That Sinking Feeling or What's Cooking?

   What a week! Things are starting to move ahead at a breakneck speed.

   I began the week by cutting out the slate for the crown and keystone which will go on the fireplace. The slate is really just a very soft sedimentary rock..barely rock in fact. It was very easy to cut. I had my pattern pieces all mapped out, and just marked them on the back with a Sharpie pen like I do stained glass and cut them. They fit well on the flat. We'll see what happens when I put them on the fireplace. I hope for the best.

   Ed installed the trim piece for the upstairs family room window. Yes, it's a little corny but I'm not exactly what one would call "sophisticated". Now that all the window and door trim is done in the upstairs, I need to give it a light sand and another coat of urethane.

  I also drove into Oregon and picked out slabs of granite. The granite fabricator needs a 4-6 week lead time, so I needed to get this show on the road.
   This is a big ticket item and I was nervous about making the wrong choice. When I went into the slab warehouse, I was overwhelmed by the choices. They are all so beautiful. Carrie at Elemar gave me a pad of paper and pencil and helped me organize a list, then turned me loose to wander the warehouse. As I walked around I wrote down the dark colors that appealed to me, and in another column, the light colors.

    In cruising the internet I already had some ideas. Some stone, like the Hurricane was much more of a pumpkin color than I had expected. It is beautiful, but I crossed it off the list. Others, like Alaska White were more bland than I had thought. I also brought my paint, floor and travertine samples. This was an enormous help.
   Finally I narrowed it down to three. Golden Night will be for the kitchen perimeter and kitchen desk.

 
 I chose Matrix Motion for the kitchen island. The grain and movement is very similar to Golden Night, and the colors are the same, but in reverse. I'll also use this for our bathroom vanity to compliment the silver travertine.

   The other bathrooms have walnut travertine on the floors and in the showers. This was where taking flooring and paint samples was really helpful. The granite I expected to use here was too much like the travertine. Others were too orange. The Juperana Persa was just right.
   Cut-offs from these pieces will be used to make the fireplace hearth seats.

 
 Ed has been working to get the cabinets in. He's had some help via his pastor, Ryan Frank. Tuesday they started with the upstairs vanities, then moved to the library.

 
 I can't help but grin every time I see these shelves. I have boxes and boxes of books in the barn just waiting to be put up. Do I use the Dewey Decimal System? Do I arrange them by subject matter? I'll probably re-arrange them several times. Too bad I gave away all those cookbooks. There is plenty of room for them now!

   Ryan was back on Thursday. The upper cabinets in the craft room went up, and then they started on the kitchen. By Thursday evening, the kitchen upper cabinets were installed, and my stove (Sr. Bridget) was ready for hook up.
     Friday Ed connected the stove to the gas line fitting, slipped the vent into place, and slid Sr. Bridget into her new and final home. She looks pretty good for 90 years old. I put on all the handles and knobs I found five years ago, and she's ready to cook up a storm. I can hardly wait.

 
   Yesterday afternoon Ed and I had the lower kitchen cabinets in place. We positioned the peninsula
, put the back on, and placed the supports for the breakfast bar. After that, Ed finished setting the island. Except for installing sinks and appliances, we're ready for granite.

   Sinks are my next object of anxiety. The interior dimensions of our sink cabinet are 32"x22". Who knew that most large kitchen sinks require an interior dimension of 34"? Not I, that is until now. I also need 3-4" behind the sink for the faucet mounting, which means the sink will need to be 18" wide. I can kiss my composite sink goodbye. I really didn't want stainless steel, but I'll take whatever works. Stay tuned.