My brother's help

My brother came to visit and help us with the house; and oh wow did we need him!
He's a great tile layer and has loads of experience, building, painting, pretty much anything you need he can do. He also lives in Costa Rica so he's accustomed to doing things a little different than we might do them in the US. All that to say that we knew he could roll with the punches.

But I don't think any of us had a clue of how long this project was going to take! I would take the kids to school in the morning and then he and I would drink coffee and visit for awhile. Then he would head upstairs and get to work, often barely stopping to eat and then working late into the night. We started joking that I would tell people, "My brother came to visit but he's spent the whole time in the bathroom."

The other thing that slowed stuff WAY down was that we'd pictured Josh and Blake working alongside him to get the project finished. But 4 days into Matt's time here we found out that Blake and Josh had pneumonia! The whole family had been coughing, sneezing... it was a miracle Matt didn't get sick!
Originally this had been a little kitchenette since all the bedrooms were being used as apartments before we got the house. But our pastor came over and he and Josh had built some walls to give us an en suite bathroom. Since they tile all the way up to the ceilings in Europe it makes getting everything to line up a bit more difficult. But if anyone could do it, it was Matt.
It really came out nice! Now all we have to do is install the shower and sink and we won't be fighting with our teenagers for a turn in the bathroom!