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Week 50: Three weeks before the holiday deadline. The kitchen cabinets should be here any day now, and we still have to get the room ready. Everything’s been cleaned out and demolished. On Monday, a friend and I worked on the backsplash. I had never done any tiling before and was nervous because the walls in this old house aren’t that straight. We worked all day and it was great to see the progress made with every single tile. In the meantime, my husband and sister started putting down the kitchen floor tiles. We are going with a black and white pattern even though we’ve been warned that they will be difficult to keep clean — but we don’t care. We have always wanted the black and white pattern and designed the entire kitchen around it. After this much work, it’ll be fun to clean them — I hope. There’s absolutely no time to cook or even buy groceries. We’ve been living on a huge order of Chinese food for the past two days; tomorrow we’ll have pizza, and then there’s always bread and water. Week 51: Two weeks before deadline. I spent two days removing the dark green border in the kitchen and priming the ceiling and the walls. The green in the dining room has finally been covered and the bright white window frames seem to let in much more light. I am in love with the changes already. All the floor tiles have been installed (119 with none to spare) and the heating cables work. Lately, my husband has been busy finishing the backsplash and floors with the darker grout. I admit to not being good at it, so he had to do all the work again. Once the grout dried, we painted the walls white. Then we remembered that unopened can of paint in the garage, which we had bought on a whim a few months prior. We couldn’t have picked a better muted green to go on one of the walls. Sometimes I just love how everything suddenly fits together. But the kitchen cabinets are still not here and I am getting worried. Week 52: One week left. The cabinets arrived on Saturday. I had to make space in our garage and watched in growing despair as the men delivered 75 pieces of Ikea kitchen furniture, which we had to immediately put together. We also bought a new dishwasher to match the stainless steel appliances and some lights so we can actually see what we’ll eventually be cooking. Three days to go. The boxes are piling up in the garage; thank heavens recycling day is coming up. We have become experts at assembling cabinets and drawers. It now takes only a few minutes and we don’t even need the instruction manuals. The day before the big day. We took all of our dishes, cookware, food and glassware and pretty much threw it anywhere we could find a space in the kitchen. I’ll have to go back to it later and find the best space for each item. The floors are cleaned and the table set. We are ready to receive our guests! Epilogue I haven’t touched one power tool nor a single paint brush in the past two weeks and let me tell you, it feels great. Instead, we’re enjoying the new living quarters. We don’t yet have all the furniture, art for the walls and important additions such as the kitchen countertop, but we are happy with how everything has turned out so far. I complained quite a bit over the past few months, but all in all, this has been a gratifying experience. We may have lost some time — and a few fingernails — but it was so worth it! My husband and I not only crafted a whole new living space, we also built muscle mass, expertise, confidence and trust in each other. From now on we can concentrate on the finishing touches, on getting some rest and repairing our social network. We have a lot of making up to do with our friends. Thanks for reading, everyone, and a happy 2008. |
2008-01-16 12:14:48
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