California Visit

A bit delayed, but here are some photos of my trip to see John, Erin, Owen and Marcus. Brian flew in, too. There was plenty of good food, running around with nephews, Speed Scrabble, poker, and assorted fun. Erin put me and Brian to work helping pick out and install a new light fixture in the dining room. You can see the before and after pictures down at the bottom of this post on the Johnson's blog. 

It was really a team effort. Erin looked on line and found a couple she thought would work. It took Brian, John, Erin and me to take the old one down. It was heavy and awkward and ugly. Here it is waiting for me to take it apart and put it in a box. Erin found a woman to give her $200 or something for the whole thing and the ceiling medallion that was up with it.

We were a little concerned about getting that medallion down. Mostly just the unknown as to how it was up there. Luckily, the B was masterful with a putty knife and it was only up there with a couple finish screws. 

 

Once all that was down, Erin and I went to pick up the new fixture and assorted items to patch up the ceiling around where the medallion was. Brian did a fine job with spackle and sanding. I put up a coat of primer and we installed the new one. John played a very important role in getting the boys out of the house for a while. Brian was the height and muscle behind the whole operation. Owen was the vacuum cleaner operator to clean up our mess. Mar was just busy being cute. Erin finished up the painting in the next couple of days. I was the consultant/supervisor. ;) 

Here's a picture of Brian and me with the finished product.