Phil's Last Day

A happy home.

Whenever my friends tried to tell me what construction would be like they basically said, " Expect a lot of dust." Thinking about construction before it actually began was like being pregnant, waiting desperately to meet your baby but knowing that you still had to somehow get through labor. Well, that's sort of what it was like waiting to get started on this project. I started packing the boxes last July and it was just about a year ago that we started talking to the architects about the ideas for the project. I have had lots of time to think about construction. Putting a hole in my dining room wall was scary and making a hole in my kitchen wall to the outside making way for a new bigger window was unthinkable a few months ago. Much to my surprise, I feel the same feelings about demolition that I felt about child birth. It's thrilling and exciting and not at all scary like I had imagined it to be.

Yes. There's dust. Lot's of it, but it feels like a comfort zone. I was an art major in college and I spent many happy dust filled days in the sub basement of Doherty Hall making sculptures and metal projects and installation pieces; working away in my jeans and sweatshirts completely surrounded and covered in dust. So having all of this dust in the house has been like seeing an old college friend. Creativity is our house guest for the next several months. And where ever there is dust creativity has a happy home.

Day Five

The final day of the first work week. I like having the Greensaw crew in the house. As soon as they arrived the energy in the house changed. I’m impressed with how hard they work and how much they have been able to do so far. Their energy is positive and productive. I sit on the other side of the zippered plastic curtain borrowing their force, riding the coattails of the energy they exude while I work away at my black belt project.

I wasn’t going to say anything about my kitchen. But Jim from C2Architecture had an idea. They said, “We have to change the kitchen, it’s the heart of the house.” I wouldn’t have dared to dream that big without their vision. I wouldn’t have thought it was possible to build without the confidence Greensaw brought to the table. And so here we are at week one. The skilled design team performing open house surgery on the heart of my house. We’ve uncovered some plumbing issues that need to be addressed and some ducts that need to be moved but the over all prognosis is good. Not only will the patient survive but the patient will thrive when everything is new.