Thursday, December 30

Taking advantage of another clear day, John decided to install the new sliding glass door.

It was quite the job, and can you imagine how heavy a door/window of this size weighs?

About 400 pounds.

And let me remind you, he's one-armed and has a very sore back (been laid up for the better part of two months). Have no fear, with the brute strength of Madison and Moi, we hefted that puppy in and we now have a beautiful, working, easy-to-slide door!

The house was quite frigid all day missing a wall and all - I think the high was in the low 50s.

We love the feeling of another project crossed off the list. Unfortunately, the list keeps growing!

A Little Bit of Progress

The home improvement continues . . . this time with new windows. There were a few rooms that still had the old, drafty windows so we ordered new ones (in time for the energy rebate) and John installed them. He did the bathrooms one night after work, and the kids' rooms in between soccer games on Saturday.

He had to hurry and finish because he'll be out of commission for several weeks as he is having shoulder surgery on Friday.

Does anyone want to come install wood flooring, finish a bathroom, or build a patio cover for fun? Really, it could be fun.

Anyone?

Anyone?

Still Going . . . and going . . .

Here's just a glimpse . . . more to come.

You know how if you change one thing it creates that domino effect? And you really know that the domino effect will happen, that's why you avoid changing the one thing to begin with.

Well, the still-going-on bathroom project has led to repainting our room, which then led to redecorating it;

needing new carpet has also not only led to the ceilings being retextured, but also the stairwell and upstairs hallway being repainted and if you're going to be repainting things, you might as well repaint the girls' room since you've been talking about doing that for some time now. It's better, you know, to paint a room before the new carpet is installed.

Why take the chance and ruin the new carpet?

Before the carpet can be installed, the stairs have to be built out and retreaded, and of course the wainscoting needs to be done beforehand as well.

Again, why take the chance of ruining new carpet?

In order to paint the girls' room, everything needs to come out of it, except for the beds. They are too big to fit through the door. The carpet installers are going to love that. Having crowded hallways is perfect timing for having house guests, don't you think? Kim and her three boys were here last week and I think they must have thoroughly enjoyed barely being able to reach their room.

Also, the linen cupboards need to be redone - new paint and doors. Heck, why even bother with doors? They're a waste of time. Those fractions of seconds that it takes to open cupboard doors really add up you know. One can get used to having 'naked' linen cupboards.

Or not.

Not only does the girls' room need to be redecorated (OK, need is more like want, I still liked their room. Although it was the original nursery decor and it's been over 11 years and they wanted a change), they need new furniture. Finding a great dresser and armoir on Craig's list was practically miraculous, and full credited is due to John's amazing research skills, but said furniture then needs to be refinished.

So, that bathroom remodel that began 13 months ago is still happening, but currently (like today) is progressing with the painting of a dresser.

Who would've thunk?

BUT . . . the carpet is due to be installed in no less than SIX days! Well, it was scheduled for today, but John's been really busy and needed more time to get the stairs ready.

New carpet seems like a dream!

Will that dream come true?