busy weekend

[chelidon]

So this weekend I got almost everything done I'd hoped to do. I worked on the barn: repaired and installed a very nifty pentagonal antique (Art Deco) hanging light fixture I've had stored away for years, then turned two out of three horse stalls from dirt-floored..well, stalls, into solid wood plank-floored rooms, and converted quite a pile of lumber into six bunk beds (half-way there, the rest will get built later this week). Also drove to another part of the state and picked up free futon couch and bookcase from dear friends who are moving and put them up in the barn as well (thanks, guys!). Somewhere in there for reasons passing understanding I took on the extra project of ripping out the (nasty, cat-stained) carpet upstairs above the second-floor stairs where my office used to be, then sanding, staining and sealing all of the stair treads (and my Ravishing Partner painted the risers and then installed some Celtic tilework I've been hoarding). I've got a couple of boxes of hardwood flooring to put on the bare wood where the carpet used to be, and built-in bookshelves to finish, and some plumbing work to do (ugh, always my least favorite), but I'm pretty much on schedule and everything is getting done well, and quickly. The only major project with a firm deadline that I haven't started on yet is buying and installing an exterior door into some framing that I can insert between the open barn doors, so that people don't have to open and close the barn doors every time someone wants in or out, and that's a half-day project, once I go buy a door (pre-hung is worth the extra $$ for the time savings in this case!)

It was so nice to work with friends and family this weekend -- it reminded me that while I love building things, and tend naturally to try to do it all myself, working alongside other people who know how to stain a board, swing a hammer or help out in a hundred different ways is not only a much faster way to do things, but also a whole different kind of fun. I feel very blessed to have such friends, who share a dream and, more rare, are willing to put their sweat into it to help make it happen.