APRIL SHOWERS

When my phone rang this morning at 7:30 I assumed I was a victim of a bad April fools joke. When the woman on the other end told me she needed help fixing up her house in time for a wedding shower this weekend I wondered what fool had told her I could pull of such a task! Through the whimpering tone in her voice, however, I could tell this was no laughing matter. Six months ago she agreed to host a wedding shower in her home and graciously invited ten family members to stay the weekend. What she didn't anticipate was the two feet of standing water in her lower level guest quarters, flooded by the heavy northeast rains a few weeks ago. Because the insurance company was treating her situation like a big joke, she decided to take matters into her own hands by asking me to lend a hand in cleaning up her big mess. She couldn't imagine her house guests going without showers for the weekend, so we started in the guest bathroom. When she told me she loved red, I told her she didn't have the time (red paint is incredibly difficult to cover in less than five coats!) and forced her to see her situation in black and white: In one day I painted her bathroom a lovely combo of black and white, added a splash of red by running to Target and purchasing a few Thomas O'Brien towels and repurposed an old chandelier to create an interesting focal point. When I was finished she wanted to cry but instead stood back and had to laugh when she pictured the state of yesterday's bath!
TIME TO COMPLETE TASK:

COST: 1 Gallon of Benjamin Moore "Grey skyline" $55, re purposed chandelier from antique store: $19

STRESS LEVEL: Trying to get it all done under the crunch: HIGH