Transformations

Last Monday evening, I submitted grades for the spring semester. On Tuesday morning, contractors, carpenters, and electricians crowded in our kitchen to begin work on our (partial) remodel.

Such projects used to generate great anxiety in me. All the loud noise suggested our house might break. (It is made of wood, after all, not the brick and mortar I grew up with.) Besides, did we really need all that change? Wasn't it wasteful? Unnecessarily stressful?

Also, I'm not handy, notwithstanding all the stereotypes about lesbians. I can't do much more than hang up a picture. So projects like these require that I trust others with my security, my haven: our home.

We found contractors we trust completely, New Prairie Construction, and last fall we let them gut our downstairs guest bath and replace it with a lovely new one with a toilet that uses less water and a shower with a bench and grab bars; that shower will see us into old age.

I helped coordinate that project and survived it. And now I'm coordinating our kitchen remodel. I have decided where to place new LED lights, have tensed briefly when I've heard the electricians yelling (I relaxed when it was clear no one was electrocuted--our baseboard didn't fare as well, but that will be repaired), and have had the joy of choosing glass light fixtures and patterned ceramic tiles.

Yes, I guess I am enjoying this project. As I head out of town for a few days, I feel like a parent who wants to relish the break but worries she hasn't left quite enough instructions with the babysitter--and will miss the baby.

Below are some photos from the past couple of weeks.

We chose this faucet after I emailed Marilyn photos of several from the plumbing supply store.  How smartphones have changed our lives.

I graded many, many papers at this counter.  I am excited about the new one, which will be quartz but will look like marble.

The blue on the left is the glass of the pendant light that will hang above the kitchen table.  The small, blue ceramic tile will go on the wall under a marble tile backsplash.

Then the countertop was gone.

The tiles for above the stove.

Choosing the grout for the floor.  So many decisions!