We had a few warm days this past week and the builder was able to get outside and finish siding the house. They saved the front elevation for last, which is likely because it stands over 30ft tall and required quite a bit of staging in order to reach the tip-top.

While my builder finished-up the outdoors, the plumber installed the kitchen sink and faucet. The Ikea stainless sink that I selected is actually quite ingenious. Unlike a typical sink, it has a rubber gasket under the lip with special clips to ensure it compresses securely and evenly. This will hopefully help prevent water from infiltrating under the stainless lip of the sink.

The electrician was also quite busy this week. The switches, plugs, light fixtures are light bulbs are installed, and appliances such as the stove and fireplace now work.

I also had my first chance to try-out the zwave switches that will enable every light to be individually controlled from afar. The switches themselves are quite interesting. They are of the rocker variety, but are agnostic to a physical “on” or “off” state due to their remote control capability. I’m looking forward to integrating them all with the zwave controller and enabling the capability to turn-on all my outdoor lights, preset the house temperature, and turn-on the hot water all before I arrive!

Of course, we’ve been quite busy assembling furniture, hanging up the chandelier, and stocking the kitchen too!