that sinking feeling

they came, they sawed/hammered/glued/sanded and they went...and if we're really lucky, someday they'll come back.

those of you that have been following the progress of us 'tidying' up the house for maximum resale will know that this weekend was the (hopefully) last big push. BIL and SIL (Brother in law and sister in law) willingly volunteered to help us do this, probabley cos they knew we would kill ourselves or each other if we attempted it alone. M conveniently arranged to be a godfather to Angie two years ago in preparation for missing out the start of the demolition (one of the things I love about him is he is so well organized like that!) and had to go to her birthday. I didn't want to pass on my germs so couldn't go.
BIL, SIL and MWBTD (Morgan - worlds best trained dog) made the journey and the massacre commenced. We started out so optimistically, and pretty much everything that could go wrong did go wrong (you had to laugh or you cried). Should have realized when I was heading to Home Depot to pick up a second piece of bench top 1 hour into the project, and really should have known when I came back to find that the garbage disposal didn't come out of the sink. so on the up side i got the opportunity to kick the old one several times under the guise of trying to get it out of the sink...that'll teach it not to eat the garbage.
So after the realization that the walls were not straight (corner piece has to be angle cut), the old bench tops were glued down with some sort of industrial strength gunk that had hardened to concrete over time and there was barely enough room under the bench to fix the new sink...several medicinal beers, a lot of US/Kiwi ingenuity and way more glue than we probabley needed, the Home Depots finest(read only ones you can buy and take home) counter tops, double sink and garbage disposal are in and working...and looking pretty smashing if I may say so myself. They're a nice dark green fleck, which looks good with the oak cabinets. Pictures will be up on the web eventually.
and then we started on the master bath...should be easy after the kitchen right....nope...not a hope.
The old one came out with any bits of wall attached and we measured and cut the new one...popped it on the cabinets to realize that the cabinet was too small underneath and therefore the bench hangover in a most disconcerting way...several mini tantrums and name calling episodes later (and it was not me that measured it in the first place) we were nailing chunks of wood together to push the cabinet out from the wall. Everything else seemed to go smoothly after that...though I still have several tidy up jobs left to do, including putting a new side to the cabinet on.
Things we have learned from this weekend:
Measure 72 times...cut once or twice...if you're lucky
When you''re connecting the plumbing and testing if it works...don't point the tap to the sink with the big hole where you plan to put the new garbage disposal
Never clean under the sink hole you've just cut, sawdust absorbs water quite well
If in doubt...buy more glue
Ignore any manufacturer instructions when installing a sink and just go with what works...put the sink in then glue the bench-top down.
Hope that potential buyers never read this blog
'She'll be right mate' helps in most situations
So a really big thanks to SIL, BIL and MWBTD for all your help...and we promise that the next time we invite you down it will just be for dinner!