Haven't posted any updates in a while, simply because the issues we have been dealing with have been at the same time far too stressful for us but probably boring as hell to everybody else. Our original schedule had us finished with the whole remodel 2 weeks ago - ha! Oh well...looks like we are back on track to finish up in a couple more weeks.

General status: The tile backsplash was installed and looks beautiful. The paint was chosen (BM Aura "River Silt" for the main areas, and "14 Carrots" in the small office adjacent for a pop of color) and the base coats put up, and it looks great. The appliances are 90% here, and the last 2 (including the induction range, finally) are in a local warehouse and being delivered to our home tomorrow. Electrical is 99% done, just have to have a couple ceiling lights wired in and finish some trims.

The biggest slowdown was our floor...I don't think I posted anything about this at the time, but the prefinished flooring we had originally picked out (Du Chateau "Rhine") was basically recalled between when we picked it and when we tried to actually get it delivered...apparently, they had a problem with delamination because of an incompatibility between the glue they are using and the finish on that particular product. So we had to pick a new option on pretty short notice....long story short, we ended up getting a great deal on some Hakwood engineered unfinished Walnut 7" planks, and decided to finish them with a combination of the Rubio Monocoat "fumed" pretreatment and Rubio Monocoat Oil Plus 2C (the faster curing formulation) in "Charcoal." The floors were installed (with some contractor drama not worth going into), and then they applied the finish....and it was a disaster. I almost cried...no one is 100% sure what happened, still, but our best theory is that residue of some sort rubbed onto the floor from someone's shoes or the wheels on the buffer. It wasn't visible to the naked eye, but when the tinted oil went down the oil took everywhere but somehow the color didn't in a number of squiggly streaks all across the surface - it looked like the streaks shoes leave on gym floors, if that makes sense. It looked horrible. And because of how monocoat works, those streaks wouldn't absorb any more tint to fix them - the wood had been converted/sealed/whatever by the oil, but without the pigment bonding. We did also try some spot repair by sanding down just the affected areas and then retouching it, but it didn't blend in at all. After talking to Rubio our only option was to sand the whole floor down and try again. So, that's what we did this past Friday and Saturday, being extra careful at every step....thankfully, this time it came out perfect, so we can finally move on!

Anyway, that drama is now over, and the cabinetry was delivered to our place yesterday afternoon. They are unpacking things as I type. Everybody please cross your fingers for the next phase!