The dream:
The reality:
We’re about 14 weeks and four dumpsters into our project. My original plan was to be finished by March 1–not going to happen. Right now, as I type, there is a crew in the basement installing internal french drains. Who knew Fair Haven was built over a series of underground streams? And who believed their seller when he said all the wet basement issues were resolved when new drains were installed in the road a couple of years ago?
So unlike the tv Fixer Upper where whole homes are renovated in what seems minutes, we are well into our 280th hour of hard labor. And boy have we’ve learned a lot along the way. You know how in Fixer Upper Joanna says to Chip let’s take the wall down between the kitchen and the dining room, and it happens lickety split?
That’s so not true. Besides all the architectural drawings and building permits required, in order to take a load bearing wall down first you have to build a wall–in fact two walls–one upstairs and one downstairs in the basement to support the wall being removed! Who knew that?
And then you need to round up at least four really strong guys to wrestle the new beam–called a microllam–into place. Voila.
Ironically once we got the new beam in, and replaced the rotten sub flooring in the kitchen so we could set the headers (wooden things that support walls) for the new windows just in time for their delivery date… The truck, delivering the new windows, rear-ended someone en route to our job and one of our kitchen windows got broken–oops–too bad. So not only do we have to wait another month for the replacement window…we will have to pay our guys to come back and do the install. Oy vey already.
The good news is the rough plumbing is done–inspection on Thursday. The bad news is the inspector is coming between 8 and 2. No heads up phone call which means yours truly will have to sit there and freeze to death because clever Keith has scheduled deliveries for himself that day. 
We added a master bath; a bold move seeing as we are now losing access to the balcony overlooking the great room. But I decided, knowing my family, someone would probably end up falling from it at a possibly alcohol fueled moment anyway, so safety and a bathtub trumped moonlight serenades.
That is part of the struggle when wrestling an 89 year old house into modernity. Some character is invariably lost along the way. Hopefully we will be able to make up for it when we get to the decor.
Fortunately the great room will be a breeze to decorate and certainly something I have been looking forward to. So many decisions to ponder: tv over fireplace or on sidewall, ceiling fans or chandeliers, whether to open up the arched back door, sectional or a grouping of sofas, the list is endless.
One thing we do know is we are restoring the hardwood floors throughout the house. And have hired Beaton Brothers in Lakewood to do the job… My maiden name is Beaton (I like to think I am getting the family pricing and they do nothing to disillusion me). Dave Senior was the mastermind behind the floors in our first store at 126 Shrewsbury Avenue in 1989, the 2004 renovation, the 130 Shrewsbury Avenue remake and any number of our Rumson homes. This is Dave Jr measuring up the great room.
So along with progress comes an appetite. All anyone (in our case usually Keith) cares after working in a freezing cold house all day is a hot meal and a beer. And what goes better with beer then pizza?
Almost homemade Pizza
In order to make great homemade pizza, you need the right equipment–not a pizza oven but a good pizza stone is key. First cut some parchment paper into the shape of your pizza stone–then put the stone into your oven and turn the heat up to to 425 degrees.
Next sprinkle the parchment paper with a dusting of cornmeal (key) then roll out your dough*, I buy it fresh from Trader Joe’s , (try to remember to take it out of the fridge 20 minutes or so before you are ready to roll).
You just need to schmear the dough with tomato sauce–another key thing to remember is not to over-sauce–add a ton of grated cheese, and whatever you like in the way of toppings: crumbled hot or sweet sausage (cook this first), shrimp (toss a dish of raw shrimp in a bath of butter, garlic and hot pepper flakes in the oven while it is heating until they are slightly pink and you will thank me forever), broccoli (I put this in the microwave for about a minute first), red pepper, green pepper, onions, olives–basically whatever you have in the fridge.
Now here comes the tricky part. You have to get the pizza, on the parchment paper, onto the burning hot pizza stone. I usually let Keith handle this–then cook for about 10 to 15 minutes. That’s it. Slice it up, pour some more beer and enjoy–simple as pie.
* There is no point debating whether truly fresh homemade dough is better–of course it is.