Remodelog (Of Making a House a Home)

  Well, 2020 has been quite the ride, hasn’t it? As of writing this, it will be 30 more days before we can look at 2020 in the rear view mirror. I know I’m not the only one to say I’m not sad to see it go. For me, 2020 has been a year to learn patience. I’ve had to learn more patience in almost every aspect of my life:  from learning to buy groceries a new way, to having multiple plans of trips and gatherings and events postponed or canceled, to trying to understand and navigate my family member’s mental health issues, to propping up my own morale, to dealing with a dog with autoimmune issues, to keeping everyone minimally healthy and entertained and fed; and, more pertinent to this blog, to getting projects fully completed during a time of unrest and unease. ~~~~~ As always, the fun and challenge of redesigning and redecorating kept me going through some darker days. I was actually thrilled at the prospect that we could do a pretty dramatic refresh of our bathroom for under $...

A few days ago our family celebrated the one-year anniversary of closing on our house. It’s been a pretty wild ride. I remember looking at the house that first day before anything had been moved in, and thinking about all its potential. I imagined our daily lives, coming and going; I imagined sitting in these rooms looking at beautiful things, feeling peaceful and comfortable. Little did I know how much more  time we would be spending in these rooms after March 2020. All the more reason, I guess, to have things just the way you want them. But to get them the way you want them takes money, let’s face it. We could remodel and redecorate absolutely everything, but where does it end? We would like to have some money and time left over to do other things. Travel. Buy gifts. Pay for college tuition. Eat. So we had to make a priority list of projects; after the kitchen comes bathrooms. Having put all of our eggs in the kitchen remodel basket, we’ve decided to only do a refresh—not a major...

The thing is done. Exactly five months to the day after it was begun, the remodel of our kitchen is complete. Our contractor came over on a Thursday to place the vent cover. Barely 15 minutes later he got up, dusted off his hands, and said, “well, that’s it.” “Well, that’s kind of anticlimactic, isn’t it? I was expecting a bit more fanfare,” I said. He laughed. “Well, to be honest, I was expecting that the vent cover wouldn’t fit.” He almost seemed disappointed that it did fit. After all, we’d been in each other’s lives for five months, and it was drawing to a close. “I was thinking I should open a bottle of champagne, but it seems a bit early for that.” I could see his eyes crinkling up in a smile over his mask. “Well, I guess that depends on how you want the rest of your day to go.” He went out to his truck and brought back a small package, a handmade salad server set in a beautiful dark wood. “I remembered that you liked Ken’s work,” he said. Ken is a local wood turner ...