Last time my dad visited, we installed hardwood floors in our new townhome. This time we have him doing smaller jobs.

The first job didn’t go well. He tried to fix the faucet that gets stuck in shower mode, but even after taking it apart and greasing it up, it still gets stuck. Once Astrid moves on from baths to showers we’ll have to fully replace it. For now, we’ll live with using a pair of pliers periodically.

The second job was much more successful. We totally transformed Astrid’s bedroom into a big kids room.

Before:

After:

We replaced her old bed (a converted crib) with a loft bed; we painted one of her walls “Elsa blue” (Astrid chose the colour); and added a nice rug and some decorations. Voila. A totally transformed space. The loft bed gives us extra room for a desk (not pictured) that can use for future homework and Emily’s currently using as a work-from-home setup.

Astrid had fun helping with the painting and she absolutely loves her new loft bed. It’s been a few weeks now and luckily there have been no issues with falling out yet or problems sleeping at night, although she has bumped her head on the ceiling a dozen times.

The biggest project has been building a new shelving unit for under our stairs. It started with a quest to find a new home for our small chest freezer, which had been sitting on the patio and getting soaked in the rain (even with a tarp on top of it). We decided it could fit nicely under the stairs with some shelves in front to hide it. My dad and I designed it, and he spent a week cutting, staining, and installing the shelves. I love how it turned out.

Before:

After:

Now the freezer, the litter box, and the Roomba each have their own space. And we gained a bunch of new shelves.

We’re running out of projects for my dad to do. Astrid’s dresser could use new runners for the drawers but other than that there isn’t much left on our todo list. If it wasn’t for COVID, we would rent Gigi out.