Oh, how the little things can make such a big difference! As some of you may have noticed, our green kitchen reno slowed to a stop. There has been nothing to report for several months, which was really demoralizing, especially as I prepared newsletters with updates from other bloggers who were building entire green homes from scratch!

Meanwhile we were left with an assortment of glaring niggly finishing tasks that we had neither time nor energy to complete, not to mention a floor that turned out nothing like what I had imagined.

Enter Super Dad. My Dad’s handyman skills are already in demand for the care and upkeep of my Grandma’s house, my Mom’s store, a rental property, and his own home – the beautiful 107-odd-year-old character home that my sister and I grew up in. On a day (this past Thursday) when I’m sure he would have preferred to be playing his guitar or sinking his teeth into a new novel, he chose to help his youngest daughter get something done on the kitchen reno.

We chose a simple project. The doorway leading to the basement has had dirty looking bare lath and plaster exposed for the last I don’t know how long. It has been wearing on on our morale, to say the least.

So Dad hauled his tools over, framed the doorway, and installed my recycled content molding in an afternoon. I then did

the finicky filling, sanding and a touch of painting. I then installed some reclaimed molding around our back door which has had - you guessed it, nasty bare plaster and lath plus yellow expanding foam exposed for at least a year. Actually, the molding itself still needs a coat of paint, but to me, the difference is monumental!

A few months ago, Dad did some tiling under our fridge and counter where the liquor cart will go (still need to finish the liquor cart….sigh), and then he came back to redo it when we learned that the grout was too old. I just have to acknowledge him for his much appreciated assistance. It truly is those finishing details that seem insurmountable at the end of a project. But, thanks to Dad, we are tackling them one by one, and learning from each other as we go along. And into our house we build those lasting memories, of family helping family.