Milton ranked top 10 small city in America

Milton was named as the top 8 small city in the US, and the highest ranking in Massachusetts.  Not so sure I'd call it a small city, but it's a nice honor nonetheless.  In the past, Milton has also been on Money Magazine's top best places to live.

Click here to read the article


"To compile its ranking, WalletHub compared 1,268 small cities using 30 metrics across five categories: affordability (housing costs, cost of living, median household income), economic health (unemployment rate, population growth), education and health (school system quality, high school graduation rate, low birthweight, adult obesity), quality of life (average commute time, number of restaurants, coffeeshops, bars, and department stores), and safety (violent crime rate, property crime rate)."

Foyer

So, I'm still greeted each morning by workers, but at least when I walk through the foyer, THAT is done!

(In terms of workers, they plastered the basement and upstairs sleeping porch last week, creating mounds of dust everywhere.  They also paved the circular part of the driveway.  Tomorrow they're supposed to lay the stone for the front door and mudroom door walkways.  The interior walls for the garage are being worked on and the garage doors will be installed tomorrow or Wednesday)

The Living Room is behind the glass doors.  The front door is the black door that is cut off.

The double glass doors are to the Dining Room and the open door is the Powder Room.

Lots of Mirrors in the Powder Room!

Front Porch and Driveway

Simultaneously, the front porch is being ripped off and reconstructed and the driveway is being ripped out and reconstructed.  What does that mean?  Mud!  Lots of it.

Yes, we still have a lovely construction trailer in our driveway!

Oh right, and we're also digging out the last original water pipe.  It's in the basement and connects to the  city water.  So, jack hammers down there means extra dirt and dust upstairs.  

The grey/black is the old pipe, the white is the new.

Well, well, well...

Literally, a well!

Two massive trucks showed up in the yard last week to drill a well for outside irrigation (watering the lawn and gardens and filling the ice rink...Yes, Joe is installing an ice rink).

These photos don't really capture the size of these trucks, but they were huge.  The green one is the actual drill and the red one carried the attachable parts that would allow the drill to go deeper.  I believe the guy said he went about 500 feet down. Loud and messy!

You can get a better sense of the size of this truck by noticing the man standing to the left.

Kitchen Counters Have Arrived

The good news is the counter tops for the Butler's Pantry and Kitchen have finally been installed.  The bad news is they cut a hole for the wrong sink and I'm not crazy about the look of the stone.  I thought it would be more white and it has a hint of beige.  As such, I need to rethink my backsplash since the original one was white.  

The dishwasher, sink and stove have yet to be installed (but are sitting on the side of the room) as the plumber needs to do that, but the electrician was woefully behind and didn't hook up power for those things There was a heated exchange this morning between Joe and the electrician and as of right now, all the electrical is complete with the exception of the outdoor light at the mudroom door (the original one I ordered had to be replaced) and the kitchen light over the island (which is supposed to be delivered today but hasn't arrived yet).  

So, fingers crossed the plumber comes in the next day or two.  The kids have been real troopers living without a kitchen, though perhaps they just like having more convenience food and junk than I would normally permit.

I have eight stools on order that will go with the island in the foreground.

 The cabinet that sits on top of the counter (with the appliance garage) still needs crown moulding installed along the top.  The opening in the cabinets is where the dishwasher will go.  The sink is just to the left.

One end wall of the Butler's Pantry.  So much storage!

The two sides are identical with glass cabinets on top and solid doors on bottom.

A swinging waiter's door is on order to be installed just to the left in this photo and will lead to the dining room.

Carpet Runner has been Installed

Continuing to make progress, the carpet runner was installed on both the first floor and second floor staircases! It's a light grey herringbone pattern.

Finishing things up on the inside

The kitchen ceiling molding needed to be repainted, and that was finally completed today.  The counter tops should be here within a week and then the plumber will connect the appliances and we'll finally have a fully functional kitchen! 

The mudroom is complete with the exception of doors and drawers being installed on the five cubbies and one cabinet built-in.  Those arrive on Thursday and the painters will paint them to match what they've already done.

The second floor back porch, which had structural issues, was completely torn off last week and is being rebuilt.  Maurice finished framing it today and the windows were installed.  Two skylights should arrive by Thursday.

The electrician will be back tomorrow.  We have three more outside lights to be installed and six flood lights, plus five interior lights.

The carpet runner for both staircases will be installed on Thursday.  

We're still waiting for the frameless shower doors to come in for the master bathroom and the third floor bathroom. In the meantime, Isabelle has been sharing her bathroom with me, and Cameron has been sharing with Joe.

One of the painters today was back outside working on the exterior paint job.  He did the area on the front porch surrounding the front door (that will be replaced once the new one comes in).  I am 99% sure he used the wrong color gray, as it is slightly darker than the rest of the exterior that was already done.  I didn't have the energy to point it out to them today, and I actually like the "wrong" color better, so maybe to fix it, they'll decide to repaint over the correct color. 

Photos to follow!

Master Dressing Room is Done

I'm so pleased that the Master Dressing room is done.  The island was finally built, the crown molding added and knobs put on the doors and drawers.  I'm happy with how it turned out! I can begin to unpack and put away all the clothes.