Our thoughts are with the Belgian people. This picture is of the Flower Carpet in Brussels, Belgium in 2012. Once every five years, the already lovely central square of the city is transformed into a spectacle of delicate beauty – blanketed by an immense carpet of flowers. If you ever get the chance to see it, don’t miss it.

Meanwhile, at the LOAP Alpha, things are nearing completion. Once the palate is scraped clean, as illustrated by this picture of the kitchen/dining area

the way is clear for the new.

The work continues both inside and out. The deck out back gets a new border

and new wood flooring spreads throughout every room but the bedrooms:

Debra chose a lovely quartz for the main countertop in the kitchen

with a complementing granite for the new bank of cabinets flanked by the pantry:

The bedrooms have a silver-grey carpet

and the details are starting to show how special this place will be in just a few days.

Some of the fixtures exemplify the cool funkiness that Debra likes to include in her decorating choices – you know, so that things don’t get too bland and boring:

This transformation included a lot of fundamental work that doesn’t typically get noticed, like a new electric service panel and a completely new HVAC system. The frilly, frou-frou front porch support was replaced with a sturdy cedar 6×6, shown here sans trim:

The en suite bath is coming along nicely

as is the hall bath, although the light fixtures that Debra chose require hard-to-find bulbs

The vent hood, being Swedish, displays the time in European or military format

and isn’t that backsplash nice? Let’s pull our view back a bit to show more of this side of the kitchen:

But a glimpse is all that you get right now. Very soon, we’ll be having an open house and you’re invited. Until then, here’s a feel for the contrast:

So come on back for the “reveal,” as they say. This really has been a spectacular transformation!

Thanks for reading!