Level floors and fancy paint color names

It started raining so we went back inside.  Apparently, Mother Nature had some notes on our renovation plans.

On the bright side, we made a huge step forward downstairs. The former multi-level hazard of bare plywood and wrecked sheet vinyl has been replaced with an actual level, lovely vinyl plank floor. A beautiful, continuous solid foundation for the new kitchen and adjoining space. With the freshly repaired and painted walls, we can finally picture the kitchen flowing into the dining and sitting area instead of the disconnected disaster areas we first walked into.

We’re ridiculously happy with the paint color in the kitchen and sitting room — a beautiful, tinted white with a faint violet undertone called Cultured Pearl from Sherwin-Williams. Honestly, naming paint colors deserves its own award category. This one was dead on and it’s going on our favorite list. It finally feels like the house is turning a corner and more like the last scenes of a HGTV show rather than the opening “what-have-we-gotten-into” moments.

The rainstorm also stress-tested the basement and windows for leaks. Great news: no leaks around the windows or into the basement. We’ll take all the good news we can get.  Finger crossed for no more surprises in the home stretch.

And yes, “we” still means Mark doing relentless actual labor while Kim does the hard work of picking paint colors and saying things like, “Is this tinted neutral warm or cool?” It’s our business model and we’re sticking to it.