Progress

We own a house! Every once in a while I have to repeat to myself that we, James and Hilary, own a house near downtown in Houston, Texas. Our house is two stories, it is brick, every neighbor we have met is nice. I repeat these good things in my head so that this house that is unlivable at the moment is, in fact, ours. We may not live there, the renovations might be happening slower than I would like, but it is ours and we own it.

For the last two weeks Steve's guys have been working hard to build headers where they need to be built, and walls where they will need to go. James goes over to Southmore every few days to talk with the guys and see what he can do to help. Is there something that James can demolish that evening to make their day quicker the next day? Should we have a meeting with the architects to make sure that we are all on the same page for closet dimensions? How can we best communicate our respective needs?

We are probably fortunate that James has such a rapport with the men working on our house, but it is so natural and ingrained that we do not know an alternative. When we first told our friends about our contractor, they each responded with horror stories and warnings about contractors that swindled people out of money, or did not finish the project, or were simply incompetent. Our responses have always been and remain the same. Our contractor is nothing like that. Our contractor is trustworthy, reliable, extremely talented, and the guys he hires are the same.

Because of this talent and trustworthiness, I am able to show y'all progress. These pictures have been from a small section of our house, but they are indicative of the change that is happening. The previous owners never reinforced ceilings when they opened up doorways, but because the house has shiplap walls the ceilings never collapsed on the inhabitants. The guys jacked up the ceiling and built headers where they needed to exist. We are happy, and hopeful, at the progress.