Update and projects for the long weekend.

I meant to post more frequently, but I've been spending most of my time vacuuming dust. It hasn't really helped make it more comfortable, but we're almost past all of the dust.

You can see the kitchen in this picture. The electrician is finished with the kitchen. Since I last wrote, he has put 6 can lights in the kitchen (you can see two in the upper right of the picture). Above the island, he ripped out the big florescent light and put in 3 boxes for the pendant lights that will be going in. We wanted to wait until everything else was done because we don't want the lights to break. Oh, you can see that the island counter top is also gone. I was just at the fabricator and we were going over the templates for the granite slabs we had picked out. He's probably going to cut those Monday, and will be out on Tuesday to install them. We have some work to do this weekend to empty out the drawers and cabinets. The backsplash might go up on Wednesday, and grouted Thursday. Appliances should go in Friday. Hopefully, by this time next weekend, the kitchen (minus the floors) will basically be done.

This is the fireplace. The drywall is up and all taped. When I was at the fabricator's, we were going over how the slabs we picked out will be able to work for the face of the fireplace, the hearth, and the box for the fireplace wood. Apparently, we were supposed to pick out 3/4" slabs, but picked out 1 1/4" ones. They are a bit smaller than the 3/4" slabs so we have to stretch it a bit more than we expected. Anyway, the electrician is done with this part too. He put two low-voltage cans above the fireplace for some art that we have. It was impressive that he was able to run the switch for the cans over toward the laundry room. The hearth should be coming in Tuesday, which will let me start the floors in that room. I asked him to undercut the hearth a bit so the wood can be installed under it. It'll make it look good without requiring molding or quarter round. I'm hoping to start that project next weekend.

Here's a look at the butler's pantry. You can see that the drywall is up and all taped. That helped add to the dust problem. The electrician also made sure we have outlets and electrical for the upper cabinets (which are supposed to have lights in them) and beverage fridges. He also put a can in the little hallway there. We have ordered the cabinets, and plan to use some leftover stone from the fireplace for the counter top. This part of the project is about 3 weeks from being finished because we have to wait about 2 weeks for the cabinets to get finished.

Last weekend, I ripped out old floors in the back hallway, office, and two closets. I figured out that I bought a very weak circular saw. I used the one the contractor left behind, and was able to finish much faster. I returned my saw and drill a few days ago and bought a new saw with a cord this time. I should be able to rip out the last of the floors this weekend.