Kitchen continues even though it's Saturday

The drywall workers turned up at 8:15am to continue skimming the kitchen walls. Bit of a surprise when they started rattling on the front door, as no one had warned me they were coming.





Photos:
one of the drywall workers on his stilts to do the upper walls;
the pool coping installed;
the garage full of kitchen cabinets;
and the humorous labelling of the cabinets by the makers.

Cabinets going in

Plenty of activity around the Cardboard Box again today. The main event was the first part of the installation of the kitchen cabinets. Looking good. I'm really pleased with the color of the alder we chose. It's a nice warm honey-ish color.

Friends came over for a visit today bearing my lunch. We did the grand tour of the works. There were men under the floor of the bedroom addition, including a couple I hadn't seen before. I wonder if they'd tunnelled there from somewhere else?

Random Photos

Here's a bunch of photos reflecting yesterday's and today's activity around the house. Spot the guys on the roof installing skylights. Also the night shot of CAT with new window, and this morning's trenches.

Activity Explosion

The rain finally stopped yesterday morning and we suddenly saw an explosion of activity in and around the Cardboard Box.

First, the windows that have been patiently sitting in the garage have been installed. We are now fully fenestrated, both in walls and roof.

Second, the kitchen demolition was completed. Floor totally gone. The central island wall has been moved about two inches to give more space between the refrigerator wall and the center island (so that Hubby and I will need to engage in less physical contact whilst cooking and cleaning up).

Third, the dry wallers (that's plasterers to the Brits out there) have appeared in the kitchen to repair the walls. They have incredibly funky stilts for plastering the upper parts of the wall, like prosthetic lower legs. Fabulous, I am sure the kids would like some.

Fourth, the kitchen cabinets have arrived and are in the garage awaiting installation.

Fifth, the landscapers are trenching in the front yard with great vigor. They are laying drainage pipes.

Sixth, the pool people are out back putting the new Connecticut blue stone coping around the edge of the pool. Mike the Pool explained that this will be the last thing they do until the rest of the hardscaping is in. They'll be back to plaster the pool, fill it, brush it and install the cover later in the process.

I'm sure I've forgotten something, but that seems like a fair bit to me.

Under the Arch

I had to get into the house today by walking under the arm of the digger in the front garden. It's digging trenches for drainage pipes to be laid. At the end of the day, the digger guy said he'd put plywood over the open holes - "But don't worry if it shifts, the holes are only about two feet deep."

The Kitchen: During Demolition

(Having to post these photos in a separate entry because of limitations on the size of pictures allowed.)

The Kitchen: Before

Lots of activity in the kitchen, crashing noises, sounds of breaking ceramics, sledgehammers going, drilling... We can't see it while it's in progress because the guys have closed off the door between the kitchen and the dining room with plywood. We took a quick look last night at what had happened on day one. Here are some memorial photos of the kitchen taken on Sunday evening, after we had emptied it.