T w e n t y S i d e d

Overnight, our project has gone from a ‘quick coat of paint’ to a full fledged renovation. Our family has to cut a hole in the wall to make room for a new door in the BookNook, fill in the wall on the other side, and get someone to come in and put hook-ups for a washer and dryer upstairs.

Kelly halfheartedly complains about the size of the project, but she’s honestly relieved to have something meaningful to do.

The idea is to move the bookshelves to the left and cut a new door adjacent to the old one on the other side. Logan suggests that they check online marketplaces for interesting old doors before they make the first cut. In the meantime, Kelly needs to get an estimate on the washer and dryer hookups for upstairs, and they can start on redoing the basement.

It needs scrubbed down, painted, and new floors. Also, for insurance reasons and patron safety, those stairs need a railing. They take out the washer and dryer completely, and commit to going to the laundromat for awhile. Fun.

The upper cabinets also come out, making room for the future plans of integrated shelving. The wood paneling gets removed via crowbar and cursing, and Kelly calls someone to come in and figure out if the support beam that was by the washer and dryer is load bearing. When the guy comes in, he laughs at Kelly’s question. A quick scrape with a ruler shows there is only a thin line of contact between the beam and the ceiling. He shakes his head and proclaims that his diagnostic is ‘on the house’. Kelly is embarrassed, but thankful, until later that day when she remembers that the check was supposed to be free anyway. He just said that to make Kelly feel foolish.

Kelly shows Michael her mistake, and he is immediately frustrated. Not only did the contractor make his wife feel like an idiot for not being able to see a full foot above her own head, but he also didn’t notice that the beam was only making contact with the ceiling on one side. The drywall above their heads has a slight sag to it between joists, indicative of water damage or poor support.

Michael would call and chew the guy out if he wasn’t so fundamentally against conflict.

He calls another contractor to come in and look at it, and this time sticks around for the verdict. He feels foolish lingering, a code-monkey that knows less about the project than his wife, but if the builders won’t do their job if there’s just a women asking,  fine. He sits by and nods as the guy directs conversation towards him, and he lets Kelly actually do the talking.

They can absolutely take out that beam, but it was clearly supposed to be support when it was built. They should consider putting in some beams along the ceiling for added protection, but since it’s just a laundry room they don’t need to do too much. Kelly mentions that it’s actually going to be a commercial space, and the guy changes tone a bit, suddenly more professional and direct with what they need to do. Three beams along the ceiling connected to the joists on either side, and the ceiling needs entirely redone, the chances that the original is made of safe materials is extremely low.

Yay, that sounds fun and expensive.

Either way, it’s done. They put in new drywall, support beams, and a new light fixture. The idea for the basement is to make it a space for tabletop, so they’re going for a tavern vibe in their decor.

Next, the floors and walls, which they don’t need to pay someone to do. They pick up some faux wood tile and some emerald green paint to redo the space.

They spend what they expected to be weeks, and turned out to be months, hitting thrift shops and online second hand sellers to find pieces for the room. They find some rough-looking chairs and stabilize them with boards and screws so they have a rough ‘handmade’ look without the risk. They get a table, and an old non-functional wood burning stove with a huge rust spot in the back. That would suck if they needed a wood-burning stove that worked for some reason, but for their decorative uses, it’s perfect.

Logan finds a old window someone is selling from their own reno project, and suddenly inspiration hits. First it’s just a frame with a picture, then it’s the frame with a light, then it’s a window frame with a screen behind it. People can upload images to a thumb drive and plug it into the window, making (with a little tinkering) whatever they put on it appear on the screen.

The gaming room is finished, they just need to wait till it’s safe to open up again.

Oh, and also get a new laundry room.

Bay Jubilee Oldest child of Shamus Young. They/Them