Day Sixteen: Are we having fun yet?

Today was another ridiculously full Saturday. I don't know how my parents and Matt do it... they are working like crazy people! We will all need naps when this is done... or part done... But HEY! We didn't go to the Depot of Homes today! Woot!!!

Matt and Dad have reached the turning point on the bathroom - from here on out, everything is progress towards a completed, fully remodeled bathroom! (As opposed to demolition of the old one...) We were all blown away by Matt's drywall skills - he measures quick, cuts quick, installs quick... and is RIGHT ON with his calculations and cuts!

My dad is a *very* precise worker... measure ten times, cut once. The results are always impressive (Matt's brother Mike was trying to figure out last weekend if Dad is a contractor in addition to being a chemist, due to his staggering depth of knowledge in all things home repair. Go Dad!) Matt, however, approaches all these projects with the confidence of a tradesman - measure once, cut once, thank you have a nice day. It has been really fun to see the two styles working together - the perfectionist and the professional. They make a great team (and their hilarious banter provides much-needed entertainment for mom and I as the endless paint-o-rama continues...)

Mom painted the kitchen today while I painted the inside of the cabinets. After removing the layers of funky vintage contact paper, it was clear that the shelves needed some love and attention. The layers of paint have helped refresh the kitchen (and helped refinish surfaces that the OCD side of me did NOT want touching anything that might come in contact with our mouths.)

We have decided to varithane the floors to help protect the soft-ish wood against our less-than-gentle lifestyle. Mom bravely tackled the floor-cleaning process on hands and knees with a scrub brush, damp mop and enough pine sol to scald your nose hairs right off. The floors look exponentially better already - can't wait to see what the floor varithane does!

Once all the drywall was up, it was time for Matt's introduction to mudd and tape. Hooboy. He's doing a GREAT job... but the process is less than foolproof. Dad fully admits that this is NOT his area of expertise... but he and Matt are still trying their darnedest to get it right. At one point I peeked in to the bathroom and found dad with his hand on his forehead, bemoaning the fact that this is "the blind leading the blind." Perhaps a bit melodramatic, but it made for a great picture.

No rest for the wicked - we'll be back bright and early tomorrow! (Mainly because everything is going so slow that we're entering the frantic panic phase of pre-move/pre-baby home remodel... WHATEVER. If we need to, we hook a hose up to the utility sink, run it to the back patio and shower outside for a few days.

Longer than a few days? Time to panic.