Week 11: When One Door Closes ...
- Elisa
- Aug 5, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: May 12
Hi Friend,
It's fitting that the close of this season - our summer building camp - is marked by the installation of exterior doors. The building is now enclosed, this experiment is closed, and another door is opening for all of us: the graduates will move on to jobs, the students start a new school year, and we'll hire out whatever we can't do ourselves. But as I remarked in a prior post, I think we are all moving on as changed people having gone through this experience, and I love that what has been produced should last a long time - both the house and, I'm hoping, the sense of accomplishment. Bravi to Dolan, Isaac, and Tait! You guys have been through a lot - the long, hard work, the heat, the crazy family chaos - and we're so proud of you! Jordan, Eden, Leah, Judah, you have also contributed immensely, as you know, and we couldn't have done it without you. We're so proud of you kids!
Back to the doors, though we followed the instructions for framing the openings for them, the rough openings were still pretty tight, which is not ideal. And what was really not ideal was that the mudroom door that was sent to us was 4" too wide for the opening - the first wrong order of the whole kit, which is pretty impressive. So our options were to send it back or to carefully cut the opening wider. Since Judah loves to demo things, he was up for the challenge! He had a lot of layers to cut through, but it was so satisfying to finally see all the doors in. Of course, I need to paint that mudroom door ASAP because unpainted, it's giving me industrial farm office vibes, and not in a cool way. I want it to look like a home.
Speaking of vibes, we celebrated the end of the project with a picnic dinner at nearby Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where we listened to the live music of film composers while we ate. Such a nice way to end a crazy summer project!
Mickey and I spent my 45th birthday yesterday on a 10-hour drive around Connecticut in a rented 9-foot cargo van, collecting used countertops and appliances for the new house, purchased from an online auction and FB Marketplace - though my heart is still with the old Craigslist, now basically defunct. :( Our first stop was at a house, set to be demolished soon, where the countertops had to be dismantled first. In the past at these demo sales, we've done all of our own labor, but this time, we opted to hire some help. It was a crazy day of driving, coordinating pick-ups, and packing the van, but I enjoyed it, as always. And though we didn't even have time to stop and eat lunch, it was lovely to meet all of our kids for a nice dinner out.
So, what's next? I plan to continue to share the journey of this house through to completion, if you're still interested in hearing about it! I'm hoping this journey won't drag out for too long ... but someone told me that a typical house build takes 9 months to a year. Is that true? We're hoping for a much faster schedule than that! You'll just have to see ...
Thank you all for your encouragement and feedback along the way! It really does make the journey more enjoyable to have friends with which to share it.
Until next time,
xo
P.S. Have you used FB Marketplace (or another secondhand source) for purchases? How have these interactions been for you? (On our end, some of been great, some not so great, but I'm still a big fan of the secondary market!) Any interesting stories you'd like to share?
Next post: Week 11: Habits of the Household
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