26 weeks since we started this. Half of a year. Are we done yet? The goal of late was to have everything wrapped up by the end of the day Friday, so that on Saturday morning I could finally go downstairs in a house that was only occupied by people related to me and fire up my stove and fry an egg. Are we done are we done?
No, we are not. But still…
(Previously.)
This was a pretty huge week here.
All of the finish trim around the sink wall cabinetry is in place. It looks pretty great.
The major delivery this week was the countertops. Kathy’s wedding ring is no longer the most expensive rock that I’ve ever bought. 
Also apparent in these pictures:
- The drawer and door pull hardware arrived and was all installed.
- The panel front for the dishwasher was finished and installed (it’s the 4 “drawers” to the right of the main sink, above). This was finally installed on Saturday.
- All the final plumbing was hooked up. The dishwasher and disposals are so quiet that we can’t tell whether they’re running or not, which has already resulted in several trips into the kitchen muttering, “come on, I was sure that I pressed the Start button…oh, I did.”
It’s a good thing that the dishwasher is running, because it’s been going non-stop. Even though we stored all our dishes and cookware in ‘sealed’ plastic tubs, everything came out with a layer of construction dust covering it.
Kathy found a great funky dining room table at an Antique Wood place near us — the wood is reclaimed from a barn someplace (they’re supposed to be getting us the story behind it) and also a church pew that we’re going to refinish and use as a banquette on one side. BONUS: They traded us the pew for the old mantle that we took off the fireplace.
I had the architect include a shelf specifically so I’d have a place to put something to play music not knowing that I’d come into possession of a SONOS Play:3 that’s just perfect for this.
What’s Still Missing
- We’re missing four shelves that will be above and to either side of the main sink — dishes and glasses will go here.
- There’s an entire cabinet over the ‘pass-through’ that is in some indeterminate state of existence at the moment. We think that it’s started, but it’s definitely not finished, and obvious to the casual observer that it’s not installed.
- The tile backsplash isn’t done (my contractors, who had no reason to think that this project would not have been complete long ago, are now on a well-deserved vacation and I hope that they’re not thinking of us at all for the next two weeks).
- More miscellaneous trim, etc. Outlet covers on the wall behind the sink. One of my GFI outlets is shot and needs to be replaced. Floor registers need replacing.
- A few cutting boards, trays, and my cast iron skillet are missing. We have no idea where they are. Gotta be here someplace.
- Figuring out where everything should go is a harder puzzle than I expected.
So — is it done?
Nope.
But it’s done enough for right now.
Woke up this morning (Sunday, a day later than I wanted) and cooked bacon, home fries, and eggs, and we ate sitting at the new table and it was good and that’s all that I ever really wanted out of this.
Early on in this project as we were starting to get the first indications of how frustrated we’d be as we went through this, between the stress of decisions, of ants trying to destroy the house, of underlying construction problems that we had to pay to fix before we could pay for the things that we wanted, of cabinets that were always glimmering on the horizon but for so so long not coming any closer into view, I started to joke to people that if Kath and I made it through this project in one piece that we’d be together forever.
The closer we get to the end of this, I don’t think that it was ever a joke, really.
Home, is where I want to be
But I guess I’m already there
I come home she lifted up her wings
Guess that this must be the place
(Next.)