It's been a big week for the house project and I have to say, after popping in there today, that it really does look like we'll get in there by Feb 1st.

On the kitchen front, Home Depot's Installation Services have done a bang-up job on the initial install on the Venicia cabinetry in prep for the appliances that arrive next Tuesday (yay Jenn-Air!). Once the appliances are in, the countertop will be templated (we're going with a Corian surface and an integral sink). And then, when the counter arrives (in around a week to 10 days), we'll be able to finish by tiling the backsplash.

One thing we had our fingers crossed for was a fireplace for the main floor and yep, we managed to squeeze it into the budget. It's a swish letterbox style direct vent gas unit by Montigo (the flue goes straight out the exterior wall) that we sourced through Odyssey Fireplaces, who installed it nice and swiftly a couple of days back. Cera Stone, our great contractors, will be framing and finishing the surround this week. Take a boo at how it looks right now, and how it might look once finished, though we're currently kind of taken with the fireplace surround in that Marimekko shot in the post below...

And finally, under all that protective paper, is our delish new bamboo floor that we scored at Home Depot - Quality Craft carbonized bamboo in a Gunstock stain (it's the middle tone in the sample board below). While I was researching flooring choices the whole sustainable side of bamboo made so much sense - Bamboo can be harvested in 3 years, while oak needs 125 years to reach maturity.

To check up on the reno, and to see what's happened so far, click here.