Light at the End

Monday we spent 10 hours going to L.A. to shop (no IKEA or Crate & Barrel here) and it was, well, excruciating. This may be hard to understand for those of you who like to shop, but that describes neither Alan or I. Malls, stores, parking lots, lines, decisions.... we'd rather not do it, but if we have to, we'd rather do it on-line. So between feeling exhausted by the enormity of it all, it was just so hard to make a decision. We've made so many decisions since February, we've just run out of decisiveness.

We had a mega-list, found every home decorating store in the Topanga mall, and came home with a tiny percentage of our shopping done. Most important was a bed for the guest room/Marina's room/Adrianna's room/front room, that we had seen at an IKEA in Palo Alto, so that is done. And since shopping at IKEA is kinda like getting beat over the head (in a sorta fun way), you keep putting stuff in your bag just to move along and make the pain stop. Mostly what I like about IKEA is that they have twine in the loading area so you can tie things down in the car.

There was a reward when we got home though - the electrician had been there, and we have light. Yay!! Well, mostly. He didn't do it all.... But I think part of the process of remodeling is driving your expectations lower and lower as the weeks progress, so that by the end you are grateful for every 5 minutes of work that gets done.

OK maybe that's an exaggeration. We're excited for the light because we can actually go in there in the evenings and see the progress. (Hmmm, is that also part of the plot, to keep us in the dark so we can't actually see what they've done?)

We hope to have the electrician over again some time soon to finish it all off.

Family/Dining Room:

Kitchen:

Marina's Room:

We now have 2 porch lights so it actually looks like we are welcoming people to a front door. For some reason one isn't lit, but you get the idea.