Inspection....FAILED! But still we press on.

The old adage is that a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Well, here it is: All I have to say about our electrical contractor:

Moving on...
our awesome microwave is in place,
as are the balance of our beautiful handles:

Looking in from the front door,
here's the NEARLY complete left side of the kitchen:

And the TOTALLY complete right side of the kitchen:

I tried really hard to find our napkin sketches from a long ago trip to Florida that gave rise to this design for the right side of the kitchen. I know we still have them, but, alas, I may have packed them away already.
I hope to post a side-by-side of the sketch and finished product.
You'll be awed by our vision! :)

And just to confuse you, here's the backwards view
(from the den to the front door):

Our first canine visitor (who has seen this construction mess twice before), the adorable Morrison dog, Momiji:

Here's the pregnant lady from across the street who follows Momiji around:

In another small step toward habitability, check this out:

YES! Actual GAS coming out of our ACTUAL burner! That's the crazy center dual-burner on which I cannot wait to burn many many pancakes!

More news of (near) completion:

The second floor hall bathroom now has vanity,
AND vanity mirror, not to mention re-centered lights:

And, if you will forgive my inconsistent lighting,
here is our completed tub deck in the same bathroom:

....DRUM ROLL PLEASE....

Chic's Opus - the 3rd floor shower - is DONE! Well, the tile work, anyway.

Unfortunately, the bathroom is too small for me to capture all thirteen spectacular feet of
travertine perfection that is this shower.
Seriously.
It's gorgeous, if I do say so myself.

It took Chic nearly three months to put the finishing touches on it.
It is a master work.

If anyone in the Baltimore metro needs a tile guy, and is not in a time crunch, this guy is UNBELIEVABLY talented. You just have to accept that he is an artist, does not live on a schedule, and doesn't believe that anyone else does, either. Time issues notwithstanding, we could not be more thrilled with every single thing he touched in our house.....now if I could just get him to come back and install my towel bars..............

But, without further ado:
Here is the view of the shower from outside the bathroom door:

Here is the onyx floor and travertine curb combo,
on which it is utterly tragic to mount a glass door:

And here, yet another glorified wrench:

And now, here it is.....
our moment of cool, comfortable Zen: