We're In! Kitchen Completed

It's true. Finally, after over a year, we have finally moved in and not surprisingly, a week after actually moving in, we are still unpacking boxes and getting organized, but we have moved in to our new home.

We rented a U-Haul truck and made a couple of trips, back and forth, between my Mom's place and our new place and got the bulk of our big items moved in one day. Some dings to the walls and floors will need to be patched up, but there were no major casualties on this moving day.

The room that I've had most involvement in getting to a full functional level would most definitely be the kitchen.

Here are some shots of it - notice there are no window coverings or stools at the island, but all the appliances work and we've had a few meals there already. Looking forward to hauling all my cookbooks out of storage and cracking them open to find some gastronomical inspiration.

Guess What?

We're almost ready to move in.

With the exception of some shoe mould, installation of a few closet shelves and closet hardware (rods and latches) the house is almost move-in ready.

Oh sure, there are tons of things we still need/would like to do. The front vestibule is a disaster (and that's not an exaggeration). But I'm really trying to ignore the fact that there's a huge hole in the ceiling and exposed studs above the ugly wood panelling.

We completed the hardwood floors last Saturday. It was a long day 8am - 9:30pm, but we had lots of help (Silvia, Fred and Drew) and were generously fed (by Silvia, Fred and Drew) so we came out the other end exhausted but happy!

The main floor looks great. Here are some pictures to give you an idea of how it looks sans furniture. Notice that some pictures are taken during the daytime - and the finished ones are taken when it's dark outside......did I mention that it was a long day?

Flooring 1-2-3

Well, let's just say that we hope that it will actually be flooring 1-2. We started to lay down the pre-finished birch hardwood flooring last weekend - during our 4-day house blitz and got about 1/4 completed. As most how-to books and magazines will tell you, the first line of planks take about 75% of the entire time you'll take laying the whole floor. With our out-of-plumb and crooked floors and walls, this was not an easy task - probably never is - but in our 130+ year old house - these variances are extreme.

It was nice to open the boxes (after moving them around the living room from various locations to make room for trim installation, painting etc. several times) and finally see the wood that would soon rest under our feet in the hall, living room and dining room. We bought the wood sometime in the late spring at Woodchuck Flooring - a place we found through the Holmes on Homes Web site. Anyway, they were helpful and we also purchased our cork floor from them - just the materials - Jamie installed it himself with some help from our friend Rick.

Some pics of the floors (jubliant Jamie exhalting over his newly installed cork floor in what would become the kitchen and birch in the hallway) and our buddy Rick during the demo (he's much better looking clean).

Looking forward to finishing the flooring this weekend (fingers crossed that it will indeed be the last time we'll need to rent a flooring nailer.)