I continue painting, but keep my eyes on the guys also. I’m curious about what they think needs to be done.
“It seems kind of pointless to make any major renovations if this place is only temporary. I think the kitchen and baths need updating, but the rest seems okay,” Ollie offers, but seems a little unsure of himself.
Milo pauses and turns, the paint bush dangling from his fingers. “I don’t think this place is that bad. I’m with Ollie on the kitchen and bathrooms, but the rest of it seems okay. It feels a lot bigger now that all those people’s crapis gone.”
“Okay, so paint the upstairs, figure out the flooring, and then we can discuss the main floor and lower level. I’m not so sure that master on the main floor will work, but we can figure that out later.” Ares nods his head, looking around. “I’m going to round up Dante, we can get started on the other room. There are too many of us to work in here.”
Ollie pours more paint into my tray and grabs up the extra roller Ares brought in. Between the three of us, we have the wallscompletelypainted within forty minutes. Milo suggested we wait until we know what kind of flooring we’re going to have before painting the molding.
Once we’re finished, Milo tosses the disposable tray liner into a larger black trash bag. I gather the rollers and the brush he used to take down downstairs so I can use the laundry tub to rinse them. Ollie joined Dante and Ares in the second upstairs bedroom to help, so I suspect it won’t be long before that one’s done too.
“Knock, knock,” Linda calls, opening the front door. Carolyn is right behind her.
“Hey.” I juggle the things in my hands, rushing over to pull the door all the way open. “The guys are upstairs, I’m heading down to clean these up.” I hold up the brush and two rollers.
“You guys are working fast, I love it. How can we help?” Linda rubs her hands together, examining the empty room.
“I think we’re going to tag team the kitchen next. If you want to help clean I, for one, would be very grateful.”
“You got it.” Carolyn sets her bag on the floor near the door. “Wow, it seems so much bigger.”
“I know it does, they had a lot of stuff crammed in here,” I agree. “I’ll be right back.”
I hustle through the kitchen to get to the stairs for the lower level. Realizing for the first time it’s not going to be fun lugging laundry up and down the stairs, but it’s still a hell of a lot easier than having to go to the laundry mat.
* * *
By late afternoon they’ve scoured the kitchen clean. Carolyn and Linda worked as a team and had the place sparkling quicker than I could have imagined. Even the shelves of the outdated refrigerator are gleaming.
We’re all dotted through the room, some standing, some perched on the counter, trying to decide on what actual renovations need to made. If you ask me, the place is fine exactly like it is, but Ares and Ollie have different ideas on how to make it more comfortable. “The kitchen isn’t big enough.” Ollie crosses his arms over his chest.
“I think the size is okay but the layout, the amount of cabinets, and the storage is where it’s lacking.” Linda looks around, her eyes critical.
“That’s what I meant,” Ollie adds, pointing toward her.
“Unless you guys are planning on making daily runs to the grocery store or using the lower level like a pantry, you need more cabinets.” I mull over Carolyn’s words. Wedomake aprettylarge family with all five of us, and I sure don’t want to go grocery shopping a few days a week.
“I wouldn’t do anything major.” Linda scrunches up her nose. “Keep the sink and the stove where they are, so you don’t have to worry about moving any of the plumbing or wiring. You have enough space where you could even have a small island.” She walks over and traces out a small area with her handsindicating what she means.
“If you openedupthe doorway, it would make it feel much more spacious,” Carolyn suggests, gesturing toward the living room area.
“It’s not that simple, we’d have to find out if that’s a load bearing wall, and possibly reinforce it before making any renovations like that,” Milo chimes in.
“Idolike that idea though,” Ares comments, walking over to stand in the doorway and looking in both directions.
“Let’s draw it out.” Ollie hops down from the counter. “Anybody got anything to write with?”
“I’ll grab my bag,” Linda offers, heading toward the living room where she left it.
“How about something to write on?” Ollie adds, his voice raised so she can hear him.
“I have a receipt, but that’s it.” Linda holds up a long, narrow strip.
“We have the pizza boxes from last night.” Dante rises from the floor, his movements somehow graceful and feline.
“That would work, just the tops of the boxes,” Ares suggests. Dante jogs down the stairs, returning with two cardboard squares. The edges are jagged but it looks clean enough, not too many grease stains.
We gather around the end of the counter. Linda hands Dante a slim pen and he goes to work drawing out the shape of the room, noting where the windows and doors are.
