Renovations

 While at Home Depot today purchasing palm sanders, sandpaper and urethane for the bathroom in Maine it reminded me of the litany of building and repairs Paul and I have tackled through the years.  

We purchased a 3 family home in the Mt Pleasant area of Providence in 1989.  I was in my senior year of college, studying for my nursing boards and planning a September wedding.  Thankfully the sellers stayed in the first floor apartment and we moved into the third floor.  We started renovations on the second floor and haven't really stopped fixing, building, painting etc since.  I am obviously a glutton for punishment.  We kept the house through 1997.  We learned electrical, plumbing, drywall and spackling, woodwork, cement work, sanding, painting, staining.  If we didn't know how to do something, we hired someone and then shadowed them and learned.

The Maine land we purchased in the fall of 1990 and began building in 1991.  A whole new learning curve with a log cabin.  Running electrical had to be carefully thought out and each log drilled to run wires through the walls.  We built a lot of our own furniture - bunk beds and tables.  All of which are still being used today!  Thank you Alan for the end table and coffee table.  Thank you Marc for pointing out the table legs are upside down!  (They are still upside down!)

We celebrated at Small's Falls after signing the final paperwork for the land!  We were so young!  And fearless.  We had no doubt we would succeed in all our dreams.


When we bought Pine Road in Cumberland in 1995,  it was a foreclosure and had been vacant for an extended period of time.  Once Paul and his dad replumbed the entire heating system we moved in.  Room by room each was gutted.  The kids spent many hours "helping" us and learning.  

                                                            Kevin mixing paint

                                                        Megan mixing paint

                                                Kevin                                        Kevin

Peter, Kevin and Megan in the new dining room bay window

Kevin and Megan in the "new" living room once the dining room and office

                                                Megan and Kevin learning to use a hammer


Now we are learning boat maintenance  and repair.  And during hurricane season we are renovating the house in Maine, room by room.  The question - will it go faster without the kids "helping"?  Stay tuned.  

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