Sanding the floors...

Halfway done:


Chad liked this picture because he looks tough:




Taa-da!! All sanded:
Scraping the ceiling.. it's snowing!

This was a MESS.

The before pictures of the floors and ceiling

Here is our yucky popcorn ceiling in the living room:



There was a funny cut out in the floor in front of the kitchen, so Chad had to take out all the boards and re-do the floor:

We moved all the stuff out of our house and crammed it in the porch:

Here is another view of the porch:

Look at that hottie, after sanding some drywall:

The house without furniture:

The kitchen floors, before:

The office floor, before:

We had the help of some good friends who were encouraged by the mere mention of beer and brats. Moving is a pain, but it only took a few hours with help!!! It was especially helpful given that Chad's back was not fully healed. Thank you to Adam, Matt, Holly, Zak and James!!

The new lights, and sanding drywall

Before Chad hurt his back, we were able to make some progress on the kitchen.

Our new recessed lights are in! There is now more light in the kitchen than in the entire rest of the house combined:



The new pre-set dimmer switch is the best:

Sanding drywall is the pits! Look at the dust!

The drywall, and the lights:
The beginnings of the new back entry:

And then, a snow storm:

An Unexpected Set Back

Chad hurt his back at the gym. Major bummer. He was doing squats, and was fine afterwards, but the next day, he couldn't even walk. Something major was pulled.

Of all the setbacks I was planning for, this was not one of them. Our plan originally was to refinish the floors this weekend, but that is not going to happen.

Instead we are going to be in a music video for our friend Mike Gunther. So that's not a bad trade-off I guess. I've never been in a video!

We went for a walk in the winter snow on Monday. We met a neighbor lady who told us an interesting turn of phrase. She said that this was a good opportunity to exercise our patience. She was totally right in that patience, although totally slow and annoying, is an activity that requires effort and exercise. So that is what we are doing. Holding tight. Recovering.

Why do a DIY Remodel?

(Another interlude for a Carrie Bradshaw moment..... )

Everything you have heard about remodeling is absolutely true. Over schedule? Check. Over budget? Check. Discomfort while living in chaos? Check.

So, why do it?

The NYTimes article got me thinking about this question. Is it really to prove that us young, ambitious go-getters can have more house than our wallet can afford? It is just being too cheap to pay someone else to handle this project? Is it the enjoyment in seeing a project that you have labored over finally come together? Or is it the pure utility of what you get at the end?

Partially this project was a test. To see if it is worth it at the end. To see if we could figure out how to do everything. To see if we could work within budget and our schedule (that test failed, btw, but I pretty much figured as much -- atleast there are no disasters yet).

The question is still not adequately answered for me. I am very impatient, and also not very handy. These two qualities do not fare well for my handy partner. He atleast is finding some satisfaction in doing the work (while also being overwhelmed by it), while mostly what I find is impatience. I am trying to be more patient.

Time will give a better answer to this question. I'm hoping that it's going to turn out like the story that my friend Holly told me last night. She was talking about a trek she took in Laos. The climb was impossible, draining, and a test of her mental and physical strength.

But in retrospect, it was the best thing that she did there. Let's hope this damn kitchen project turns out like that.

Now the New York Times is writing about home remodeling blogs.

Check it out. They even call house blogs "smutty":

"Like all things smutty, so-called yuppie pornography — glossy magazines like Metropolitan Home and Architectural Digest, in which the houses of the rich are offered up to the longing gaze of middle-class readers — has found its way onto the Internet. And like all things smutty on the Internet, it is dirtier there, more amateur and thus more satisfying to the jaded connoisseur."

And now, to continue this break from home improvement, some pictures from New York: