shipment is currently scheduled to arrive on Monday, July 12th (that is 1 week from today!). I am going this afternoon to check if there was any progress today. Let's hope they actually came today and did something!

in construction part deux...

In these photos the contractors have put up the bathroom and hallway walls which have been fitted with Green Board. Green Board was used as the original walls were made of plaster and were cracked. It was suggested the best way to remedy this was to dry wall over the plaster to prevent more cracks and future repairs. Last photo is of the bathroom...sorry the angle is not good. It doesn't give you an idea of how big it is. But with only green walls you can't really tell anyway :-) More to come!

Photos taken May 2010

in construction...

Here are some photos during the demolition phase of the bedroom/bathroom.

In Photos # 1 and 2 they found more space which widens the room! They found about a foot of space which were a few small closets and an old chimney that was not working any longer. We were able to cap off the chimney and take them out which widened the bedroom to 9.5ft x 11ft!

In Photo # 3 the contractors removed the flooring where the bathroom will be placed.

Photo # 4 is a view from the main door to the Window.

These photos were taken back in April 2010

apartment BEFORE pics

Here are 2 before pics of the Bedroom that we are updating. This will be a series of posts as I have a lot of photos.

This is the space where we are creating a new bathroom/bedroom. This is a long but narrow room (8.5 ft x 19ft). So we used up some of the space for a 6x8 bathroom.

The first photo shows the bedroom before from the window to the main door. The bathroom will be to the right of the main door. There is a corridor/hallway that connects the main door to the bedroom entrance.

And the second photo is from the main door to the window.

As you can see there was a lot of work that needed to be done. In the following posts you will see this room be transformed! Stay Tuned ;-)

Photos taken February 2010

le weekend part deux

This weekend we spent cleaning again on Saturday. I finished up cleaning the large windows in our living room and bedroom (glass and frame). They are huge by the way at least 15 ft or more (I need to measure them for curtains so I will post the actual height). Needless to say I needed the largest ladder ever to get to the top. And I still could not get one angle so I had to have F (he is 6'3" btw!) help. I also washed the curtains in our new washer/dryer (all in one).

And good news our dryer WORKS (we have an all in one washer and dryer)! I have been having difficulties with the temporary apartments washer/dryer all in one. It just makes the wet clothes super HOT instead of actually drying them! My dad had this issue when they rented an apartment here 2 years ago. As well as another friend who rented an apartment for a short trip...he had to pack his suitcase with wet clothes! haha!

F worked on moving stuff into the Cave (Basement). We have a good sized basement probably around 100 sqft. However there is a lot of items that need to be thrown out (old wood from old/broken furniture). But once it is cleaned up we have some potential for storage.

ALSO one great thing is that our contractor came on Saturday too! I was so surprised to see him. He hung the doors in the bathroom and bedroom and set up the area for the shower and toilet. The next two weeks they will be finishing up. All they have left to do is finish the line for the water, grout all tile, paint the bedroom, install baseboards, toilet, shower, radiator, hot water heater and sink.

It sounds like a lot but the contractor said that these items will not take too long and that all of the hard work is done.

I will post some more pics this week (Tuesday) of their progress. I will also post a few "before" pics.

As for Sunday I will do another post as I have a few great photos from our walk around Paris.

quick remodeling update!

The contractors laid the tile flooring in the bathroom (yesterday) and are in the middle of tiling the walls! Attached is a pic of their progress!!!

temporary housing...

We can not wait to be outta here and into OUR apartment. I am tired of doing laundry every other day, running the dishwasher everyday and going to the market every other day because everything is miniature here! M is also waking us up at 6am screaming because he is sharing a room with us. He sees us and wants to wake up and play.

But alias OUR apartment is still not ready and we have no idea where our (air and sea) shipments are. The company that is coordinating our shipment has not answered the emails F has sent...and it's been 3 weeks now. We were told the air shipment would take 1-2 weeks and the sea 4-6 weeks. I am not very positive we will see anything for awhile!

