The 9th inning

Sorry for the weak posting this month. Too bad there isn't even a good excuse. We've had a busy couple of weeks building stairs and visiting IKEA to please the bank. We'll spare the lengthy details, but the bank wants us to have everything complete on our house before we can close out our construction loan. We followed everything on their list, but apparently it wasn't good enough. They are requiring us to have the following items installed: "hardwood" stairs (our soft poplar wood won't suffice), trim and base molding (yes, that's a tedious one), kitchen cabinets (I guess they didn't like the contact paper), and interior doors. Their list has something to do with "marketability", which in our minds is very subjective. What if you don't want kitchen cabinets and would rather shelves? Or what about carpet stairs instead of hardwood? Ho hum.

So we're tackling the list and making good progress. Luckily we had enough oak floor boards leftover to use to build the stairs. Willy and Todd worked hard over the weekend to get the treads and riser boards up. We're also scratching the kitchen cabinets off the list. We are still going to build our own someday but given that we needed something quick, we took measurements and ventured to IKEA. We sat down at one of their computer terminals amongst screaming kids and fumbled our way through designing our kitchen. We're pretty happy with the solution and were able to leave the store with the trucko'saurus loaded up with parts to put together. We're still waiting on the cabinet and drawer faces but it should come together pretty quick. We went with a butcher block countertop and dark gray/birch cabinets. Hopefully we'll be able to show you soon.

Now for some photos:
Here's a shot of the old stairs, or what's left of them. Todd and Willy work on installing boards for the landing.Todd making some fine tuning adjustments with a pipe clamp. Nothing like a couple hundred pounds of pressure to make a stubborn oak board comply!Damn, I need to shave! Just kidding. Those are Willy's legs.And now for the almost finished stairs. We still need molding details and urethane but they're close.While Willy and Todd were busy with the stairs, I kept myself occupied assembling the base cabinets. Oh, IKEA...we love you and all your little pieces! The first frowning illustration represents how I looked as we unloaded the trucko'saurus in a downpour. Rain and heavy cardboard boxes aren't the best of friends. And the second smiling illustration represents how I looked when I realized, after assembling everything, that nothing was permanently damaged.And here's how things are looking so far...door and drawer faces to come.We were finally able to bring the dishwasher up from the basement. I think we bought it 2 years ago.Ahh...pull-out drawers...a thing of beauty and function.Todd and Willy carefully cut out a hole for our undermount sink then routered the edge.Willow got a "mini-me" dog toy from IKEA for being so patient. Too bad it isn't real.


We're off to the Outer Banks on Friday for a week and we're looking forward to some R&R. Willow doesn't know it yet but she's in for a big treat. She loves riding waves and drinking mouthfuls of salt water. Stay tuned for photos.