*Lyrics from the Geto Boys’ song of the same name. As (poorly) fake sung by fake Kermit here. As heard first in Office Space. Totally not safe for work, by the way. Maybe not safe for most. You’ve been warned.

Client renovation – days 18, 19, 20 (+ 20.5, aka Saturday)

By the third day of the cabinet install it was clear that my position as photographer/designer/jack-of-whatever-trade-you-need was going to be utilized in a new way: as a painter. I was already acting as a coffee fetcher (what else is new), lunch grabber, vacuumer, sweeper, holder of things that require extra hands, trash collector, and back acher. Well, that last part was my own contribution to myself. But, no matter how you sliced it, my camera was going to have to be put down for much of the week. Still, I managed to get some photos (don’t cry!), so you can still inspect the progress for yourself(ves).

Extra carpentry work was needed to make the stock panels fit on the non-stock, semi-custom island, and thus required extra time and materials (and created a trickle-down effect that always happens whenever you need to make a change). Time we didn’t have. So I pitched in with everyone to help get things back on track. Sadly, I didn’t really help catch them up. But I didn’t not help, so there was that. I prepped some parts by sanding and priming, and then Jonas and I worked together (hooray!) to finish the job. He’s a thousand times faster than me (as would be any of those dudes – hello, they’re professionals!) but he appreciated my work and care (patting myself on the back). In the end, it was just nice to feel like a real part of the team, and not just someone standing by documenting it for posterity.

Oh, and lest we forget, during the past week we here in the Northeast felt the effects of a rare and powerful (stop laughing, California) earthquake that centered in Virginia – which was more puzzling than damaging up here – and an even more powerful, but sadly less rare hurricane that left much of the area saturated, flooded and dangerous. Dave and Jonas live in one of the harder hit areas of Southern Vermont, but I’m told that they are well and (thankfully) unharmed. To pretend that this storm didn’t have an effect on our timeline would be a lie – it held back some finish painting due to extreme humidity, and created extra worry and stress as preparations for our own homes, as well as other projects, tied up our minds more than usual.

Still, we got to where we’d hoped to be by the end of the week: ready for subs to come and do their thing (chiefly plumbing and templating for countertops next). The carpentry is done, save for some minor painting/caulking touch-ups, and the kitchen is nearly complete. In just a few weeks Mr and Mrs K will be able to reclaim their space as their own, and will be able to fully enjoy the fruits of all this incredibly fast, incredibly intense labor.

Some pictures of the progress. We hope they find you well, safe and dry. Enjoy! xoxo