Day 38, and man, am I tired! The house was a hustlin’ and a bustlin’ today, with various Teams staying here as late as 7pm. We had Team Carpentry working the cabinet install (wall oven unit and fridge/pantry area), Team Tile working the shower, floors and thresholds (they worked like fiends today!), and Team Brad working some more electrical install (beginnings of wall ovens and an errant outlet that needed to be done before I covered it with a pile of boxes). So much was happening, and while I had to sneak out to run a few errands, I definitely sensed that change was afoot.

Some changes occurred as a result of the pantry/fridge/wall oven cabinet install. The upper cabinets had been installed at 21″ (above the counter) instead of 18″ to try to fake that they had been ordered so that they would appear built-in for the 8′ 6″ ceilings (instead of the 8′ ones we had anticipated). But, once we got the oven and refrigerator area sorted out, we realized that the discrepancy between the heights of those cabinets (again, designed to align with the uppers all the way around the room) and the other uppers at the higher placement was too great to ignore. So, down came the uppers. We (and by “we” I mean Team Carpentry) moved them to the original height of 18″ above counter height, which looked much better with the other large cabinets. Lucky for us, the wiring was done in such a way that the change doesn’t effect the under-cabinet electrical. Nice save, Brad.

And, speaking of nice saves, remember that shower drain replacement that Caleb insisted would be an easy thing to find, and would save us from having to look at a black line in our shower floor for life? Turns out it’s not so easy to find. I looked at three places today, and none of them had anything but PVC drains. Ugh. If we can’t find one online, I think we’ll have to force Caleb to find us one from his supplier. Who knew it would be such an ordeal?

And, speaking of ordeals: we moved out of the living room today. No more sofa, no more make-shift kitchen in the living room (it’s worse, now it’s on our screen porch), no more feeling like we live anywhere but our two little rooms upstairs. I’m glad we’re going to have the floors done, and I know that this small amount of time that we’ll spend inconvenienced will be worth it. But, wow. Strange to move so much stuff to so many places so many times, and yet not move out. The rest of the house is starting to empty out as appliances and fixtures find their way to new homes, and the tools of the trade(s) find their way to new storage locations. The shift is big, the stress is increasing, and we’re still nowhere near the end. It’s probably a good thing that we’re going on vacation next week. I think we’re going to need it.

Some pictures to illustrate the madness, the gladness, and the giddiness of today. Enjoy!