Stuff got done, but a minor screwup

We're really getting into the nitty gritty now, the odds and ends stuff that doesn't seem like it should take that long, but inevitably will.  I'm sure this also means that equal parts frustration and weariness will be the result.  I mean, you're making progress, but it's on such miniscule stuff that it doesn't seem like you're going anywhere.  Well, that's where we are.  Of course, by "we" I mean the actual people that are putting hammer to nail while I'm reading the latest Kim Kardashian article at "work".

It stinks even more when you take a slight step to the side (but not backward!) when something doesn't go exactly as planned.  That's kinda-sorta what today was.  The whole house got a little softening up today with the installation of roughly 15 square feet of carpet in the master bedroom.  It's a little weird to see something not gray or white, but I think it looks good despite that OBVIOUS flaw.

Figure 1.  My value added is in the literary (not visual) arts

It's not easy to get a picture of flooring in a room that's roughly 8' x 2.5'.  You can also notice the fiery light of death that was introduced in a previous post.  It hasn't killed anyone or burned down the house yet, but I know that sonuvabitch is plotting, scheming, just waiting for the right moment.  Also featured in the photograph is one of the thresholds that the boys installed.

Out in the living area the new stone hearth got poured.  Concrete counts as a stone, right?  I mean, it's certainly not a wood, not carpet, not shingle, thus... stone!  It's still drying, curing, whatever, I'm no civil engineer so I can't really describe the process very well, but it's not ready for tile or finishing.  It's still drying.  We're still trying to decide if we should tile it (if so, with what...  MORE GRAY/WHITE/BLACK!), just polish the concrete (GRAY!), or something else entirely.  Either way, that's looking a bit down the road, because it still looks like this now.

Figure 2.  Yup, concrete, ppppuuuuurrreee excitement

Sometime around that (I'd be misleading you to say "after" since I don't really know the sequence of events, I just know I'm not a liar), the guys were also doing a little mudding, trim work type stuff in the kitchen, closing up seams and generally avoiding doing electrical work.  ...and I certainly can't blame them for that.  Ikea did deliver the 8' panel to back the cabinets as they face the dining room.  The guys have cut that and need to come up with some trim work to accommodate for a sloping wall.  As it stands, they cut it allowing (unintentionally, of course) a roughly 1/8-1/4" gap at the top of the panel as it abuts the wall.  That makes it square on the bottom and flush with the edge that faces the walkway into the kitchen.  To mitigate this, I think the plan is to put in a small piece of trim running vertically in that corner (the left side in the picture below) that will run from floor moulding up to countertop and paint it brown to match.  Not ideal, but I think it's the best way to fix the screwup short of ordering another 8' piece of hoo-ha from Ikea that'll take 3 more weeks to deliver.

Figure 3.  Kitchen progress

You'll also certainly notice how close the cabinets are to the edge of the tile-to-wood abutment.  We'd hoped (ok, planned) to have the cabinets finish neatly on this edge and we may have to do some finagling with toe kickish trim to make it all work and hide that.  Bosslady (Hi Wife!) will be back tomorrow to make that call.

Until then though, tomorrow's progress will likely stay around trim work, painting, door installation, electrical, plumbing, bathroom countertop installation...  Ok, yeah, tomorrow looks like a good day to play some catch-up.  Until then, then!