WALLPAPER HANGING

This picture shows two of our members studying the wallpaper before they make their next cut. I am NOT in the picture.

I have never in my life dealt with wallpaper…….and I don’t feel inclined to do it either! But, after seeing the difference that wallpaper makes, perhaps, one day, sometime in the future, if the creek doesn’t rise, I will.

Hanging wallpaper is not the usual business of our group. Our group’s usual purpose is to prepare the walls for the final paint and/or wallpaper. But this case was different. The wallpaper had been carefully and lovingly selected to complement a framed picture of a magnolia which had survived the four feet of Katrina water in the house. The lady-of-the-house was dreaming of moving back into her home with the foyer accenting this beautiful picture.

So, wallpapering became a top priority of our group.

Not that I was part of the wallpapering crew!

But, my work in the sheetrock area did enable those two members of our group to concentrate on the wallpaper. When we left, that picture was hanging in the foyer. Another step closer to moving in!

Talk to ya’ll later,
Suzanne

HOME SWEET HOME?

This is a couple’s temporary home.

It is a FEMA trailer, and it is sitting in the couple’s front yard.

Behind it are the eaves of their real home….still unlivable due to Hurricane Katrina. About two weeks ago, the gentleman reluctantly asked for help. And I am fortunate to have been part of the first crew that came to help.

Six of us entered his home and began giving him and his wife a boost to get back in their home. So much work had already been done, but work was at a standstill due to health problems, exhaustion (it has been a year), and lack of skilled labor.

In six days, we were able to give him and his wife the hope that they will be back in their home by Thanksgiving. I think that it is do-able. In our time there, the six of us painted three bedrooms; hung wallpaper in the foyer, hallway, and bedroom; solved major drywall problems in the dining room ceiling and entrance to family room; finished dry walling the kitchen and then painted primer; and almmmmmost got the water lines to the bathtub connected! (The wife really wanted to take a hot soaking bath…..those FEMA trailers just don’t allow that kind of thing!)

I left a few days ago. My assignment was over. But I was so glad that another team was taking over on Monday.

Talk to ya’ll later,
Suzanne