1, 2, 3

A newly functional room

We've reached the stage in our home renovation where the giant projects are pretty much done, and we're finally able to finish up some minor projects. My brother, Jim, drove up from the Bay Area two weeks ago and helped us install some shelving and the utility sink in the laundry room. That room has transitioned from big-box storage-cave with a narrow passageway wending through, and is now a fully functional laundry room.

Even the towel rack is up.

While Jim and Dambara navigated the shelving and utility sink, I painted and wallpapered the half-bath off the laundry room. After Vihaan put down baseboards, Jim and Dambara installed the vanity, sink, and mirror. That room, too, has transformed, from a gritty-floored narrow-cave to a delightful little powder room.

The best thing about the ongoing nature of home renovation is that we've been forced to live in grimy, icky spaces, and in the case of this house, dog-gnawed door frames and clawed up doors. Each transformative project carries with it immense improvements that we delight in again and again, every time we walk into a room, or turn on a light that didn't exist for months, or a newly useful sink for washing hands or cleaning paint brushes and muddy shoes.

No lights becoming 1, 2, 3 lights.

Speaking of lights that didn't exist, the dining area in our enormous kitchen had no lighting whatsoever. Months ago, we found some pendant lights that we both really liked, so we had them shipped to us, carted them down to Hippo Hardware in Portland for retrofitting from a dangling-chain mounting to a brushed-nickel pipe-mounting, and then they went dormant, languishing on the top of the kitchen cabinets, out of harm's way.

1, 2, 3 oyster-shelled dandelion-heads

Yesterday, Dambara reconfigured his tool belt and started the electrical project of bringing power up from a mystery light switch next to the doorway to span the length of the dining area, and today he anchored, wired, and hung the fixtures. After a quick trip to the hardware store for a dimmer switch, he finished off the last touches, and now we have light over our dining table.

1, 2, 3 lights, all in a row, aglow.

Up next week, Tom and cabinet painting! Our days will be full. Once the kitchen cabinets are painted and the open shelving back in place, we'll be able to step out into spring and focus on the gardens and the farm.

Stay tuned. . .

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