Today is the day this renovation officially rounded the turn into the home stretch. The countertops were installed.
The day actually began with the bearded member of the construction crew returning to lay the floor tile in the pantry. The stonemasons arrived at noon, exactly in the middle of their two-hour window of arrival. I showed them back to the kitchen, and before I knew it the smaller countertops were in place. It was like magic!
With adhesive still to dry on the pantry floor tile, the next countertop to go in was the sink. Whether they cut the hole for the faucet in the kitchen or back outside, I’ll never know. I did what I could to minimize the impact on the rest of the house, shutting the doors, rehanging the plastic that remained by one of them, and shutting of the central a/c. As it happened, the Bearded One chose that exact time to start replacing the thresholds on those doorways. Of course that required at least one of those doors to be open. With a silica-like odor in the air, I just threw up my hands and retreated to the garden with a new book, Washington’s End: The Final Years and Forgotten Struggle by Jonathan Horn.
The stonemasons installed the sink, too, and after that were finally able to get into the pantry. As mentioned way back, the pantry countertop had to be seamed because it’s a wall-to-wall countertop in a narrow room, and with a long ell down one side. The stonemasons did a superb job; the seam is hardly noticeable! They warned me not to put anything on it for 24 hours while it sets.
The stone, Eternal Noir Suede, looks exactly as I’d hoped it would. Originally I had wanted the black stone only in the pantry and a white granite in the kitchen, but that would have cost a ridiculous amount of money extra. Now, with the black counters in the kitchen, I find I really do add a nice contrast.
With the stonemasons’ departure, the Bearded One remained to continue working on under-cabinet baseboard in the pantry and the kitchen. Throughout all this, it was extremely difficult for me to concentrate on other things.
To give you an idea of what’s to come.
So Saturday I can start filling the pantry, Monday appliances will be installed, and Wednesday the dishwasher delivered. With its installation next Thursday, “principal photography” will be done! Then I can begin “retakes,” which really means hanging curtains, pictures, Fiestaware, etc.; filling cabinets and drawers, and stocking the refrigerator.
