more progress

I couldn't type more than a few lines for a few days. 1) because we were verra busy and 2) because the tendons and muscles in my wrists and forearmes were painfully swollen. Apparently doing about 300 square feet of grout will do that to you. I gave up the "hands and knees" approach when I realized I was simply putting too much weight on my support arm. After that point, I started doing wider rows of two tiles and skootched along on my butt.

I had pain in placed I didn't know I had things to hurt. My hands were so bad on Saturday that I was relieved of hammering detail while doing the trim work. The vibrations from the impact were too much. This is quite scary to someone who intends to make a living off their hands. But they're better now and I don't think I'll be encountering anything quite so drastic for a bit. Doug did an amazing job laying the tile out, I think my groutwork is pretty good, too. Today I'm going to clean the haze up off the tile, however we can't seal for three days, and there will be workmen here somewhere in that mess, so I think we'll put off sealing until the cabinets are in.

Oh yeah, and the cabinets are coming this week!!! Devin is nearly done the pantry drywall, in fact it may just need one more sanding, which I can do. We have the bifold door up. Anyone who hear's me pick out an unfinished louvered door and say that I'll paint it or stain it myself has a right to kick me in the head. I finished a ceiling in the time it took to paint that door.

Oh, and the siding guys are here, too. How exciting is that? They'll put on the pretty new siding, shutters, trim, wrap the window out, soffits and fascia this week. Yes, there will be pictures soon.

I can't wait for this kitchen to get done. If anyone needs to drool, here are the specs:

• 27 square foot rectangular pantry with 8 foot to 8 3/4 foot ceiling
• the body of the kitchen is roughly 250 square feet - 19' x 13'
• 5 burner Dacor gas range with a simmer and a sear burner as well as griddle and grill attachments
• no double oven, have a gas oven and built in convection microwave above it
• granite composite countertops
• really purty Itallian tile, rustic looking, sturdy. I dropped a hammer headfirst on it and it didn't even chip
• lots of custom cabinets
• a big ol' island
• AND Doug is letting me put up a Moravian Star light fixture in the entryway!

There's a good bit more detail, but it would make more sense for me to share photos when it's done. I can't believe how much the room has changed. Even though we are outsourcing a lot, knowing that Doug and myself and some friends and family that are very generous with their time and energy have pitched in to do a lot of the work really makes it so much more wonderful.

Well, off to paint and clean some more.