Progress Party

I came home over lunch yesterday to check on progress, and couldn't believe the activity. In addition to the contractor, there was our wrecking crew (now acting as trim carpenters), the plumber and the electrician all working hard. It was a progress party! So the changes from the day are widespread and oh-so-satisfying.

First thing - see those glowy things at the top of this photo? That's right - we have lights in the kitchen for the first time in over two months!

Don't worry, these lights are just temporary. The real lights - surface mount schoolhouse fixtures - will be installed after everything is painted. But these are great in the meantime, so we can actually see our new room!

Moving along, we also have running water in the kitchen now. This was originally slated to happen last Friday, but our farmhouse sink required a special fixture to connect our garbage disposal, so we had to wait a bit longer. It's so nice to have it up and running, and washing my first load of dishes in the sink was wonderful - it's such a nice deep basin.

Garbage disposal! Our last one hadn't worked for about a year, so this is a pretty novel improvement for us.

We also have lots of nice, new oak trim installed. The trim guys have been working hard all this week, and expect to have everything wrapped up by the end of today. It really gives the room its shape and will be a great frame once it's all stained nice and dark, to match our home's original woodwork.

They used two of our original doors on the main floor - an old close door in the office became a closet door in the kitchen, and an old door adjoining the office to the kitchen is now our half bath door. They cut oak to fill in the opening from the old mortise, and used nice new, oversized hardware to cover old hardware holes.

Our dishwasher is installed - it was also waiting on the sink drain connector. And see the blue tape to the left, at the corner of the sink? The trim guys cut little wedges to fill gaps around the curve of the farmhouse sink. All they need is a little stain to feel right at home.

And the stove is next in line for appliance installation. The plumber ran the gas line today for the cooktop, and the electrician got the outlet all set up, so the wrecking crew guys should have it in place today.

Speaking of the electrician, he went to town with outlets everywhere. The ones in the kitchen and bathroom tile will have matching white ceramic switchplates to tie them in, and the rest will have bronze switchplates, which we have throughout our house.

So that's it for now. The trim guys should have everything wrapped up today, and then the hardwood guys come back tomorrow to put a final coat of polyurethane on the floors. Painting begins next week, and should be the beginning of the end for this project.