The past week:

The following posts show what happened this past week, not necessarily in chronological order. Bret's parents arrived and were hard at work on helping everywhere they could and graciously sleeping on air mattresses in various locales to accommodate the march of construction progress. They were truly heroic in their feats of fix, create, clean and figure-it-outs. Early in their visit, Jana, Ken and Evan joined us for dinner.

After I was in a sort of car accident and a few other personal mishaps, my dad dropped everything, including his lunch utensils to fly up and calm me down. For a few days, I ran errands and had periodic emotional expressions before tackling a little of the kitchen project. A day after my sorta accident and my dad showed up, a branch fell on the painter's truck.

Among the loud, piercing whir of the electric drilling and sawing, etc. ...Bret's mom worked peacefully and quietly on the valances for the basement and the drapery for the living room (remade from the existing ones and then new ones for the master bedroom (made from an extra comforter bed set we bought at Linens 'n Things, which is going out of business and so we got a great deal on two of the same set; using one for "spare parts"). Bret's dad stoically undertook their installation.

Meanwhile Bret and his dad were working on the bookshelves and lots of other stuff while the workers were renovating the laundry room and basement closet and painting all the upstairs rooms and hallway and also the living room and foyer.

Toward the end of the week the floor guys showed up to start the second floor. We replaced the carpets there with the same kind of wood floors we have on the first floor; a kind of rough looking finished in a dark stain. Since they are still working, master bedroom progress is not yet available for photo shoots. In a few days I should be able to flash my media pass.

We have been eating on the porch as our kitchen has been emptied into the dining room.

Today, Bret's parents (after getting up at before the crack of dawn to secretly wash their bedsheets! as if they had not done enough) and my dad went home.

Bret cleaned up the laundry room some more (today is the first day I could do laundry without waiting for the construction guys to go away) and we continued working on the kitchen and I put some stuff (okay, books) in the basement closet.

Kitchen Cabinets

We have opted for a country kitchen. These are the green painted interiors that I brushed on myself. The exteriors will be in red. Bright and Christmasy and yummy.

These are the interiors that Bret brushed on himself:

But our dads did the hardest part. Sanding and taping and cleaning. I did a little of that and helped take off the hardware. Adam pitched in at various stages. And Bret's mom was still hard at work on the drapes...

Foyer

Here is the foyer with the new wall paint.

Here is the first finished space in the whole house! A basement closet which my desks will be near when they arrive. My desks will face the pool table and this closet (, the laundry room and a powder room) will be to the side of the desks.

Bret's mom was in charge of drapery. She made this valance which matches another previously made one. She used the material from another drape that was just swagged over a window. Both of these were on the first floor. A third one will be just perfect as a table runner!

Progress on the bookshelves is going slowly, but Bret and his dad got waylaid by a few hundred other little interruptions.

We had a little sadness. A branch from a frontyard tree fell from way up in the tree and landed on the painter's truck. He and his pal are making sad faces. We assured them the insurance will take care of it. But it's not a happy deal, anyway.

Bret is on the phone calling the general contractor so he can explain to the painter in spanish. Afterward, he was smiling.

19 July

Bret's parents came for over a week to help on the house. They were so incredibly helpful and patient the whole time. Jana, Ken and Evan showed up for a DC touring weekend and stopped by to give some helpful advice and support. We had a Macaroni Grill experience and it was wonderful to have them with us in our new town!

Dad, Mom and Jana

Bret, Adam, Evan, Ken