"Are we there yet?"

Someone who has obviously never done a house renovation asked me today if things were wrapping up at 615 since the Tennessee crew is on Day 3.

The question reminded me of a road trip I took with three of my fellow students in grad school from Bloomington, Indiana, to Minneapolis. When we'd just gotten into Wisconsin, somebody in the car asked the person driving, "Are we there yet?"

And rather than answering, "No, you dolt, we have several hundred miles to go," the driver (who was a seasoned mother) simply replied, "Yes, I'm just looking for a good place to park."

I had been planning to blog a lot while Team Tennessee was here, but I've been too busy helping and feeding them. They suggested tonight at dinner that I should have been taking photos of all the food and sharing all the recipes. (That would have been fun.) There's also talk of Lisa writing contracts that insist future clients hire me to cook for the crew. The beautiful weather tonight made dinner on the back porch especially lovely....

But you're here for the house, not the meals!

So, here are some scenes from 615 as Team Tennessee does their thing. First, the scene at the front door today, after the old kitchen flooring was pulled up. (That's it stacked on the porch.)

Here's another view of the living room as Doug puts cabinets together – cabinets for the new back bathroom, cabinets for the kitchen, so many cabinets!

Meanwhile, Greg has been painting the doors of the kitchen cabinets (old and new) down in the basement. Here's a photo showing about half the cabinet fronts after being primed:

The acquisition of a new space heater has definitely helped that process.

Here's the second floor bathroom, getting closer to being fully painted.

The new tile plus the new paint has magically shifted the perceived color of the tub from mustard yellow to lemon cream! Much improved.

Here's the fireplace before we started working on it to change the color from aqua to a more traditional brick look.

And here's the fireplace after Lisa and I applied to paint-remover goo and the paper that holds the goo on overnight:

The really exciting moment in this sub-project was when we discovered, because Lisa leaned on it, that the mantle is not actually attached to the fireplace or the wall. That needs fixing....

And for the big wow, check out the kitchen with the framing, soffits, and trim added for the new high kitchen cabinets!

Here's the view from the dining room side of the kitchen, giving you a peek at the beadboard accents that I absolutely love.

Hubba hubba.

The favorite highlight of the week so far was when my toddler friend Patsy stopped by to have some fun painting a wall. I gave her a small roller and some green paint that dates back to some garden project years ago. She rolled the paint on the wall but then she decided it was WAY more fun to get paint all over her hands and slap handprints on the wall:

There is nothing like hearing the squealing laugh of a thrilled toddler to make you feel like all is right with the world.

Now it's almost 9:30 p.m. and the crew is back over at 615 cramming in more work. And I have to go do the dishes....