devarim

A little over a month ago, Julian and I closed on a new apartment. The place needed lots of renovations: there was major water damage on the parquet living room floor; similar (minor) damage on the master bedroom floor; hideous carpet over even more hideous fake-wood ceramic tile in the other bedrooms; the same hideous carpet over slightly more palattable but totally impractical marble tile in the hallway; scary-looking floor-to-ceiling mirrors in the dining area (covering up - surprise, surprise! - another window); overgrown weeds on the garden terrace; baseboard electric heaters not installed to code; some bad wiring...

The list could go on and on, but basically the place was in bad repair. Except the kitchen, which looked nice (relatively new IKEA cabinets, decent-looking composite countertops, cheap but decent backsplash tiling) and had some very nice, relatively new (~ four years old?), stainless-steel exterior appliances. The tub of the dishwasher was slightly cracked, and while this didn't affect its usability, we decided to replace it with a new machine. This avoided the problem of having to wait a year before using the dishwasher. As a bonus, Rabbi G told us that if we get a machine with a stainless interior tub, we can switch it back and forth between dairy and meat by running two empty cycles (one with detergent, one without). It's not something we plan to do very often, but it definitely will come in handy. We also, sadly, had to replace the gorgeous range. The oven had a convection mode. There was a warming drawer. There was a wonderful smooth ceramic top. The problem, though, is that the ceramic top is not fully kasherable. Using one is doable, but problematic. (Yes, there are varying opinions here, but I'm not going to go into them.) Long story short, we deicded to buy the only oven we could find that fit all the following criteria: electric power source; coil burners; stainless steel exterior; self-cleaning mode (can you believe they still make ovens without this?); and Star-K certified "Sabbath" mode, which really is only good for making sure the oven stays on over a holiday, and allowing you to adjust the temperature during that time. Oh, I would have been much happier with gas, but there is no gas line in our kitchen.

Anyway, back on topic...we began renovations (and by "we" I mean "our contractor and his people") about a week and a half after closing, just before the fast of 17 Tammuz and the start of the Three Weeks. We had all the floors (save kitchen and bathrooms) ripped out and hardwood put in. Mirrors were taken down. The kitchen doorway was widened to allow room for the poorly placed refrigerator to open at least ninety degrees. The random wall forming a triangular closet in the master bedroom was removed to open up the space. Baseboard heaters were removed; wiring of various kinds was run throughout the apartment. Crown moulding was installed to cover up the wires. Closets were gutted. Old appliances were removed, new appliances were purchased, and the counters were cut to fit the new oven. Though it was not entirely within the spirit of the Three Weeks, we selected paint colors, because the floors could not be sanded, stained, and finished until the walls were done.

All of this work was being done immediately, mind you, because we could not move in until the floors were completed, and the floors had to be completed last, and we cannot put our old place on the market until at least some of our stuff has been moved out,a nd we certainly can't sell it until we can be out. And the summer selling season is ending, so it really is a question of financial loss.

Delays, inevitably, were experienced. What with one thing and another, two weeks grew to three, three weeks grew to four, and now it looks like four will ultimately end up at about six. Not really surprising, I suppose. But the amazing thing is the paint. Because no matter what other things were done, the beautiful, colorful, and clearly decorative paint that we selected for the walls did not start going up until Monday, the day after Tisha B'Av.