Growing to Love

Let's be honest with each other. When we first bought the Coat Shop, it was the ugliest building we had ever seen. It was dark except for flickering fluorescent bulbs and smelled a bit like damp sewage. As I've explained before, every contractor or friend who walked into the place looked at us with pity and dismay. Some of you, gentle readers, expressed similar sentiments.

And the truth is, I felt the same way a lot of the time. It was a bit like finding oneself in an arranged marriage. Yes, I knew that buying a house was what I wanted to do. Yes, this property was well within our budget and had great potential. But was there an instant love connection? Hell no. I hated walking into the Coat Shop. Even as we made progress, the amount of work that lay ahead of us felt daunting. There was never going to be enough time, energy, or money to do all that we wanted to do.

Somewhere in July we hit the tipping point. Jon took over general contracting, we were able to link up with some amazing friends/carpenters/artists, and we worked our littles tushes off. And as the drywall came crashing down and we stayed up late sanding and sealing hardwood floors we found under the linoleum and we found a plumber who got our design ideas (and our budget) and built us the most beautiful shower in the world, I have started to fall in love.


Our fully modular rooftop garden. Brought to you by Jon

It's not a mad, passionate love. It is not the stuff of legends. But I'm starting to look forward to going home to it after work. I am curious how its day went. Yesterday, I even bought it a little wind chime- a gift for the Coat Shop for no reason except I thought it would be nice.

Last night, I wiped down our freshly sanded floors with a damp rag to wipe up any loose sawdust before we spread a hundred thin layers of polyurethane over them. It was painstaking. And y'all know I hate that shit. But last night it felt different. Tender. Worthwhile.

I think it's going to work out.


Working on our other project, the great River Wedding of 2011.