Week #28: Kitchen Tetris

There are some things Clint will always be better at than I: packing boxes, loading U-Hauls, parallel parking, and installing cabinets. All require spatial skills he learned from playing video games (and perhaps a bit from his degree in engineering). These wooden containers of cabinetry came floating down the kitchen as Clint and his dad quickly found the right location to place them. We now are ready for granite countertops, and a game of Tetris, in our nearly finished room of food. Well, now I’m off to pack some boxes into a u-haul that I’ll parallel park for practice.

Week #27: Our 1st Anniversary

While Clint and I were dating, we took a day trip to Bainbridge Island. We wandered into an inn with guests finishing dinner under strings of lights in the courtyard. It was too romantic not to dance, so we did. After our wedding, we returned to this same small inn. We didn’t have dancing at our wedding, so I danced with Clint in my wedding dress in the courtyard. The Eagle Harbor Inn has secured a place in our traditions and our hearts. The weekend was filled with swinging on park swing sets, munching at farmers’ markets, and just slowing down. Here are some things we’re (starting) to learn about marriage:

10. Goals must be flexible

9. Building a house is hard

8. Clint is a verbal processor; Jen is an internal processor

7. Forgiveness keeps us unified

6. Meals together— on the floor; at a restaurant; surrounded by paint cans—are equally delicious

5. Luxury is relative

4. Laughing keeps us from taking ourselves too seriously

3. We love each other

2. We need to be headed in the same direction

1. That direction needs to be toward God

Week 26: Marathon Man

2:30 Tuesday: We rented a sander from Home Depot. Besides a 10 minute catnap, Clint powered through the night to wrap up the floor project.

2:17 Wednesday: We returned sander with 3 minutes to spare. When Clint said it would take him a day to sand the floors, he meant it literally.

3:00 Wednesday: We returned home to cover the floors with construction paper. This will protect the sanded hardwoods when the cabinets are delivered and installed

4:00 Wednesday: Clint passed out on the newly sanded and papered floors, waiting for the cabinets to come;

4:36 Wednesday: The kitchen cabinets arrive!

Week #25: The Earl of Grey

Is it weird to have a date night at Lowes? If so, we’re in trouble. Before anymore progress could be made on the kitchen, the walls needed paint. We took our samples of cabinet wood and granite and set off to find a perfect wall color at Lowes. When I came across a shade of beige entitled “Earl Grey”, and I couldn’t resist. As an avid tea drinker, it was a fitting hue. Colors can be deceiving, though. After painting a section of the wall, it looked really dark. Once paint is mixed at Lowes, it is not returnable, so we bought cans of white paint and mixed two parts white to one part Earl Grey. I guess that makes it a London Fog. So, maybe our next date night will be spent drinking tea lattes in our freshly painted room.

Week 24:Uncovering Hardwoods

That Book of Murphy’s Law whacked us in the head when we continued our floor refinishing. It seemed so simple. Rip up linoleum, and uncover well-preserved hardwoods. We didn’t anticipate the linoleum’s laminate glue residue would be such so tenacious. Clint first gently spritzed the floors with water, then lay wet sheets on to loosen the glue, and finally resorted to dumping buckets of water to help with removal. The linoleum manufacturers must have intended flooring decisions to be lifelong. But, unlike diamonds, linoleum is not forever and is definitely not a girl’s best friend. Clint spent days scraping, inch by inch, the gooey sludge from the floors. As he finished, we tucked the Murphy Law book away in hopes we wouldn’t need it again.

Week 23: Wasted Euphony

The word “linoleum” rolls off the tongue like butter. The liquid consonants and long vowels create smoothness of sound. This beautiful word is wasted on its true meaning: a cheap plastic composite that reminds us why the 1970s is fondly forgotten. In order to refinish the original pine wood floors, this layer of linoleum needed to go. Shockingly, the project took less time than we planned. We pulled the floor pieces in large sheets and finished in thirty minutes! We kept waiting for lightening to strike and uncover a book of Murphy’s Law. No such misfortune occurred, and we spent the rest of the day relaxing.

Week 22: The Dumps

Construction creates messes. Not the type of messes brushed into a dustpan, but rather the kind best brushed into a pickup truck. Clint’s Uncle Tim came by to do just that with his Red Nissan. He spent the majority of his Saturday hauling loads to the dump. Now we can easily walk on the side of our house without catching our clothes on nails and plywood. We are continually grateful for the support of our family and friends in this messy remodeling process.

Week 21: Playing House

As a child, I loved walking through showrooms and pretending they were homes for my Barbie dolls. I’m a little older now, but I still enjoy those perfectly staged display rooms. Clint and I spent an entire Saturday perusing model kitchens to get ideas for our own. We also broadened our vocabulary with terms like: RTA, Soft Close, and Lazy Susan. I found this last term a tad pejorative, but we ordered one anyway. We’re anticipating cabinets and countertops pleasing to even a picky Barbie or Ken.

Week 20: Courageous Lawn Cutting

Four feet is the height of an average elementary student. It is also the average height of our lawn. All of our energy is focused on indoor remodels, so our grass had reached jungle status. That was, until, Clint’s mom and Uncle Tim dropped by. They asked for access to the garage for tools, and spent the next several hours buzzing, whacking, and beating down the grass. While awarding them a medal seemed appropriate, we settled on a Qdoba lunch. Now children can safely enter without danger of getting lost in the lawn.

Week 19: Gypsum Palace

To a couple with dreams of a functional kitchen, a room of dusty drywall is a gypsum palace. After insulation strips were secured, large sheets of gypsum dramatically enhanced the look of the kitchen. Face masks are still needed for any extended period in the room, due to pesky fiber glass and sheetrock residue. Fiber glass insulation looks like oversized strips of cotton candy, but Clint tells me spun sugar is much more pleasant on the tough than shards of spun glass. Either way, the insulation is now hidden behind these lovely gray wall boards. The space once feared by guests is now transformed…almost. And this makes us happy.

Week 18: Illumination

Lighting is key. Since our bedroom suite is the only completed portion of the house, its illumination is important. Our bedroom blinds were accidentally created when we taped up plastic sheets to protect the windows from exterior paint. These ghetto blinds (covered in blue paint) obscure any true light from entering the room. Lighting existed in extremes: “florescent stadium setting” or “dungeon dark”. My hero, Clint, surprised me one afternoon by installing a dimmer! Now, our sanctuary has those subtle distinctions of “sunrise bright” or “movie theater dim” settings.

Week 17: Musical Cars

With such a large emphasis on home repairs, we neglected our growing fleet of vehicles. We’ve been sucked into a MasterCard ad, where daily life is added up ad nauseum.

Towing: $105. We got a call from a friend who has been storing Clint’s first car, a 1978 Buick Regal, in his driveway…for eight years. He needed the space, and a tow truck was called. We are now embracing the common practice of automotive lawn ornaments.

Mechanic: $230. My Volvo started to sputter a few days later on the way home from work trip. At a Bellevue shopping center, the engine died. More towing and mechanic work followed.

Parking Ticket: $35. The City of Renton left a lovely note on our Mustang parked in front of the house. Its tabs had expired. Although we don’t drive this car, it was recklessly parking without current tabs. Clint moved the car to the back lawn, off of the public street and onto the private grass.

Napa parts: $100. We decide to gift the Mustang to its original owner—Clint’s uncle. With a few new parts and a tabs renewal, the car was as good as new. Clint reluctantly gave the convertible away after some guy-car bonding.

Learning a fun new automotive game: priceless