Beaming

They say this will be the last day they're working here-- we say, hooray! The giant, giant beam (which is really three ginormous pieces sandwiched together) went up yesterday, and today they'll do more to reinforce each end of the thing, and take all the temporary studding (I think it's a called a coffer wall?) away, and be done. Oh, and then bill us, and then be done. As per our agreement, we are handling all the finish work ourselves, to save money, and to allow us time to think and get creative. The giant beam is going to be enclosed by a header made of drywall, and we are planning for some recessed lights and maybe also an exhaust fan (not a full-blown range hood) for above the stove. 
The whole size and shape of the header is completely open for debate. None of the walls are plumb, and the ceiling is far from level (see that skinny wedge-shaped space along the top of the beam in the top picture? The beam is level. The ceiling ain't.) And on top of that, there's a 6-inch difference in ceiling height between the dining room and kitchen which we're going to have to account for. Ohhh, it'll be interesting, all right.

See on the end of the beam, where there's a popped-out bit of wall that conceals some pipes? We're figuring on building the edge of the header so it's even with the edge of the popped-out part, and probably putting the lights in there. 
So, first, building header. Then wiring for lights. Then installing lights. Then patching over where the old lights were, and painting the ceiling and header. Then, tiling the floor. Ohh. It'll be awhile, I think, before we get to the really fun stuff where things start to look pretty, but my dad has started building our new cabinets, so bit... by bit... they will begin moving into place. Someday. 
Happy Friday!
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