Floors, Counters, and Cabinets

Wow! A lot has happened this past week. Bamboo flooring, carpet, kitchen countertops, the rest of the kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets, some sinks, faucets, toilets, hot water heater, and more. It's been a busy week. All of a sudden, the house seems completely done on the inside. Well, maybe not completely done, but the end is clearly in sight.

Two major changes since my last post are the flooring and kitchen, both of which are finally complete.  What a change this makes.  Walking into the house now, the "construction look" that has become so familiar is essentially gone; it finally looks like a new house that is ready to move into...almost.  Unfortunately, because there is still work to be done inside the house, all of the new floors and most of the kitchen counters have been covered up to protect them from dirt and scratches while the trim work is finished.  Thus, the excitement of that "new house" look was a bit short lived.  I must say, however, that having worked on the kitchen design nearly nine months ago, it's really nice to finally see it complete.

Relaxing in the Kitchen (Click image for more photos.)

On the staining front, we have finally finished with the trim and all 20 interior doors.  The final large staining project is the staircase.  Lots of posts, rails, and ballisters.  But even this is basically finished at this point.  We're hoping that once the stair railing and the remaining toilets are installed we can get an occupancy permit.  We probably won't move in immediately, but it turns out the solar panel can't be installed until we have an occupancy permit.  This has been a frustrating delay because the summer sun has been shining beautifully for months now and we're missing out on a ton of electricity production.   Apparently the PA State Sunshine Program -- which is providing a significant rebate -- has some complicated hoops to jump through.  I still don't really understand this and have been complaining to the installer, but clearly there's nothing I can do about it at this point.  Sigh...

Door Staining is Done! (Click image for more photos.)

One final item to note is that they've done the final grading on the front yard and planted grass. Now it looks a bit more presentable on the outside. Hopefully, the grass will actually grow in the next few weeks. We're hoping for an Aug. 14 move-in date (our daughter Kyra's birthday).  We know that the house won't be completely finished by then (I'm not sure it will ever be completely finished), but from a construction perspective, there should only be a few minor items left at that point.  Wow, the end really is in sight!