Steps … from the Fringe

I embarked on “some work on the house” about seven months ago now. Somewhere in there, it turned into a major remodel.

We started around the first of October, with a tight schedule aiming for Thanksgiving. Within a couple of weeks, we were hoping for the New Year. Then January, then February. Things were mostly done by the end of March.

It’s mid-May, and the housewarming — I hosted a Cocktail Hour — was a blast, but I’ve still got details yet to finish or fix. (And don’t even get me started on the last six weeks — what a mess.)

However, the results:

The Great Room, Almost Finished

Damn. I mean, damn. What a fantastic space — how to title the room was of no question. It’s not a living room, it’s not the kitchen. It’s the great room. Because it is one.

There’s room for tons of little details:

Family Snaps

In fact, room enough that if you really focus on a detail, the rest of the room just becomes a nice blur — not that I ever do that sort of thing. Well, except for this:

Great Room Fern (Detail)

Even the kids … uh, my cats approve:

Bee Gives a Paw Up

There are even two large new bookcases, like this one in the living room:

Living Room, Finished

Okay, as you can see, there’s still art to hang — little details, like everywhere else. (And I still have books in boxes. Sheesh.) But those are projects that take a few hours, not a few months. At long last.

Have a few folks to thank:

Gerald, Dan and Monica, especially, for the huge support over the last few months. From a hot shower to shelving some books, without them, this project would have beaten me. (Honestly, it was close.)

Bickley Design Build, who handled the remodeling work. Nice job, guys. (You, too, Jennifer!)

Jody Osborne, who actually oversaw the majority of the work, and very much earned this hero shot:

Man in Charge (of Destruction)

Serves as a nice reminder of where we’ve been. (Click here if you’d like to review the entire set, 136 photographs — so far, as I ain’t done yet. Most, including those posted above, are captioned.)

Thanks also to Mom for serious support from afar; Adam for the inspiration to endure; Keith for some details I really appreciate; all of the trades for sweating, grunting, shoveling, hammering, wiring, plumbing, and finishing; and so many others I can’t even hope to name you all.

Last but not least, a big thank you to all the great “Cocktailers” who celebrated officially crossing the finish line together with me, including some folks — Holly, especially — I hadn’t seen in far too long.

Wow. What a ride.