Silk Purse: Getting There!

Look at this crowd! That's two plumbers (Phil and Bill) and two electricians (Phil and David). Just missing the photograph was the carpenter Tom who snuck out. The painters (Keith and Clay) came later the same day. So it seems to be either feast or famine?! I relay messages, offer coffee, clean up, stay out of the way, clean up, write the cheques, and do more clean up.... and try to weave in between!

The electrician hung the new pendant lights above the centre island.....

The plumbers were tackling the installation of the dishwasher and new sink and faucet. Once the dish washer was in place, Bill went onto other jobs. Phil got all his gear set up for the work ahead. Notice the new countertops, with large hole for the sink!

Here's my Cosco deal sink! The plumber Phil said that it was $75 under what he could get it for! It's the same size as my last one but much deeper and has racks or grids that fit the bottom to prevent scratching the steel. Nice but not realistic given the work that goes on in there! I'll try them out though...

Meet Phil... I always ask before taking pictures and so far, no one has said no. They don't always look comfortable but they strike a pose. That and I haven't paid their invoices yet :)

Here's the new faucet which we put a lot of thought into before buying. The high spout means out of the way of plates and such, swivels for either sink, the on/off is easy to reach with wet hands and it has a pull out sprayer which you can adjust to increase flow or reduce according to need. There's a nifty soap dispenser too. Best of all, it also doesn't wobble like my old one or leak!

So what do you do to celebrate a new dishwasher, sink and faucet? You hand wash dishes! This is my first load through the sink after two to three weeks of doing them in either the bathroom sink or laundry room tub. The dishwasher is not secured to the cabinet it sits in and when I slid out a rack, it tipped forward! I will have to wait a bit longer....but that's okay. The new sink is pure luxury now compared to my alternatives (bathroom sink or laundry tub!)

Here's the new LG dishwasher which plays a cute tune when turned on and when the load is done. The start of endlessly cleaning the stainless door begins sooner than it did cleaning my dishes I see... *sigh*....

So while we aren't finished yet, lets do some comparison pictures and see how things are looking!

Before...

... and after.

Before...

....during.....

... and after...

We still have drawer fronts to come, crown molding and the island wood wrap is being decided. Also the tile work and window and baseboard trim must be done.

We took advantage of our empty linen cupboard to paint it white and freshen it up. The attic access is in there so we had to unload it anyhow. We had the electrican install a new light in there... huge improvement! I spent today reorganising the linens and reloading the cupboard. The piles of stuff squirreled away are starting to diminish. The stairwell painting should be completed soon (one wall has proved to be a challenge and story on that to come) and then we're onto the other projects on the list: new patio doors, paneling in the stairwell, and paint the living room... closely followed by restore the laundry room, but this is being handled by insurance and their work teams. I think we might even survive this after all! (touch wood!)

More to come... of course...