The flooring guys finally called me back, and they came the very next morning to give an estimate, and they started work the next day after that; their briskness in these matters has mollified me about the days I waited for them to call. Paul went over to snoop the progress and says it looks odd and awesome: before, the floors looked quite different from room to room, but now that they’re sanded they look the same or nearly the same. The flooring guy told me ahead of time that would be the case: he said they only looked different because of different finishes and different ages and different layers of wear, but they were actually all white oak or red oak with only one room different (fir). This is an outcome that makes me a little sad and makes Paul very happy: I liked the assorted-looking floors, but he loves that they’ll all match. Well. I AM glad they’ll all be in good shape and well-protected now.
I asked about treating the floors for dogs, and the floor guy is a lifelong dog owner and said that refinishing the floors is the very treatment that needs to be done before getting a dog. He recommended waiting awhile after the finishing was done (six months, I think?) before adding the dog. I asked if there was any way we could level-up the floor-refinishing to make it EVEN MORE PROTECTED and he said no. He also gave me the valuable information that it is not uncommon for a new dog to poop in every room of the house, just to settle in. Well. Good to know ahead of time.
The floor-refinishing was the main thing preventing us from moving over to the new house or knowing when we could plan to do so. Now that they’re in there working on it, we can schedule the move. We have the flexibility to wait to allow the floors to completely cure after refinishing, which takes three weeks; so we think we’ll have one more Thanksgiving in this house (at least a few of the children are glad about that: there has been some lamenting along the lines of “I didn’t even KNOW that last Christmas would be our last Christmas in this house!!”) and then move between Thanksgiving and Christmas. As one of my friends put it, “It isn’t as if there’s anything else going on then.”
I am planning, however, to seriously dial back the Thanksgiving. I will not get out my grandma’s china: we will use our regular dishes or possibly even disposable ones. I will not fool around with interesting vegetable dishes: I will get a bag of frozen peas and another of frozen corn. I will probably still make two desserts because I love the desserts and they’re my favorite things to make, but I will not make THREE desserts. And my parents always bring the turkey and stuffing, so I don’t have to think about those.
That’s a super TG plan. Order some bakery dinner rolls if no one else will bring some. One year we used those super strong Chinet plates with the plastic coating and it was a sweet deal to cut down on the cleanup. I was skeptical but it was beyond fine.
I’m sorry about the floor colors. I know you’ll still end up with a pretty house. And how nice that you can adjust to the dog when the weather is nicer for taking her out.
I also vote disposable plates and applaud your decision to scale back the food this year. Next year you can go all out if you want!
I’m so excited about this move for you.
Good news all around! So happy for you all. Nothing nicer than freshly finished hardwood floors — some day when I am wealthy I will replace all of this terrible wall-to-wall carpet (over concrete) with hardwood.
Make your Thanksgiving as easy as possible! Sounds like you are on the right track. It’s all about the turkey and desserts anyway.
Congratulations, this is terrific news!
Have you decided yet what kind of dog you’d like?
Am officially envious of being able to have the time flexibility to not have to move out and in on the same day – here in the UK that’s how it’s normally done and it makes everything so much more stressful. If nothing else, being able to utterly and thoroughly clean the new place before moving in is a gift!
I vote for making your Thanksgiving more low-key than usual, but I would categorically draw the line at disposable plates – both aesthetically and environmentally they’re a big ‘no’ for me.
We moved right before Thanksgiving, and to force myself to actually get the boxes unpacked, I hosted for the family! But we only made the turkey–everyone else was assigned a dish to bring. It was really a nice way to make The New House feel like The New Home, having a holiday there right away. Hope your Christmas does the same!
I think Christmas in a new place sounds so exciting! Figuring out where to put the tree, the stockings, all that stuff! Or trees in every room! Some people do that!
Also I get what you’re saying on the floors. We have refinished bedrooms in stages (we have red oak) and the first one I wanted to be very light. Husband did the work and used an oil based polyurethane and it turned out pretty dark, red, and glossy. Still pretty but not what I really wanted. We recently refinished another bedroom, and he used water-based poly, and it’s very light and not glossy and so, so pretty. Exactly what I wanted the first time. He did the water based this time because we were on a tight timeline (new baby coming home!) and it cures faster.*
*Disclaimer: i don’t know if all the terms in this description are accurate but you get the idea.
Oh YAY! I am so glad the floor refinishing is working out so well, and the move is In Motion. Very exciting all around. And also I cannot WAIT for dog search posts. Is six months enough time to find Your Dog? Is it too MUCH time? Any chance he could move up the timeline a bit, for your readers’ sake?
Good plan on Tgiving! I love your intent to “not fool around” with the interesting vegetables. :)
But potatoes, will there be potatoes? MASHED potatoes? To me that is the marker of Thanksgiving, almost more than the turkey…!
That does sound really awesome about having time to decide when to move. I’ve only ever moved between student apartments or into an empty house from an apartment, and the student thing was so miserable – I remember the bitchy apartment manager woman telling someone “well you have to move out on the 30th but it’s going to be almost impossible to book the freight elevator that day because EVERYONE is moving” and I sort of wanted him to say “cool, we’ll just stay then”. Honestly, I’m not sure HOW I’d feel about the floors. The part of me that likes charming oddness would prefer the different ones, but the OCD part of me would like them all to look the same. EEEEEK, YOU’RE MOVING!
Just want to say that I enjoy all your posts, but for some reason, random updates about normal, everyday things like “How Swistle Will Deal with Celebrating a Major Holiday in the Middle of a Massive Move” give me maximum comfort in these Troubling Times. (That probably sounds sarcastic but it really isn’t!)
One of our best Thanksgivings was the one before my daughter turned 1. She HATED being in the car, so going to the in-laws like we usually did was out of the question–they’re about 3 hours away. I made a small turkey breast in the slow cooker, roasted a bunch of vegetables and potatoes, and made a pudding kind of pie that my husband loves. We ate off of our everyday plates. It was so quiet and really nice–just our little family. I don’t think my husband changed out of his pajamas all day long. No football, no crazy uncle advancing his theories, no traffic. I remember struggling to get the meal together, but it was a really nice time.
Enjoy simplifying the plan and turning down the stress. I hope your day feels as lovely as I remember mine feeling.
Just want to highly, highly recommend that you hire professional cleaners to deal with the inevitable floor-refinishing-related dust–ESPECIALLY if the new (old) house has moldings or chair rails or panel doors or other things that are exhausting to clean thoroughly. Think of it as another closing cost. So, so worth it.