A big week at 498 Orcas.

The cabinetry is in. The custom Sligh cabinets have been installed: light natural wood, slab fronts, nothing fussy. The kitchen finally looks like a kitchen.

The flooring is halfway there. Custom white oak now runs across the living room toward the fireplace wall, and you can already feel how the room will open up to those windows.

We’re saying goodbye to the purple doors! At some point the doors were painted a very dated purple. They’re going white, and I’m doing some of that spraying myself. (Yes, that’s me in the mask.)

Landscaping has begun. Tiered timber planters by the front steps are filling in with coastal grasses and flowering plants.

Next up: stucco and scaffold removal. That’s when you’ll really see a difference. Orlando Santini designed this 1995 quad-level with sharp, angular lines, and once the scaffold comes down, those lines get to speak for themselves.

More next week.