You might remember my talking about the delivery of all the appliances from Abt back… how many months ago? Heck, I think about it been late last year, in fact.
There was nowhere else in the house to put any of it, although the dishwasher had to be brought inside, lest any water that it had been tested with in the factory freeze in the pipes over the course of the winter.
Well, over the course of the past week, the construction team has been clearing all of this out of the garage, as the whole process begins to wind down. While they’ve fallen a week or two behind the original schedule, Tim has tried to speed things up to make sure this all gets taken care of by the end of the week. Although it’s not entirely out of altruism, as he and his family had already made plans to take a week’s vacation starting with the Independence Day holiday. Not that I blame him in the slightest; he and his men have worked hard, and are more than entitled to the breaks they’ve arranged for themselves.
Long story short, pretty much everything except for the interior cleanup is supposed to be done by today. Oh, and the final inspection, which will be the week after next. So as a result, the garage has finally been cleaned out of all those boxes.
Of course, that’s not to say the place is clear, by any stretch of the imagination. The team still has their tools in here, and the old washer and dryer are still waiting to be picked up and donated to the family in need. But the place isn’t stocked to the rafters with stuff, like it used to be. You can walk out through the garage without having to compress yourself to squeeze past the piles of garage-sale material and whatever else used to fill the place.
So, with that in mind, I figure I might as well take you on a quick tour of the house thus far, and you can see what’s been done with all the stuff that the construction team has managed to uncrate and install. Let’s start with the kitchen…
So, this is the view overlooking the street, complete with dishwasher, range and microwave. I should mention that the oven has a convection function in the top, and an air fryer on the bottom. All I need to do now is to figure out how all of this works going forward.
And, just for a refresher, this is what the original plan drew it out to be. Granted, this was before the appliances were settled on, so the reality actually looks more modern and polished than the proposal (although I think I would have preferred the deeper bowl for the sink than I wound up with)
On the other side of the kitchen, we’ve got a sleek new refrigerator that no longer requires me to keep filling ice cubes trays going forward (yes, I know it’s standard for most fridges these days, but it’s not like we’ve had one like that before). I think I mentioned the snowflake pattern of the backsplash when I first picked it out – it really looks pretty when it’s all laid out like this, but I suppose I’m always going to be a little melancholy when I think about why I chose it.
And the reality is actually a lot more well-lit and open than the draft mockups, especially since I decided to dispense with the pocket doors entirely (not like we ever bothered to use them, or even tried to see if we could). Of course, the floor is still covered up to protect it from the guys walking around, dropping tools here and there, so the full effect isn’t quite complete yet, but it’s well on its way. And at this point, everything is plugged in and fully functional. I’m thinking of using the oven (for the first time in seven years or so!) to make dinner tonight.
And then, there’s the new washer and dryer. I don’t have any drafts to compare the laundry room to, but these are clearly a change from what used to be.
It’s actually a bit intimidating, to be honest. The washer and dryer, in particular (but the oven and the microwave have a lot, too) are covered in electronic options to control them. I’m just trying to fix a meal or wash my clothes; I really didn’t expect to have to be flying the starship Enterprise in order to do it. And while you might have gotten a kick out of an arrangement of appliances done up so as to look like you’re flying the TARDIS, that would have been that much more impractical, since that would require everything to be arranged in the middle of the kitchen – and given that the back sides of these things are less than aesthetically pleasing, it wouldn’t have been a good idea.
Still, this seems to be what the end game looks like, and I know I’ve said it so many times before, but I wish you could be here to see what’s been done. I’d like to think you be enthusiastic about the results.
But for now, just keep an eye on us, and I’ll check in with you later. Love you.
Letters to Rachel 