Ecclesiastes 7:8

Time for another update.  The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy around here, but we have lots to show for it.  Here are some photos documenting the hard work of many folks, to whom we are deeply indebted.  There is no top of the list, but we'll begin with Don & Jana, who came to visit us and brought a load of wood with them.  We had a lot of fun last weekend with them, and they lead the way with their work.  In addition, James and Peter O. were here joining in the festivities.  We never could have gotten it all done in 3 days if we hadn't had all that wonderful - and fun - help.  I did the kitchen plumbing on Thursday, and the electrician came a couple of days and got most all of that work done.  So we feel like we are finally not living in a construction zone (although, granted, it still looks that way out back, and in a few selected spots).  But the carpet is on its way this Thursday, so Friday we'll go over and start moving back selected items of furniture.  What a joy it is to be coming to the end of a great project (see subject line).

 All the floors are hickory.  The floor in this office is 3/4" solid wood with a walnut finish.

It was nailed down by Don & Peter O. and I owe them big time.  It is beautiful

I wanted a wood floor so I could wheel around between my desks.

One can never have too many desks y'know.

 The Hallway.  AKA the Christmas Day line up place.   New AKA = Grandpa's Bowling Alley.

This is a 5" plank hickory with a natural finish.  Unlike the office, this is an engineered floor.

That means that it is stapled down in the tongue & groove, but only with 18 gauge staples, not nails.

James and I put this down, and it went pretty smoothly actually - we only miscut one board, and I did that before James came on Monday, so you can see how essential he was to the successful execution of the project.  Although smaller in area, this took quite a while to complete as there was more prep work involved, and a lot more cutting.  And the cutting had to be precision, as opposed to the other floor we worked on (see below).

 One view of the dining room.  In the foreground is the 5" plank that is in the entry way.

Don came up with the ingenious idea of putting a border of darker boards around the entry way to set it off and to allow for an interface with the 3" strip flooring in the dining room.

 Another shot of the entry way, showing the interface with the hallway and the dining room.

I really love the contrast between the two styles, and especially the variation in color hues in the entry way.  The boards were hand picked by the only two on the job with any taste:

mom & Jana.

 Looking back at the front door from the dining room so that you can see the entire entry way.

Don came up with this idea and installed it with help from Peter O., Jana and mom.  But Don did most of the work, which involved a whole bunch of high accuracy cutting.  He is incredible.

Carpet will be installed this Thursday - 

we cannot wait to get some of our furniture back from the storage place.

 The SE corner of the kitchen, where we expanded into where the old passage way was.

The cooktop is new, and is gas.  You can see on the right the same double ovens we had before, but in a brand new home.  Also note the cannister lighting, the island, and the beautiful wood floor.

 Here is a good shot of the flooring in the kitchen.  This is the north wall, with the same refrigerator and dishwasher as we had before.  But the dishwasher is now on the other side of the sink, and the fridge is in the corner next to where it used to be, with the back to the north wall.

And right there in the middle of the photo is my pride and joy - the sink.

 Last Thursday I spent all day under the sink and various other places on this wall as I installed all of the plumbing.  All my years of fighting the plumbing in this house paid off.  I put in new everything, valves, drain pipes, etc., plus hooked up the dishwasher and the ice maker, and installed a new garbage disposal, and of course our way-cool faucet.  The hardest part was having to carefully rework the threading on the outfall pipe going into the wall so that I could hook up the new piping.  The sink came free with the counter tops, so they installed it.  It is really deep, which I love, and it is mounted under the counter so you just wipe stuff off of the counter right into the sink - no little lip in the way.

I amazed even myself by how few trips to the hardware store this part of the project took.

In this photo you can see that we put the same flooring in the family room, kitchen, and into the dining room.  It is engineered flooring that went down really easy and nicely - once James & I figured out some secrets.  It was pretty frustrating at first.  It is a "floating floor" that is neither glued down nor nailed/stapled.  It just snaps together.  Quite amazing acutally.  I would install another one of these in a heartbeat, now that I know some of the secrets.  James was the brains of this part of the job, reminding me of measurements and making sure that I didn't cut off the wrong end of the board. 

You may also notice in this photo the missing microwave.  Since we have a functioning microwave, the installation of the new one continues to be a low priority.  But when installed it will have an exhaust fan shooting up to existing ductwork and out the roof.  Installation will be a bit more tricky due to the need to drill some holes in the cabinetry - which my experience with the hose for the ice maker in the fridge tells me is going to require some skill and patience.  I also have to get some parts to connect the exhaust fan to the existing ductwork.

Our "cavernous chicken", which we love!

(No, the old stools are not staying, that one somehow wandered back in.  They are on the way out.)