So, you're finally moving in, right?

I wish I could answer that question with a resounding YES, but just yesterday I got the call that our move-in date was being pushed back once again.  This really comes as no surprise as progress at the house over the last 1 1/2 months has been bitterly slow.  Unfortunately, in early April, after our builder had told us we'd be able to move in at the end of April, worst case scenario end of May, I gave our notice to our landlords so we now have to be out of our rental by May 31st.  Even if it isn't completely finished, we're praying that things get cracking over the next couple weeks and that the city will issue us a certificate of occupancy so that we can live at the house while the rest of it is being completed.  Only time will tell, but for now, we continue plugging forward.

The biggest setback has been due to the cabinets.  There were some cabinets that didn't quite fit, so the trimmers weren't able to install them.  There were also a few pieces that the cabinet maker had put off making (or forgot about!) so those items showed up late.  After the setbacks with the cabinets, the trimmers moved onto another job and were too busy to come back to finish the project.  At least they had gotten the majority of them installed before bailing on us.
 

The Breakfast Nook and Kitchen Cabinets

The Kitchen

The Family Room entertainment center

While the cabinet fiasco was taking its sweet time to be resolved, the painters were having to push their start date off while they waited for the cabinets and other wood work to be installed.  Finally the painters just couldn't wait any longer and started the process (thank goodness they didn't move on to a different project!!)

The painters began by staining the cabinets that were installed.  Their first attempt at getting the maple woodwork as dark as I had wanted was not working.  After a slight heart attack on my part and several discussions with the painters, I left the house feeling quite worried that my contemporary dark chocolate built-ins were going to be more of a rustic medium brown.  The next day I stopped back and lo and behold, the cabinets were a beautiful dark brown!  The painter added an extra step in the process of brushing on the final coat of stain, leaving the cabinets just the color I had wanted.  Thank goodness, because we went a bit overboard on the maple woodwork.

The entry bench and stairs

The master bath cabinets stained

After many, many phone calls from our builder and job supervisor, the trimmers finally showed up this week and will hopefully (keep your fingers crossed!) finish installing the rest of the woodwork.  Then the painters can really get things moving.

Of course, this hasn't been the only cabinet issues we've had to deal with.  A few weeks ago the granite guy showed up to measure our cabinets for countertops and uncovered more surprises for us.  One issue was in the master bathroom.  After our huge tub was installed, we decided to make our cabinet as shallow as we could but big enough to fit the sinks and faucets that we had already purchased.  Somehow the part about making sure our sink would still fit was missed and now there was no way to get both our sink and a faucet in our narrow cabinet.  Just wonderful!  So after doing quite a bit of looking online, I finally found another sink that would work.  The other issue we discovered involved a bit more work.  Our dining room buffet had somehow been made 2 inches too long, requiring an odd placed seam in our granite on the buffet.  I had really REALLY wanted to avoid a seam if at all possible.  So with all of our other setbacks causing us delays, we figured what's one more and had the cabinet maker modify one of the cabinets so that we could avoid the seam.

So here we are with only 15 days left in the month and so very much left to complete.  Here's hoping for a miracle!!