Hello again from Vanha Talo Suomi

On his last day before heading off on vacation with his family, our trusty handyman Pete finalized some goings-on around the ‘work-in-progress.’ To start, he finished the install of the stainless steel ceiling mounted cook top ventilation stack, managed to get all* the kitchen cabinet hardware installed – yes, there are now handles on the cabinets! He also supervised the cement pouring of the new construction foundation. He was here yesterday getting the r-bar forms set up and in place in preparation for today’s pouring. You could say Pete’s been busy 🙂

The kitchen is STILL without a sink. Those folks at Gigantti have lost their minds! Even on a reorder they couldn’t manage to deliver. We had to purchase another sink from a different retailer. I’m through with Gigantti and will never buy another thing from them again.

Okay, a partially complete job in the kitchen. Missing: sink, another counter top, back splash, oak siding for the end cabinet boxes, the toe kicks, and installation of the pendant lights. I have to figure out what to do with the counter tops to color/seal the wood. I’ve read some info about Osmo (www.osmo.de) and will probably go with it unless I hear otherwise.

The dining and living room areas are on their… lost count… 3rd or 8th …no seriously coat of dry wall mud, but taped and otherwise looking …dusty. 😀

Pekka returned to the office yesterday after 5 weeks vacation… he says I run a work camp here.. but he did manage to drop a few pounds ‘slaving’ away. I think his weight loss has more to do with the total elimination of midnight snacking. For 5 weeks he was so damned tired that when it was time for bed, he did that and only that. Besides, the little mini fridge we have downstairs barely has enough room in it to keep a few liters of milk cold. And with the kitchen “out of service” there aren’t any leftovers!

The yard remains torn up from last weeks assault by the digging crew. I really don’t have any clear idea when they’re coming back for their continuation of Project Mayhem, but it’s likely soon.  This is what greets us everyday when we go about the place…

It’s been hot and dry, until the day we had concrete poured. Then …then it decided to rain! Most of Finland has been hot and dry also and due to that has been under threat of fire warnings throughout the country. I don’t think today’s shower will have managed to ameliorate conditions much, just cause concrete to not set.

A peek at a small garden oasis amid the construction to end things on a happier note.

With Pete heading out on vacation and Pekka back to work it’s a sure thing that on-site activity on our rintamamiestalo remontin/rakkennus is going to fall to a near stand-still. Hopefully, I can knock out the dry-wall downstairs and get those areas primed and painted soon.

– until next time… all the best from Vanha Talo Suomi ❤