Renovation Realities

Steven and Betsy Finn are a young couple living in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Betsy, an award-winning professional photographer, operates her studio out of their basement. It's a barren space with nothing more than some backdrops hanging on one wall, and a seating area with miss-matched couches against another. Wanting to make the space more client-friendly, they plan to insulate the basement floor and walls, lay plywood subflooring, frame the walls, install drywall, update the electrical system, add new lighting, and lay laminate flooring, all in just five days. They start out making decent time, until a violent storm knocks out their power, forcing them to stop work earlier than anticipated. The setbacks become a recurring theme as the couple battles scheduling conflicts, unfamiliar tools, and hunger-fueled blowups throughout the renovation. After five days of backbreaking work, not to mention blowing through their budget, Steven and Betsy finish less than half of the renovation and they soon realizes that this renovation is going to longer than either of them ever expected.