Renovations!!

Ed and I had exactly 3 months between our engagement (April 26th) to our wedding (July 26th), which isn't a ton of time to plan a wedding (even without a 2 week trip to Senegal in the mix), but we had other projects on our minds - extensive renovations to Ed's townhome, a good portion of which needed to be done if we were going to have the wedding in our backyard!!
Here is the kitchen/dining room - studs, appliances, and construction materials...
We knew we wouldn't get far on the kitchen, but wanted to finish the downstairs half-bath and make the living room look nice. The first project was the bathroom - to begin with, drywall and no ceiling. We did all of it ourselves - I tiled, and Ed installed the ceiling, did the wiring and installed electrics, installed the vanity and toilet, and we finished by painting together. Here I am doing the grout...Ed wrestling with the vanity...Starting to look good!The next project for me (while Ed was getting the bathroom done) was the living room - ripping up all the carpet and padding, leveling the floor, and installing our new bamboo floor. Since we used full thickness bamboo (not laminate) over concrete, we had one option - urethane adhesive, which I quickly discovered is not soluble in anythig once it's dry! I spent awhile waiting for it to peel off my arms and legs. Pondering my work so far....
Notice the mantlepiece? Covered with white steaks - my project after the floor was to chip all of that paint off, sand it down, repaint it chocolate brown, and repaint the white painted bricks brick red. It looks much better - I'll have to post pictures of what it looks like finished!

Spreading urethane on the piece of flooring.....and laying it down... over and over and over again! I spent a weekend on it, then three nights after work until midnight each night - I was so over that floor by the time I was done!!
The roses Ed bought me and had waiting one night I came over to work on the floor - what a guy!!Enjoying a job well-done!We also had some fun - Ed is enjoying floor time with the babies at get-together with friends
And my supervisors took me out to lunch to celebrate my transition from EIS officer to Malaria Branch staff! Rob, on the right, was my primary supervisor and is the CDC head for the President's Malaria Initiative. I now have a new primary supervisor, Patrick. Larry, on the left, is the Malaria Branch chief and will be my boss as long as I work at the Malaria Branch.