Summer Kitchen

Three weeks ago, they told me the Summer Kitchen would be ready in a week. Two weeks ago, they told me it would be ready in a week. Last week, they told me it would be ready in a week. I'd already turned away three people who wanted to stay there, and I wasn't going to turn down a fourth, so the 'drop dead' date was set for today, August 10th.

The contractors were supposed to give me a few days to get everything ready -- instead, they were still working when the guests arrived! Joel installed the door locks at 8pm last night, Mike hung the side door this afternoon, and Ben caulked the shower this morning. (Matt was going to paint the front door today but we stopped him. Fortunately Dawn had the primer tinted so it looks like they're painted.)

The place was a complete disaster: The shower was caked with plaster, the windows were covered in caulk, and the floor had paint splatters, but you couldn't see any of that under the half-inch of dust, so I announced it would be "no problem." Dawn just rolled her eyes. She does that a lot with me.

Last night we were up until midnight setting up the TV and furniture; this morning we attacked the rest. Dawn was on a ladder scraping the windows with a razor blade; Ruth* was downstairs trying to clean around the contractors, while I was upstairs installing Contact paper. (I hate Contact paper.) It took 3 people six hours, but we got out just as the guests were arriving. (Actually, we got out because Dawn told us the guests had arrived.)

Of course I'd forgotten pots, pans, plates, cups, trash cans, an alarm clock, and, for the fifth time in a row, a drinking glass. I did remember the coffee maker, but forgot the coffee. We waited until our guests went to dinner and then descended en masse to finish everything. The only thing we couldn't do was install the blinds because a) that would have been pretty obvious, and b) we needed to install the storm windows first. (The storms had actually arrived that afternoon, but since every window is a different size, it is going to be a few days before we figure out what goes where.)

Now here's the sad part: Our guests had been here during our open house three weeks ago, and we had cleaned up the Summer Kitchen then to make it presentable. Of course the paint wasn't finished and the cabinets weren't attached, the beds weren't made and the windows didn't open, the gas fireplace didn't work and the door handle was actually a stick of wood, but it looked nice. (Except for the door handle.) Unless they were taking notes, they probably didn't realize we did anything between then and now!

So the Summer Kitchen Suite is up and running, and is actually quite a bargain at $200/night. It is an authentic 18th-century stone summer kitchen, with a living room, kitchenette, dining table, bedroom loft, in-room whirlpool tub, separate shower, central air and heat, gas fireplace, and a lovely view of the farm. (Hey, did you think I was above a little self-promotion here?) Did I mention it sleeps four, with a queen bed upstairs and a day bed/trundle bed downstairs?

* Ruth attended the open house and afterwards wrote me a very sweet email saying how much she loved the house and if there was anything she could do to help, let her know. BIG MISTAKE...

The Summer Kitchen, 24 hours ago