Prior to starting our "Days Until Moving" countdown, we had made plans for some vacation time. Obviously, ten days away from the project would set the odds further against us achieving the moving date goal. We all really needed the break and had some dear people we were long past due to spend time with. We went ahead with the planned road trip. It was a very good break.
Before I stop talking about vacation, here's a little something I picked up at our niece's beautiful scrapbooking & gift shop in Sylvan Lake, AB. It's wrought iron and measures about 30". How we squeezed it into our small car's trunk --along with all the luggage and two quilts my Auntie H had made for our girls-- is another story for another time. It is just right for the dining room, so it had to come home.
Now that we're home and back to work, we're making great progress again. If I asked him, Dennis would report crafting the missing stringer and bottom tread for the living room side of the staircase, and building the pony wall that separates the basement stairs from the living room. He has also made a lot of progress with finishing the electrical. Wherever the paint is finished, there are lights, plug-ins, switches and cover plates. The furnace and HRV have run for 10 and 20 minutes each to verify that they are wired up and working properly.
As a follow-up to my last post, here's another view of the stairs, this one before the pony wall went up. For now, every tread is wrapped with corrugated cardboard to protect the varnish until we're done wearing work boots and tracking drywall dust around.
Shortly before we went away, we celebrated a milestone that will seem odd: one functioning bathroom. Complete with light, lightswitch and door, it's both conventient, and promise that we will actually live in this huge "arts & crafts" project one day. Just a couple days ago I was marvelling at how every tiny bit of progress at this stage makes the structure feel more cozy, slowly tipping the balance from PROJECT to HOME.
Setting a target moving date has been helpful. We all find ourselves pushing a little harder, finding thing to do, or stopping our work an hour later. 
Yesterday was a great day for the painting department. The last peak of the south wall is done, the last of the walls are primed, we've (finally) settled on colors for the two upstairs bedrooms & bathroom and started painting them. That leaves only the loft, one closet and two dormers in the vaulted ceiling areas untouched with color.
A slight tarnish in midst of all the good news & progress since we got home is the realization that our target occupancy date is likely to pass us by with no excitement. The kitchen cabinet order has had a few hiccoughs, the major ones being a bumpy staff change at the vendor during in the design process and us putting it on hold while we were on our vacation. Since getting home, we've finalized the design for the kitchen and decided on a few cabinets for the laundry. They are all ordered, but ETA is only 2-9 days before we had hoped to move. The vendor's preference is for contertops to be ordered after the cabinets are installed and can be physically measured for a proper fit on the first try. We'll trust their experienceAdding lead time for countertop could put us counting up "Days Late to Move". Still, though, it's exciting to be saying "next we start flooring".
