The Home Improvement Elves at Work

Our last trip here in Illinois there was over a foot of snow on the ground, so not a lot of outside activities. Yet, with typically only a week here, it is hard to get into a project in our little cottage in the woods. And sometimes, just starting a project reveals some interesting aspects of the 80 year old place.

We had talked for a time about replacing the carpet in the "Sunroom" with a wood floor to match the bedroom. The old carpet was still fine, but a rather unpleasant shade of yellow - we were ready for a change. So our last trip we cleared some furniture so Maj could start some floor work. She had already offered the woodwork floor for a Christmas present, and had stained and pre-finished the lumber even before we got here in February. Cutting back the carpet and padding revealed some lovely linoleum, still in good condition, so the thinking was to go right over it with the new flooring. And that is where we left it - clearing an 8' by 10' section of the room for her to start. After all, part of the satisfaction of completing the job is doing at least part of it ourselves.

So we arrived Wednesday and we found the renovation complete and spectacular! Trim work finished, furniture (even the heavy buffet and mirror) returned to place. I can't imagine all the hours of working alone she went through, but all we are doing this trip is thinking ahead to our near month here this summer when we will get put to work by our contractor-sister Maj!

A side note from Melinda:  When I moved into this house in 2006, and thought about the things I'd like to do to it, this is the exact vision of the sunroom that I had!