Cleaning up, moving in, winding down the blog

It's hard to imagine anyone wanting to read a blog about house cleaning, and that's mostly what we've been doing the past three weeks. Construction is clearly in punch-list mode: filling in open seams and missing screws, painting over blotches, putting up shelves. A few big items left to install include a new kitchen sink to serve the finally-plumbed-in coffee machine, and mini-greenroofs on top of the three clerestory skylights.

We discovered beads of polyurethane bubbling up between the cracks of all the 2nd floor boards - undoubtedly due to having chosen the cheaper floor finishing quote. At first D thought they'd just break off and roll into the corners by themselves (don't know why he thought that'd be ok), but when the weather got warm they melted and attracted dirt, making the floor look more like a subway station peppered by chewing gum. So we turned on the AC to harden them up, and I spent several days scraping and vacuuming them away. Also visible in the photo is the completed kitchen/dining cabinet and the extra pots that moved down where the washing machine used to be.

After spending vast amounts of money on construction, D is now decorating with castoffs. Though he paid a bit for a clever desk being thrown away by his high school, he acquired a hi-fi cabinet and a (surprisingly pretty) metal wall hanging for free on the street. Luckily, he has good taste, and the house is so beautiful that it makes everything in it look good.

I think the next and last blog post will have to be about the grand re-opening party. But we haven't scheduled one yet. It may be months before we unpack all the boxes and agree how to organize furniture and art. Meanwhile, everyone should come visit! Both guestrooms are operational (in fact were both in use this week), we're joyfully back to cooking, and sunset (currently about 8 pm) is exquisite.