RECENT CONSTRUCTION

Deck off the 2nd floor begins 

Progress on the family room

New doors are delivered

No time to write. Just a few photos of recent construction.

IT'S THE JOURNEY, NOT THE DESTINATION

I was sharing some of this renovation project with 2 dear friends this morning over coffee...

   

    One friend said, "Carlie, for you this whole project is not about when you finish and move in, 

is it?  It is all about the journey."  This is a true statement.

    On this particular journey there have been some twists and turns in the road.  The twists and turns  slow us down but make travelling interesting.   Most recently there have been some bumps, potholes, a few tire blowouts, and, yes, unanticipated encounters with the law.   I would not wish this leg of the journey on another innocent traveler.   

    

    Eager, wiser, and with eyes wide open, I'm continuing this journey.  The road is sure to straighten out soon and we can increase our speed and cruise!

BREATHING A BIT EASIER NOW

    My frustration has significantly subsided.  The owner and "top dog" of the construction company requested a meeting with me.   We met, and the first thing out of his mouth was a profuse and sincere apology for all that has not been right on our job.  Eye to eye and sealed with a handshake,  the owner handed me HIS personal phone number saying, " If ANYTHING goes wrong on this job, no matter how small, you call me!  What is tiny to you is huge to me."

   I feel much better that this is all going to work out.

FRUSTRATION & ANGER HAVE REARED THEIR UGLY HEADS

  As of this past weekend we have been at this renovation project for 1/2 a year.  

It hardly seems possible.   I realize many of you reading this will find it difficult to believe,

 but all 6 months have been exciting and fun.

 Until now!

  

With all the rain of recent days, and with workmen unscrewing and opening the doors we have
 purposely braced shut (in attempts to maximize security and minimize water damage),
  it is next to impossible to keep the interior flooring dry.

With lack of communication between heads of jobs and the laborers,
 the work is incorrect and sometimes shoddy.

In addition, most people in the construction/renovation field

 seem to have no respect for another's time and property.

 How about a little common courtesy!

 Make an appointment   >>>   Keep it

Make a mess   >>>   Clean it up

 Frustration and anger have reared their ugly heads.

RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY

    Ever since we turned work over to contractors, there seem to many more bumps in the road.  The foxtrot (forward, forward, side together, forward and BACK, side together.....for those of you who may not have participated in cotillion in your youth) is the dance I am dancing these days.  Progress FORWARD is slow.  Lots of side steps and back steps.
    I calculated that we have lost at least a month of work by hired contractors.  Four weeks....1 week of standstill waiting for an inspector to show, 1 week of 100+ temperatures when no one but Wallace, Donnie and I worked; 1 week of post-Irene clean up; and now

1 

week

of

 solid

 rain 

BILLYE'S NEW BED

     A few weeks ago Wallace and I took a trip and we bought our daughter a bed at the Covesville antique store.  It needed quite a bit of work.  After a lot of lacquer thinner and steel wool, the bed looked like this...

The foot-board in the foreground has been cleaned up with lacquer thinner and steel wool.

The entire bed was very dry.  When I applied linseed oil, the bed drank it up so eagerly I could almost hear a slurping sound.

The headboard on the left has been oiled.

The oiling is complete.

I've taken advantage of the Labor Day sales and acquired a new mattress and box spring, so after rubbing on an application of paste wax, the refinishing will be complete and Billye will have a new place to dream sweetly.  

A WHOLE LOTTA PRIMING GOING ON

    We have decided to have the master carpenter, who is working on the addition, rebuild the damaged built-in gutters on the original part of the house.  The roofers were going to do it but we know this carpenter's skills are superior.  Before the wood goes up........

      Priming must be done.