Most of you know of our AMAZING bathroom remodel (which escalated into a whole house remodel).
And most of you have heard of our Wonderful contractor Larry Martinez.
But what some may not know is that within weeks of finishing our house (and Tammy’s too!) Larry passed.
It wasn’t necessarily sudden, but it was somewhat unexpected.
We only knew Larry for 5 months, but if you knew him, you understand:
Once you knew Larry, you were one of his people. He treated you like you had known him forever.
We met him through friends who had all had Larry work on their house….he started as their contractor and became their friend.
Larry called us “the Ladies” and apparently he talked to his family about “the Ladies” often.
I guess we were a demanding group 🙂
At lunch yesterday, we were talking about him…as we have often done over the last month…and how much we miss him. Kim said “if we miss him this much, can you imagine how his family feels?” My heart hurts for his family – his wife and his girls and his many other friends and family. There must be such a big hole. He talked about his family often – he was SO proud of his girls.
And so here I am writing about him in my rambling fashion….
Larry just managed to integrate himself into your daily life while he was working.
He was (and still is) Stella’s favorite person. He took care of Luna and Stella when we went away. He LOVED Stella and she adored him (I think she still looks for him). He would bring bones. Once he found out that they liked them, he decided that they needed a Costco box. We are still going through them, and I offer the dogs their “Larry bones” often.
One morning he showed up with food from his favorite restaurant because we had to try it.
Another day he got some at-home COVID tests (after he talked the CVS lady into giving him extras!) and so gave us some….
Larry had a BIG personality.
He was stubborn, opinionated, and SO pushy! If he thought a person was doing something wrong, he made it known.
We butted heads on multiple things, but once he figured out that we were also very opinionated and pushy, we found a balance.
He was also smart, meticulous, and very good at what he did. He had a great sense of space and design.
We really didn’t know where to start, but that was okay because Larry did 🙂
And start he did…like immediately. We were still deciding if we were ready…..and Larry had started demo.
One day he decided that we needed to clean out our garage so he could have a space to work….and so I put down my coffee, got dressed, and spent the day doing just that.
We talked about redoing the floors and painting our bedroom….and then went away for a few days to take Anneke back to school. We came home and voila – all done….and all the stuff in our bedroom was in boxes!
It drove me crazy at times (my house may be cluttered, but I *generally* know where everything is)….I am Still unpacking those boxes lol.
Larry had “a Guy” for EVERYTHING – electrician, plumber, painter, tiles, shower doors…Seriously, he knew everyone!
Need a tree taken down and stumped? Sure he had a Guy for that! That garage door opener really needs to be replaced…got a Guy for that. Your porch would look really good tiled…got a Guy for that.
And he had an idea for everything. He figured out early that Mark liked toys…how about motion sensor lights in the garage? Blue tooth connected lights, smoke detectors, and garage door opener? We have remotes and dimmers all over the house now.
And if he didn’t know someone, he found someone. Going shopping with Larry was an experience, he could just get people to do things for him.
What started as a Bathroom remodel escalated:
You can’t have a beautiful bathroom and keep the old doors… you can’t replace those bathroom doors without replacing all the internal doors to match….and then when put the trim trim around those doors, you have to make all the trim and base boards in the house match. I know that front door is brand new, but the casing doesn’t match, so we need to do that.
If you replace some of the lights and switches in the house, you have to replace all of them. If you trim the doors and paint the bedroom, you need to paint the whole hall and entry and oh inside the closets too!
It was NOT about making up things to do. He truly CARED, and he wanted the house to look great – he wanted us happy with his job. He took so much pride in his work.
“It looks great doesn’t it?” he asked SO often. We used to joke about Larry’s need for positive reinforcement, but it did look great…it REALLY did.
He hated to leave things undone.
By the end of our job, Larry wasn’t feeling well. We had watched him deteriorate over the months. Going from really energetic and strong to being in pain. The cancer came back hard and fast. He often talked about what was going on, and we heard all about the progression and his frustrations with his doctors and his own body. He would leave to go have procedures done, and then show back up that afternoon. We urged him to rest and take care of himself…
But he would not quit.
Once the inside was done, we wanted to paint the outside of the house, so we asked Larry for a recommendation….
“I know a Guy…Me!”.
While discussing the painting, I had asked about adding trim to the doors in the backyard to match elsewhere. During the painting, he needed to go in for a procedure. We told him to take a break – he needed to rest and the house would be here when he was done. Nope! We came home and there it was, the trim being added to the back of the house….
I think he was worried that if he didn’t do it then, he might not be able to do it later, and he did not trust others to do it without him supervising.
After he left our house the last time, we had a few projects that needed to be completed by his guys – shower doors, front porch, and backsplash in the kitchen. I sent him pictures as things were finished….I still feel like sending him pictures as I put finishing touches around the house.
A couple days before his last surgery, he called me to ask if we had done our backsplash yet – he was pretty insistent that we get it done.
I think maybe he was worried we would be his last house – his Crowning Glory.
He wanted it done right.
I know we only knew a small part of him, but to us it was important.
I walk around the house and am surrounded by him.
I talk to him…..
Rest Well, Larry.
You will be greatly missed by many.
Very nice Erin!❤️❤️❤️