Remodeling Update

Remodeling Update
Well, the work is mostly done. We have a couple of really tiny things that are not done and I’ll bet they take forever to finish.
I know I promised updates along the way but somehow I just never did them.
I was the one mostly in charge of dealing with contractors and making choices. I have to say that for the most part everyone seemed very comfortable about working with a person who is blind. I think the guy who did the bathroom floors was a little uncomfortable and he also was the one who mostly left stuff in my way. His tools almost took a bath when I went to use my shower. He left everything in there. Usually I just turn on the water a little before getting in the shower so it warms up. The shower curtain felt a little like it was not quite out where it should be out and in where it should be in, so I checked and what a surprise. He was also really late all the time and cancelled twice. Every time he would cancel we had to reschedule the Plummer.
Here is how the weeks went.
The work started on the 13th. That evening Neal and I went to Maine and worked from there. We figured this would give them time to work without us in their way. We stayed up there until Sunday and Mike, the contractor in charge, sent us regular pictures and text updates. When we returned Sunday afternoon, in time for the football game, I could start putting things in the upper cabinets but we had no counter and our only working sink was in the upstairs bathroom. The lower cabinets in the kitchen were installed but since they still had to install the counter I could not put anything in them.
I had packed all the upper cabinet boxes and stacked them in the living room and all the lower cabinet boxes were in the den. I also tried to keep all the boxes lite enough for me to lift and move. Monday I did all the upper cabinets.
Tuesday, at 4:30 am, Neal drove me to the airport for my annual week with my sisters and our mother. Neal now had one sink in the upper bath and one toilet in the lower bath and no counter. I think even he was getting tired of eating out. I still heard regularly from my best friend Mike.
I came home the following Sunday night and Neal left for ATIA at 5:00 am the following morning. Before I went to bed he showed me the basics of using our new, over the counter microwave/convection oven. He had it braille labeled for me with some braille stickers provided by General Electric.
The next day I started with the lower cabinets. The kitchen was done. It is glorious. I had such fun putting everything away. However, in spite of trying to keep boxes lite, my poor old almost 67 year old back was not very happy. The floor guy, who was supposed to come on Friday, came on Tuesday. We still only had one working toilet but it was upstairs and going up and down stairs really helped my FitBit scores. The Plummer worked until 7:00 pm that night to get the upstairs toilet back in and connect the plumbing again for the new sink. I had about 5 hours with no toilet but I had a plan.
The floor guy was supposed to come back on Wednesday but he cancelled again. He did come, late on Thursday and finished the downstairs bathroom floor and Josh, the Plummer, we are all on a first name bases, finished putting in that toilet.
Mike and Josh broke down all the boxes and got them out for recycling.
Friday my friend Rebecca took me shopping for all the little extra goodies for my downstairs bath. It is really wonderful. I will let Neal pick out things for the upstairs bath.
Now I just keep walking around and seeing how things look, at least in my mind, at all different times of the day. I have probably rearranged the items on the kitchen counter 20 times. I managed to put away all appliances other than the toaster and the French press. I don’t think the French press counts as an appliance.
I forgot to mention how good the painters were at fitting in around all the other guys. We repainted the kitchen the same medium green it was and the down stairs bath is a very light green. Neal picked out purple for his bath.
This project was a lot of work but it was also great fun. I want to thank everyone who worked with me and helped me pull together exactly what I wanted. Neal was very sweet and took me on endless trips to cabinet people and plumbing suppliers and all the other people who made this work. I also want to mention Bub, the electrician who never blinked about designing lighting with someone who is blind. At least in front of me, he never questioned me saying things like I feel better when I can imagine how the counter is lit.
It is done and now on to the next adventure.