Mid-week 15, day 73, and the plumbing is finally done! Shockingly, the heating install went well, smoothly even, and the last tasks to complete the punch-list for Team Plumbing were done in less than one day. Relief, disbelief, joy. Wow, we’re seriously almost done now. (Thanks, Matt!) We’ll still need a final plumbing inspection, but it’s looking good, working, and helps us get to the next (last) stage of our renovation: completion.

Team Carpentry was back, including Dave (duh), J.J. (as a jack-of-all-trades helper again), and Jonas (the cabinet/furniture guru among them). Dave worked the last bits of baseboard trim, completed the cutest (can I say “cute” about something that’s made of wood and metal?) little radiator cover that cleverly removes (!!) for access to the heater, and began the process of moving out of the garage (that could take days). J.J. worked his way down the punch-list, painting windows, corbels, touch-ups on walls and doors, and vacuuming debris along the way. Oh, and he fixed a tile that got cracked during a small carpentry adjustment. All in a day’s work, eh, J.J.?

While all that went on, Jonas attacked Jeff’s table/desk that was too tall to make it back into his office (the doorway was 24″ wide, the table was 30″ tall and had to be moved in and out through the formerly accessible secret staircase). He carefully, painstakingly, meticulously sawed off each leg to affix brackets so that the table could be broken down and packed flat if need be. Begrudgingly, too, as no furniture maker ever wants to remove the strength and staying power of permanently attached desk legs in favor of IKEA-style removable ones. But he did it for us, for the good of the table (it will be loved and well cared for, even in it’s metal-reinforced state), and for the challenge of it. It looks great. Just as it did this morning, only with the power to regain a home in Jeff’s real office (the temporary space is getting the swip-swap-eroo this weekend). Thanks, single-J.

It was a busy day, satisfyingly so after a week sans Teams (other than Team Me). Team Me spent the past week painting almost every surface in the house (or so it felt): doors, staircases, window trims, wall stripes, moldings and door frames. So to have company, and reinforcements on the front to finish this space, well, it was awesome. I am sort of still in disbelief that this process is almost complete (partly because there is still soooo much to be done, and I’m responsible for bunches of that), and that our day to day life will soon return to normal (ish, whatever that is). I will do a “what I’ve learned” post soon, just as soon as I clean the paint off my fingers, have the ability to be safely barefoot in all sectors of the house, and just as soon as I figure out what it is that I have learned.

I can tell you this, though: I would not, could not, and wouldn’t want to be doing this with anyone else but these people. Some pictures of these people, and the incredible work I am lucky enough to witness. Enjoy!