On Bastille Day, the floor trim was stained, and the francophiles ate pastries.

Toe kicks were stained to match the floor or the cabinets.

Nose to the glass.

Today the painting was completed, and the drapes and plastic were taken off of our furniture and other belongings. A word to the wise thinking about a future remodel: remove everything from the area if at all possible. Even though the furniture was draped and given a cursory vacuuming today, it still needs a very thorough cleaning. We will also be running every piece of dishware we own through our new dishwasher before we can use it – even kept in the adjacent room with a plastic sheet on the door, it is all covered in drywall dust.

Painted.

Electricians were here in the afternoon and installed some of the switches. I can’t figure out where the garbage disposal switch is going. I think they forgot it, or either they thought I WANTED to keep it underneath my sink where the old one was. All of this involved rearranging my laundry room to run wires to the breaker box, covered by a giant plastic case.

Switches and outlets in the peninsula. A rocker switch would have to be special ordered. All the others are like this, so why not?

I also learned that the pendant lights are on backorder until mid-August. I can choose to keep those or keep shopping. Technically, I think this means we’re running more than a month behind schedule.

Trim was dropped off yesterday, and the schedule delay was confirmed. Granite is scheduled to be installed Monday, and final plumbing next Wednesday. The trim was installed today.

Floor trim.

The hood vent outlet was installed on the side of the house.

That delicious smell, it's coming from here.

Isaiah, the cabinet installer, knocked on our door unannounced on Saturday and asked if we’d mind if he worked. He installed the cabinet kick plates, second step of the crowns, and brackets for the bar.

Kick plates. The sink should have a big bow on it, as it is officially my birthday gift. Oven cabinetry frame is in, too.

Beautiful crowns. It's the light that changes the way the stain looks.

Brackets to hold up the granite bar.

Jason stopped by on Monday mid-morning to assess the progress. We are waiting on the granite (taking longer than expected) and the replacement cabinets, but he said there were lots of details that could be worked on in the meantime, including some serious clean-up of the complete wreck that my house is in (which was supposed to happen today, but didn’t). This week I can expect more painting, electrical, floor molding, and floor kicks.

I could have taken photos of the mess, but I did this instead:

Afternoon at the Frog Pond Park.

Lovely birthday dinner at The Palisades restaurant in Eggleston, VA.

New River train (Norfork Western by the New) in Giles County, VA.

Slow progress the last 2 days. The water heater leak was repaired first thing yesterday morning. It took about an hour, and involved draining the hot water tank again. Hot water is a luxury around here these days.

Now there's an o-ring.

And that was it for Thursday. The painter arrived early this morning to sheetrock the bar. He and his assistant were back in the afternoon to paint the bar and touch up some other areas.

Shaker Beige on the bar.

We decided to order a couple of reclaimed oak barrel bar stools for our bar-sitting enjoyment.

Barrel stave bar stools.

We discovered the valve on our water heater in the late evening yesterday, because it had not been turned on. So in spite of the heater being replaced, we were for all practical purposes without hot water, but at least we had running water. The crew arrived early to drain and move it out again for a repeat attempt at hardwood installment.

Success!

The floor brings great joy.

As soon as it was down, it was covered up again.

The bar was wired for outlets and switches, so that we can see and operate electrical appliances while we’re drinking.

Wiring in the bar.

Drywall installed on the bar.

The last thing I was left with was news of a leak in the water heater pipes, which will require a new pipe and fittings.

Drip.

Bucket.

We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary at the Grove Park Inn in Ashville, NC at the end of last week. The morning we left, the template was made for the granite, and counter decisions were finalized: 1/4 bullnose edges, 4″ curve on the bar, quarter-round corners everywhere else.

We had a west-facing room in the historic part of the Grove Park Inn.

The view.

Award-winning wine list and delicious food at Horizons restaurant.

We stopped at Dehart Tile in Christiansburg on the way out of town to further address our backsplash conundrum, and we found a natural stone we liked at a slightly lower price.

Dehart Tile display.

On a whim, we decided to check the big box stores when we returned, just to see if they had anything remotely close. We found exactly what we were looking for at about 60% of the price. Winning!

Tumbled marble at Home Depot. You make the display yourself.

How could we resist this salesperson?

The hardwood was relaxing in the garage when we got back, and we found a piece of broken cabinetry on the sink, which I’ve been told not to worry about.

Brazilian Koa delivered.

Chipped sink cabinet.

The crew showed up bright and early today to prep the floor for hardwood. We had been planning to just piece the hardwood around the hot water heater in the closet/pantry, but Jason convinced me that it would look much better and cost about the same to take the water heater out and install the wood across the pantry. After checking that I was done with hot water for the day, they drained the tank and moved it out. Julia and I left to go shopping.

Subflooring for hardwood.

Subflooring in hot water closet.

We came back at lunch time to meet Meredith and the cabinet rep. The hood stain variation has mysteriously fixed itself in the last week, but he came to check it out, and they both reassured me about the sink cabinet. It was during this hour or so at home that I turned on the upstairs sink faucet to wash my hands after changing one baby’s diaper. Habit. I didn’t think anything of it when the sink sputtered other than “right, no water.” Until I saw the large puddle in the closet where the water heater used to be. Pipe vacuum was released, gravity did its thing.

This ruined the subflooring in the closet and the plans to install the hardwood this afternoon. There is currently a very loud dehumidifier and hot lamp active in the vicinity. Since the pipes were not capped, we won’t be charged twice for the labor to move the water heater twice (they kindly put it back so we would have hot water overnight), but I get the feeling that it does add to the overall cost of the project. It certainly adds to our water bill, especially considering the bath sink faucets were left wide open by the crew, which I luckily found not too long after the re-installation.

Well-traveled water heater.

The granite is scheduled to be installed on 18 July. This is the original end date of the project; so we’d like very much for that to be changed to a rush order.

Our wallets are stretched thin, but our waistlines are not.