Progress on the apartment renovations for the bath & bedroom! They put in all of the lighting, radiators and switches yesterday. And the flooring tile for the bathroom came in!!! So "HOPEFULLY" they will install it today and tomorrow!!! HOPEFULLY because of course C'est La France - the metro conductors are striking (most lines are running but at 50%/75% - this makes a big deal). My in-laws did not want to come into the city because they were afraid the rush hour traffic would be crazy leaving tonight.

I am going to go over there tomorrow to check it out. We are all going over on Saturday to clean (F's parents included). More details soon

le weekend

Saturday was spent cleaning our new apartment. I have been doing this all last week (few hours a day) but I finished up the kitchen Saturday. F managed to clear out a lot of stuff in his Gpa's old workshop (small bedroom) and I made room in a buffet and another cabinet we are keeping in the dining room. We are trying to make room for the 146 boxes/items we have coming in a few weeks. While at the apartment noticed that the construction guys came Thursday and Friday! They were not showing up the last week and a half. They worked on updating our hot water heater (getting a larger one and moving it to the corner of our guest room). I guess they have not been working on the bathroom because they are waiting for the delivery of the tiles/toilet/sink. But they should be here soon...then the room will be transformed!

Sunday we decided to just relax and enjoy the city. We walked to Notre Dame (it only took 15 mins) and walked along the Seine River. Stopped for a café (espresso) and then finished the day checking out the boutiques in our district (3rd - Le Marais). We bought F a father's day gift (new leather messenger bag to replace his laptop bag). He wanted something more lighter since he takes the metro to work not the car like in FL. It is so cold here...about 53 degrees in the morning and 66 for the high! Of course I was not planning for the weather to be like this and only brought sandals (I did bring 2 sweaters!). I had to buy some tennis shoes yesterday so I wouldn't keep freezing ;-) I needed some new tennis shoes anyway...I meant to buy some in the US since they are considerable cheaper there but we ran out of time.

we have arrived!

Here is a pic of our temporary apartment that we are renting until our shipment arrives/apartment is remodeled.

It is a tiny 1 bedroom apartment but fits us just right. They have tons of organization (all IKEA I think ;-) which I like. It has given us some ideas for our apartment down the road in our remodeling.

F is back at work and I am officially a SAHM (Stay at Home Mom). So far so good.

Our apartment's remodeling has come to a halt lately. We are having some issues with the contractor not showing up (1 week now). Hopefully they will come today. Yesterday I went to clean up the kitchen to prepare for our new stoves delivery on Thursday. We plan to remodel the kitchen ourselves this summer (since the contractors are all on vacation July and August ;-0). We shall see how that goes...

More to come...

all moved out!

We are officially all moved out...We will be arriving in Paris on Monday the 14th (stopping in DC for a few days to visit my mom and sis). There should be some great photos of M in DC as we are having a "Doljanchi" Korean Babies First Birthday.

All our belongings fit into 146 boxes/packages believe it or not! Hopefully those 146 boxes will fit into our new apartment ;-)

More later...

moving from one swamp to another...

In my life I have not moved very often nor very far. This move to Paris is the furthest I have ever been from home as well as far from what I know to be home. France is a western nation like the US. BUT there are many differences that are apparent.

I have visited Paris/France many times. And I am married to a Frenchman and understand the basics of what makes the French, French. My husband is however been living in the US for the past 8 years. So this may be a learning experience for him as well as for me.

We are preparing for the move which will take place in early June. We are making a stop to visit some family before we are in our new home town on June 14th.

This summer will be spent remodeling every room in the apartment (some with help from contractors and others by ourselves/with family). And of course a summer in France would not be the same without a vacation thrown in the mix. The Vacation Days are one of the things we are looking forward to (4x's as much to be exact!).

This blog will be dedicated to living in Paris (the good, the bad and the ugly), being a stay at home mom to our baby boy (ditto) and remodeling our apartment.

Blogging might bring out more topics of inspiration so stay tuned.