Facing the last mile

There’s light at the end of our home-remodeling tunnel, now almost four months long. I’m not sure exactly how far away that light is, but I can see it. Though my cynical friend Steve asks, “Are you sure that light isn’t just an oncoming train?” Well…

Here’s the deal: the whole freakin’ house is involved. Built-in cabinets and bookcases. All new floors. All new paint. At this very moment, the first, biggest phase nears completion. That means that we now have our kitchen back, and our living room (to a degree), and our dining area, and our front entry. Baseboards still need to be attached, glass must be installed in china cabinet doors (when it arrives), paint touch-ups will be pursued shortly.

Watching all this come together is pretty exciting. This house, which we've owned for nine years, will finally be fully crafted to fit our lifestyle, not that of past owners. But for the time being, Deb and I (plus 82-pound hound Cheyenne) are moving our living and sleeping quarters from the bedrooms and into the “new” end of the house so that work on those rooms can begin. The bedrooms are a smaller job than Phase One, thank gawd, mainly floors and paint. But it still means continued disruption, unplugging and plugging, rotating furniture, emptying and refilling boxes, pushing and shoving.

Our general contractor told us originally that the whole remodel would take, oh, maybe three months. Which I knew was bullshit. Current estimates say we should be pretty well finished by Christmas. Fingers are crossed.

So if you don’t hear from me occasionally, you know where I am.