The last few weeks on our beach house renovation have been nonstop—and honestly, a little chaotic. We ran into three major setbacks in quick succession: a missed deadline, discovering there was no water line to the house, and an unexpected medical complication. Renovations rarely feel neat or simple, and this stretch was a reminder of that. The bright side? We survived nearly 20 hours of nonstop tiling, figured out how to keep working when the power was out, and learned a few tricks worth sharing. Sherry remains steadfastly not a clean freak, and we also attended a live podcast recording with lines around the block—more on that below.
You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and TuneIn Radio — or listen to the episode using the embedded player below. Use this post to find the links, notes, and photos we mentioned. If you’re reading in a feed reader you may need to open the post to use the player.
What’s New
- The photo above pretty much sums up the last few weeks: an excavator hunting for a mysteriously missing water line while we race to get tile installed in four rooms within 33 hours.
- Good news on a personal front: since we recorded the episode, Burger has fully recovered. He’s off all medication and his eye looks nearly back to normal. We were so relieved when his follow-up went well.
- The image below was taken just before we left for the beach when Burger still had his winky eye from the ulcer. He wasn’t impressed by the slightly melted dog cookie I found that looked like him—but he ate it anyway.
What’s Not
- If you’re trying to stay on top of daily chores, Good Housekeeping’s list of 7 Things You Should Clean Every Single Day is a useful resource we referenced while trying not to let the chaos win.
We’re Digging
- One of the most practical purchases for the emergency late-night work was a $30 Ryobi Area Light. With no electricity available at the house, the USB port to charge phones became the MVP of the whole operation. We also used phone flashlights to check small details — at one point Sherry washed up but couldn’t resist perfecting the spacing on a few blue tiles in the master bathroom by hand.
- Below is a photo of the downstairs bathroom and mudroom, which are connected, so we used the same slate-style tile in both rooms. The leveling system we tried — small plastic spacers combined with yellow wedges — performed well, especially with the larger tiles. We’ll share more about that system in an upcoming post.
- Working in Virginia’s summer heat and humidity without air conditioning was brutal. Here’s a candid shot of how sweaty I was after about 30 minutes of unloading the car and carrying tile into the house — and that was before we even started tiling.
- On the lighter side, if you’re into Real Housewives recaps like Sherry is, we laughed about a recap podcast called Bitch Sesh, hosted by two comedians including Casey Wilson. It’s a guilty-pleasure recommendation from us.
If you want to revisit items we’ve recommended in earlier episodes, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from past shows.
Finally, a big thank-you to The Annie Selke Companies for sponsoring this episode. Take a look at Annie’s new bed & breakfast, 33 Main, and use code YHL15 to get 15% off at AnnieSelke.com/YHL on bedding, furniture, rugs, and more.
Thanks for listening and for following along with the renovation. We’ll keep sharing the highs, the lows, and the useful tools that helped get us through.
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