Priorities. Schedules. Responsibilities. Living for the moment? When does that start? Fulfilling our lifelong desires? Well … maybe, someday.
Our basement renovation contractor completed his part of the bargain. He’s done. We haven’t seen him or his site manager here in more than a month now. All payments have been made. There was no walkthrough, no ceremonial project completion at our end.
For him, our project is done. For us, not so much.
We don’t yet have those things which were our responsibility in the contract: carpeting, furniture, or the full set of storage solutions we had envisioned for the space. But we do have a beautiful, fully operational, laundry containing not only our existing washer and dryer, but also an attractive built-in armoire storage unit with drawers and a sliding door hanging space for clothes. There is also a second hanging rod and a stand-alone storage cabinet with countertop. Between the washer and dryer is a new stainless steel utility sink. And a folding metal table sits next to the dryer, perfect for folding clothes. It’s a world-class laundry room! It’s all bathed in copious lighting. And my wife designed it all — just for the two of us!
In fairness, the absence of carpeting and furniture in the “family room” living space at the foot of the stairs, opposite the laundry, can be attributed mostly to the difficulty of making decisions about colors and fabrics — and finding furniture that will fit through the door at top of stairs!
Mobile metal shelving for the storage area behind the laundry, also in the works, is not yet ordered (except for one unit, assembled successfully as a test case). And that storage area also contains a new apartment-size refrigerator/freezer – now fully stocked!
Priorities, schedules, responsibilities – they are the villains in this story, for now. My only conflicting priorities are my writers’ group (yes, you’re reading one of its products) and occasional church-related responsibilities with no bearing on any difficulties in this decision making. I have been retired for eight years, but my wife is NOT retired from her full-time professional job. The disruption caused by the three-year pandemic and her subsequent hybrid work schedule — not to mention her effort organizing the presentation of years’ worth of HR documentation for her impending retirement — does impact our decision-making difficulties regarding those basement furnishings. The retirement calculations deal with total hours worked during child-rearing times some 30 years ago, with retirement contributions made but not credited to her. I may be more eager for her retirement at this point than she is!
We are reasonably close to the magical decision point for carpeting and furniture – only a bit more focus is required, and we’ll make it over the top! We have a carpeting vendor — a second trip to their showroom convinced us of the color and pile we wanted. But we still need another trip to a Crate & Barrel showroom before we can pull the trigger on a sofa or chair. And we have yet to begin any concerted shopping for wooden furniture (entertainment center, desk, end tables) – but that will come – along with lamps and a desk chair. It all seems so hard – priorities, schedules, responsibilities keep getting in the way!
The adage, “the perfect is the enemy of the good,” is of little avail for such weighty decision processes. We’ve been through this ordeal twice before (this is our third major upgrade project since we’ve been in the house), and both of us agree that the storage area has a higher priority than furniture for the living area. Our eldest son, who has given us two grandchildren, has been pestering Mom and Dad to clear out and furnish his old bedroom upstairs — for baby-sitting purposes, of course! His longstanding open request is exactly the kind of ask that combines … that’s right … priorities, schedules, responsibilities! Turns out his old room is the temporary housing space for all the miscellaneous crap (tools, toys, books, games) we needed to clear out of the basement for the reno project. Attic storage will also be replaced, at least partially, by more accessible basement storage for things like Christmas decorations.
But the storage solutions, ultimately, are easier to solve than deciding how to furnish the living area. We feel that the furniture decisions will impact not only the quality of our life for however long we stay in the house (is ten years too much?), but also will tangibly affect showing the house whenever we decide to sell – unless we move out first and have the realtor stage the showing.
Selling the house, even though not yet a priority, or even on a schedule, is clearly a responsibility to our two sons – our estate. We know the magnitude of this responsibility because houses around here are so damned expensive! We’re talking lots of money – by far the largest single element of our total wealth! Hence, we cannot sell before we accomplish one further critical project: landscaping — landscaping to make our neighborhood proud, the neighborhood we’ve called home for 39 years. It will be the best remaining thing we can do to increase our house’s value. But any landscape design we commit to now must be low maintenance. Neither my wife nor I have enough gardening inclination to deal with too many organic, floral things found in nature. Indeed, our current yard, hardscape, and foundation plantings have fallen into disrepair over the last several years because … well, because we just don’t care enough about maintaining them! We probably should anticipate a continuing contract with an enterprise like Hambletons.
But that’s for another day. For now, we’re stuck with the immediate issues: furniture, storage organization, retirement documentation – and, as my wife still reminds me, she is working full-time! Priorities. Schedules. Responsibilities. Yes, the project has been completed, sort of. The rest is up to us. Next, please …
— William Sundwick
Warp and Woof 