I'm sorry I haven't posted but I have been so very busy unpacking, cleaning, finding a home for our stuff, making other stuff go away… it was a little over-whelming. But now, it's done and can share what I think are the best bits. 

Best Bit #1: We had an excellent contractor, Rick Owens. He has an amazing crew. I have absolutely no complaints. How often do you hear that about a contractor? If you remodel, I hope you can find someone as good.

Best Bit #2: Everything feels so very clean. All of the trim was repainted and most of the ceilings. The white walls (in the few parts of the house that have white walls) are freshly painted. 

Best Bit #3. The white kitchen is light and airy and open. Yes, I'll have to keep an eye on the cabinets and wipe them often. I can do that. In fact, I'm happy to do that. When I had darker cabinets the dirt was there, I just didn't see it. Ick.

Best Bit #4: The natural hickory floor we chose is amazing. It looks more patterned in photos than it feels in person. It feels light, Scandinavian almost. It suits us well. And so far I can tell you that dirt hardly shows. 

Look at the before photo, below. Notice the fur down (or fir down, or soffit) above the cabinets in the breakfast room. 

It was 1' of dead space and it was over all of the cabinets here and in the kitchen as well. We turned that space into cabinet space, with solid doors, not glass.

The actual cabinets in this area didn't get ripped out. William, the cabinet maker, made new doors and drawers and built the cabinet to replace the fur down.

The plate mosaic looks much better surrounded by white. The wood floor adds color and texture. You might also notice that Orville trimmed out the shelf in the wall on the right where we put coffee mugs and Robert painted it. It blends better now.

Best Bit #5: We gained some excellent storage space! What is going into the new fur down cabinets? Things like the cups that go with my punch bowl. I don't plan to stuff these cabinets full but they are great for over-flow.

I'll show more beginning Monday. Bear is being baptized this weekend – in our pool tomorrow night with about 30 people in attendance to celebrate. There will be a more formal celebration at church on Sunday, followed by brunch here. I am oh-so-happy that the house if finished!