Being home

P1000737copper lvl
Originally uploaded by jhhymas

Today the man who knows how to do everything came over for the final session and ground down some doors that fitted too tight.. What-all did he do? Refinish oak stairway, install French doors in an archway. Gut and install new shelving in understairs closet, making it really usable for the first time after 43 years. Remove old flooring and repair extensive termite damage that we have been living with for many years. install new plywood subfloor and Duraceram floor and metal thresholds in family room, kitchen, hall, bathroom and laundry. Remove and reinstall toilet, washer and dryer, stove, refrigerator and diswasher to put the flooring in under everything. Repaint ceilings, walls and woodwork in those rooms. Install new baseboards in all these rooms. Repair kitchen ceiling and install four new halogen lighting fixtures with dimmer. Install 12 new birch panel doors with all-new hardware and stain and finish them. Install storm door and solid-core doors to garage, Refit, restore and paint side exterior door. For all of this, help make hundreds of crucial aesthetic decisions and many excellent suggestions. Repair very loose upstairs banister (seen from inside kitchen ceiling while installing lights.) I feel very very lucky to have had him recommended to us by the termite inspector. Earlier, he had repaired outdoor termite damage and made a new deck cover with vinyl slats.Next week he is coming back to inspect, clean and repair roof and gutters. This process was long and not without stress, but the quality of the work really seems worth it.
When we got home I was surprised at many things I had forgotten, since most of the work was done just before we left at the end of the first week in May. The first time I went up the stairs, I was thrilled all over again. It's quite nice to be home but there is a lot of reshuffling, closet cleaning and rehanging of pictures to be done.
See here for another use of the Nik copper filter.