Littlehill Land, LLC

The past few days have been about moving the new counter section to completion and closing the deal on the stone for the countertops.

After pulling out the box that used to be the end of an "L" shaped counter, David has relocated it where it will be the end of a "U" shaped counter. This was a little involved, because the back of the section will now be facing the dining area.

In other words, it must look good. So old luan-like mahogany 1/4" ply was removed and cabinet grade maple 1/4" moved into its place. Yes, 1/4", because it was the back! We'll be backing it up so it will effectively be 1" ply. As are most cabinets, good, bad and indifferent alike, these are made of cabinet grade plywood boxes trimmed with finish lumber. They're looking nice. For the the last two days, David has been carefully assembling the new section, which will take the place of the one we moved and connect it to the grouping. It will feature an open end toward the dining area (wine racks? Your Parcheesi, Scrabble and Monopoy boxes?) and a space closed by a sliding door (platter racks? garbage can?) next to the stove. Those clever Europeans have invented sliding door tracks and glides that everybody is delighted with. Oh, it will be a smooth operator! The big moment for me today was showing David how to apply veneer strips to finish the cut ends of plywood — usually it's he who shows me stuff.

The shopping for your equipment goes on. Yesterday I ordered the new entry system, and it was great to find exactly what I wanted. The SVAT Video Door Phone will hook up to the existing bell wire to the gate door, but will feature a color minicam (which can apparently be aimed from the indoor end), duplex communication between the base unit inside and the door bell unit outside, and a dedicated button for releasing the electric striker to allow the door to open. Simple, straightforward, the features I wanted and nothing extraneous.

But the big purchase was in the nature of granite for the counters. I went down to 1st Ave, right near Starbucks corporate in whose galleys I rowed for a year as a writer, to one of the myriad stores that sell home improvement. The winning granite? A variant of Ubatuba that I had not seen before, "verde". Didn't like the older stuff, but this is subtly green rather than brown, and it will offer some understated zing against the red of the walls, being in the complementary range. Mark your calendar — your new stone counters are going in this coming Monday, November 16. Chill the champagne.

(note: pics to come)