Suddenly *Not So* Single Journey

The project that started it all…

Author: thenicknick

When S and I first were getting together, first had feelings developing, he was in the middle of repairing his bathroom.  The previous owners had remodeled the bathroom, but there were some plumbing issues.  (Yeah, I’m not getting graphic first thing in the morning.)

Let’s just say, I could hear him jack-hammering out the slab from my house so that he could install the proper size pipe from his toilet to the sewer lines.  And then I was around a few days after that when he and one of his employees, Richard, were laying tile.  I proudly explained that I knew how to do that, use a tile saw and everything, since I had already remodeled my master bath.  The next thing you know, I’m grouting his bathroom, handmixing the grout and everything.

It was fun, working on a project together.  I hadn’t had that before.  It was one aspect of my dream relationship that I saw in S.  I envisioned entire home remodels with us working together, side by side.  I’d develop new skills, he’d respect my design ideas.  Ahhh.  Bliss.

And it has mostly been that way…although we have a way to go in the ‘respecting my design ideas’ department.  So, after we had been seeing each other for a few months, and I was staying over quite a bit, we started working on the house in earnest.  We were driving back from a decorating shopping trip, having purchased the star and clock that’s on the back patio when he finally spoke.

S: What if we remodel the bedroom?

me: Really?

S: I want you to feel comfortable there.  I want it to be our room.

All I could do at that point was beam.  I’m not even sure he realized what he was suggesting.  All I knew for certain was that he cared about my happiness and comfort and we were going to do another project together.  So, he came home with paint keys the next weekend and we selected a color for the accent wall behind the bed that wouldn’t clash too much with the bathroom color that we’re rather stuck with since the previous owners selected tile to match.

Rum Runner was purchased.  And we also gathered new blinds to keep anyone from peering in the window, and a curtain rod to replace the cornice, with nice chocolate microsuede curtains.  We found lamps for the nightstands that matched the floor lamp he had in there already.  And then it was a light fixture for over the bed to replace the ceiling fan, which would be relocated to the great room.

I won’t ever forget that weekend.  The shopping was fun.  Decorating together and finding our tastes meshed was great.  Then it was home to complete the work.

Spring and Jay were there with the kids.  (Jay still lived with S at that time.)  So the little ones wanted to help paint.  We let them write their names on the wall in primer.  Then S wrote our names with a big ol’ plus sign in between them, like we were in grade school.  I couldn’t stop glowing.

And when it was time to paint the room with Rum Runner, he worked on the window treatments, promising he’d help once he was done.  We wanted to reassemble the room so that we could go to bed at some point that night.  (These projects always seem to get a late start.)  It was already going on 10pm.

Well, he had a few shots, since it was a weekend.  And we proceeded to get to work.  I would catch him watching me once in a while in an admiring way.  And I should mention, I am not a good painter, or at least I wasn’t then.  I’ve had lots of practice since that has gone a long way to improving my abilities in that department.

And then the shots wore off.

S: (first frowning)  You’ve missed a few spots there, babe.

me: (studying the wall)  Where?

S: (Looking more closely, starting to panic)  And there are drips everywhere.  Where’s a roller?

Soon he’s rushing about trying to correct all my mistakes.  And he’s trying to train me how to do it properly.

S: Like this, see.  Really load up the roller and then smooth it out.  No drips.

And he’s demonstrating with finesse.

me: You were a lot more fun before the liquor wore off.

But I learned.  I learned that in order to make a remodeling project with S go more smoothly, I keep the freezer stocked.  And I learned how to paint better to avoid the issue to begin with.  And I learned that if I clean up really well, and smile and giggle, and pretty much charm him, then all is forgiven.

We were finishing the clean up that night when I saw him messing with the garbage can.

S: Look.

And I wandered over to see.  He had painted our initials on the garbage can lid.  It was there for posterity, or at least until the lid fell off.  And we kissed right there, next to the dirty, smelly, garbage can.

We kiss a lot during remodeling.  It’s better than fighting.  And we have done a lot of remodeling.  In fact, we’re remodeling the bedroom again soon.  This time, we’ll be scraping the ceiling and installing crown molding.  It’ll be a big project.  Our old paint job will be covered over.  It won’t matter that Lala and Lena’s names are hidden, or that our names are under layers of paint.  We’re building a future here, ever changing, ever improving.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 5:46 am and is filed under Remodeling Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.