Okay, so it’s been a bit since my last post. About a week. Week (mostly lucky) 13. Days 61 through 65. What a week. If I can even remember back to the beginning, last Monday, day 61 (which was a holiday, or so I’m told) was just Dave and I trying to stay focused, and on task for another big week. Dave spent some time building light rails (to hide the undercabinet lighting), and finished up working on the infrastructure for the floating shelves in the baking nook (not as simple a task as one might think!). I spent the day painting – what I was painting I can barely recall – and would still be painting now were it not for the flu that snatched me from vertical to horizontal sometime on Thursday (hence the mostly lucky week 13). But I don’t want to jump ahead.
Tuesday, day 62, was what we were calling family Tuesday. Not only did Team Tile come back to seal and caulk the backsplash tile (and say farewell for now – so sad!), they also brought their lovely wives and children (some of them merely weeks old!). Dave’s lovely lady and baby son dropped by, and I grabbed my brother from the train station (a helper in the paint department – chalk one up in the lucky category) rounding out the family vibe. It was nice, albeit busy – we were on the clock, after all – and the weather cooperated. A picturesque fall day. Spent indoors. Whaaa. Boo hoo. Poor me.
Day 63, Wednesday, was the last (only) full day my brother had to spend helping me paint, so I grabbed him as early as I could. We got doors, radiator covers, window trims, walls, who knows what else done. And he managed to get some amazing photos of the renovation, artistic-like (see the photo credits in the gallery – he’s gifted, I’m telling you). Team Electric (Brad) also arrived on Wednesday to start the process of installing outlets, switches, cover plates, trim kits, and energizing circuits that had previously been on hold. Dave kept working on punch-list type details for the kitchen (hanging corbels, installing fill stock, prepping and painting trim, and doors), inching us ever closer to the finish line.
By day 64, Thursday, Jeff was already showing signs of a chest cold, and my mildly sore throat concerned, but did not alarm me (I chalked it up to a loud dinner with the family, complete with singing in the car both to the train station on Tuesday and back from dinner Wednesday night). I should have been alarmed. By midday, Jeff was passed out, flu having overtaken him. By day’s end, a fever had gotten me, too, rendering me useless in painting for Friday (I managed to fake it as long as I could, especially with hardworking Brad and Dave there – I didn’t want to let them down). So, while Brad was finishing his electrical tasks, and Dave was punching down more of his list, I was quietly fighting a fever, and trying to figure out how to get everything done so we could set up our living room by the week’s end. That never happened. We’re still sick. Best laid plans, and all that.
Day 65, Friday, came with a determined Dave, and a pitiful me and Jeff. While Dave finish coated window and door trim, the master mirror frame, patched minor dents and dings in the walls and ceilings, and painted almost the entire kitchen (stopped only by running out of paint, not for lack of effort), Jeff and I stayed in bed, rallying only briefly to make a run for food and supplies. I thought, brazenly, that I wasn’t as sick as poor Jeff, and that I could be well enough on Saturday to complete the work that I couldn’t finish on Friday. No such luck. Let’s just say that Saturday left me wondering whether or not I would ever live to see the kitchen finished, let alone get to enjoy it. A flu I would wish upon no one.
Which brings me to Saturday, a day for which I have no photos (too sickly), but a day that brought the plumbers out to install our cooktop! We have a range now! Which would have been really helpful on Saturday if either of us could stand long enough to heat up some soup, and if either of us could eat more than three bites of anything before passing out. But today I was strong enough to heat up soup (lovingly dropped by sisters each day), and it was marvelous. Our kitchen is nearly done. I can barely believe it. I’m so happy (albeit still sickly, and therefore seem really, really unhappy).
So, pictures. I think this will be the last batch before the Big Reveal. We are so close, and I hardly think that watching bits of paint dry, or witnessing someone mopping or sweeping could be that interesting, so I think I’ll intentionally make you all wait. It’ll only be a week or two. Plumber dependent (still waiting on parts, ugh). Please enjoy this last update until the final updates. It’s been an amazing process, made even more amazing by chronicling it for you all. Thanks for reading, everyone, and enjoy!
