They Will Graduate, Whether the House is Ready or Not

posted on 25 July 2011 | posted in Construction and Industrial

Nothing strikes terror into the heart of the casual housekeeper more than the two word phrase "Graduation Party." Although you know it has been coming for 18 years, it is amazing how little gets done around the house until the graduate to be pulls his invitation list out of his pocket, or, more likely, invites everyone he knows, has known, wants to know or are friends of the above to his graduation fete on Facebook.

Suddenly, that teddy bear motif in the sun room looks dated. Let's face it it’s been dated for a dozen years. And, how long have those cute finger paint masterpieces been on the refrigerator door? The 4 year old who swirled his fingers through that rainbow is now 6 foot 3, and wondering if you will let him have a keg at the party. A keg! Oh, of root beer. Well, maybe. Suddenly you have almost two decades of "I'm raising kids, not cleaning house" looking you right in the eye, and it is not pretty.

How do you manage to invite most of the known world into your home when the living room hasn't been painted since 1999? Well, you head out to your local hardware monolith, and put yourself and your credit card at their mercy.

In six short weeks, we managed to do the following at our humble abode. First, we painted a lot of walls. The good news is, the super saturated paint colors make short work of those beige walls covered with hand prints in graduated sizes. I headed outside to plant a school color garden and window boxes in orange and black. Yes, I did. Thank heavens for pansies and sweet potato vines. My husband found the finish carpenter in himself, framing the edge of the dining room where it meets the living room in a beautiful molding that suddenly made this 90 year home look almost finished. My neighbour had done some oil tank removal in the past and was a good handyman, so we also hired his help.

Then we enlisted the trio of sons to help tame out backyard. After some serious digging, we found the perennial garden under the weeds, and with a judicious sprinkling of mulch, black, of course, and some nice orange annuals here and there, the yard began to look like a yard, not a jungle. That gel bleach product did wonders on the tiles in the kitchen, and few new curtains and some painted woodwork made the bathroom appear a lot less medieval.

I continued the woodwork update out of the bathroom and into the hall. Almost finished freshening up the whole hallway, until I got to the doorjamb with three ever taller sets of marks with dates and names. No way was I covering up the height charts of my babies! Then there was cooking and gathering tables and chairs and coolers, and that keg.

The day finally arrived, the relatives and friends descended, and then...it was over. What a whirlwind! But we now have a house that looks like adults might live in it, and, heavens, plenty of ideas to put in place before the next one graduates. Yikes! In six weeks!