House remodeling update...

House remodeling update...  There was much progress while we were gone, but also a few disappointments:

• The barn still hasn't been started.  There have been many reasons for the slippage, mostly small things, but they add up: the original start date was “before the end of April” – and here we are almost three months after that, and we're still being held up.  The final hurdle (we hope it's the final hurdle!) is sign-off from the County planner after we got an engineer to sign off on the plans.  We should have a permit by early next week...
• The flooring is about 90% done.  The only remaining bits are some difficult stuff in the kitchen (under the range and refrigerator, mainly), the cattery (the easiest part of the entire flooring job), the trim around the cabinets, and the several transitions between tile and wood flooring in the house.  Oh, and the two sets of stairs between the first and second floor.  Ok, maybe 75% done :)
• The master bathroom is completely tiled, the new vanity and medicine cabinet are installed, the vanity has been measured for its granite top, and the granite slab is in the fabrication process.  With any luck at all, we can have the granite installed within 2 weeks, and a week later we should have the finish plumbing and electrical work done – and we'll have an actual bathroom.  The tiling job is gorgeous – the fellow who did it is an old-school craftsman who took his time on it.  I had a chance to talk with him when he was maybe a quarter finished, and he was having a lot of fun with it – mainly because of the materials he was working with, and the challenges of the layouts he was employing.  The walk-in shower will be by far the nicest shower we've ever had in any home we've lived in: 5'6" square, with an “ell” to keep the shower from splashing into the rest of the bathroom, even though there's no shower door.
• Our small balcony on the second floor now has a beautiful new railing, and it's strong enough to stop a tank.  To compare it to the old railing is like comparing a toy pedal car to a Mercedes...
• The other remodeling projects (new main fireplace, new stovepipe for the basement, etc.) were all on hold while we were gone.