upstairs was


upstairs is


the balance

The upstairs back room has been gutted. The cats are now restricted to the master bedroom during the day, but they've been good little sports about it.

Once our cabinet designer got back from vacation we discovered that the cool split wood/glass door we had planned for a couple cabinets is not available in our door style. We discovered that and about five other things. There's been some agony working with an outdated catalog, but I think we're just about there. Hopefully we'll have the dang cabinets ordered by the end of this week.

The builder told me today that he'd like to keep to his original schedule, which had given us three weeks of free time with the kitchen before demolition set in. But that three weeks was supposed to be right now - the cabinets will take 6-8 weeks to deliver - and if the whole project is to keep to its final completion date he'll have to bust up the kitchen (for the plumbing and all that) nearly two months before it will be put back together again. We were hoping for four weeks without a kitchen sink; now it may be seven. Or so.

The woodwork in the back has been moving along quickly, and that room is starting to look really nice. We signed off on some fixed shelf dimensions only to find that our big books won't fit. This has caused some strain. We're veering from the contract in spots - we'll eat the extra cost of rebuilding two cabinets with adjustable shelves, it's cool - and I think the builder's getting antsy. Heck, I'm getting antsy. I can't get out of the house in the morning without making three detail decisions, two of which will probably get overturned (if not today, then later for more money).

fixed shelves were


adjustable shelves will be

We discovered that the electrician contract had nothing in it about all the rewiring we wanted done upstairs. We spent a lot of time discussing outlet upgrades but somehow they fell out of the final building contract (a ton of stuff in there - we just assumed electrical was in there). More strain. The electricians will come back again next week, but until then I think all of our stuff will be piled in the middle of the bedrooms, away from the walls.

One of the decisions this morning was about the recessed lighing cans for the living room. The missus wasn't so psyched about the big 5-inchers, but I think that's what we need for that large a room. It can now wait until next week.

On a positive note: the back room's coming along nicely.