It must get worse before it gets better...

Last Monday night TL started taking out all of the kitchen cabinets and knocked out the soffits above the cabinets where the lighting was. This way our new cabinets can go all the way to the ceiling. It's going to give us so much more cabinet space!



Thankfully only lighting was running through the soffits so TL could knock them all out! (Not without some major work though)



He even cleans up! But usually that's my job...



More cabinets coming down...



and going out to the garage...we're going to reuse some of them in our laundry room and mudroom...



More framing coming down...the kitchen feels bigger already!



View into the kitchen from the den...the rest of that wall is coming down soon because our contractor told us today that it's not load bearing. So that makes life easier...



The current state of our kitchen...But thankfully, we finished designing the cabinets, island and layout a few nights ago so a beautiful new kitchen is in the works...:)



Just for a refresher, this is what the kitchen looked like last week...



This is the current lefthand side of the kitchen...That wall on the far left is coming out to open up the space more but there's a pipe that's going to have to be moved first...



This is what that side of the kitchen looked like last week...



This is the current state of our laundry room...TL knocked out that wall at the back of the laundry room and it is now completely open into the garage.



That space in the far back lefthand side of the garage was once a workspace but will now be part of the laundry room. The wall that the boards are leaning against is the one that got torn down. We are extending the laundry room so that the front part of that room can become a mudroom!



This is what the laundry room looked like last week...



This is TL beginning to demo the master bedroom and bathroom...



The old carpet is coming up and new carpet will eventually go down...we are gutting and remodeling and expanding the bathroom and closet...



Yes that's the shower laying on the floor...TL went to town destroying the bathroom...



We're gonna start all over, in case you couldn't tell...





TL evaluating the plumbing...we had a minor flood this afternoon when TL removed the rest of the shower, but somehow he got it under control quickly...thankfully I wasn't there or I would have just been freaking out (not helpful at all)...but he cut off all of the water to our house...so don't stop by our house to use the bathroom...



This is what our bedroom, bathroom and closet look like as of this afternoon...we have a long way to go... :)



This is what you see when you walk in our front door and turn to the left...If you turn down that hallway to the right, you go towards the kitchen, den, and breakfast room. If you go straight ahead, you go into the dining room...and obviously, the stairs go...you get it.



The current state of our stairs...they are coming out of carpeting and into the light of hardwood...






This is the hallway that leads to the kitchen, den, and breakfast room. The 1st doorway on the right is a half-bath. The 2nd and 3rd doorways on the right are closets but are soon going to be combined into one closet (so we lose a doorway...there were too many in this hall). The doorway on the left is also a closet.



This is the half-bath. Soon to be remodeled...












Let the remodeling begin... :)














The 2 closets on the right-hand side of the hallway are now one big closet thanks to TL. The doorway on the right will be drywalled in...(and you'll never even know it was there...well, you will, cause you saw pictures)



And to wrap up this posting, the huge, overgrown holly bushes that blocked the front porch were dug up on Friday (you can see them in the next picture down)...so now you can see the front porch!
more updates to come soon... :)

Our New Home!!!

This was our first weekend as homeowners!! We closed
on our house this past Wednesday, June 17! Here are
some pictures that capture the projects we tackled this
weekend...TL worked super hard and I helped. :)





The yard needs a little tlc so that will be happening soon...





The former owners had 5 kids and turned the garage into a rec room...but we are turning it back into a garage. TL pulled up the flooring and tore down the wall so that our new (and cute!) garage door could be installed Monday morning. There was a lot of really loud sawing and banging...and TL loved every second...it's a guy thing I guess.



yep he did that.



and that.



the last piece coming down...



his big truck fit!!! phew!



This is our living room...first room to the right when you walk in the front door. It was used as a bedroom before and so it was the only room downstairs that was carpeted. So that had to come up and hardwood will be going down soon...





It didn't take long for TL to pull it all up.

TL pulled it all up then I hauled it out to the trailer...good teamwork :)

Down to the sub-floor...

This is the sunroom which we are going to use as a breakfast room. It's right off the kitchen and was originally a porch which the previous owners enclosed.



This is a view of the sunroom from the living room. That single window in the middle will one day become french doors that lead out to the screened-in porch which we are going to add on. New tile flooring will also be going down at some point...



This is a view of the kitchen from the sunroom...lots of changes are coming for that kitchen. :)



This is a view from in the sunroom to the living room on the left and the kitchen on the right...



The floral curtains had to come down...



TL decided to tear down the ceiling because it was so low so that we can raise the support beams and make it higher...





The finished product...well at least for that project...



That window that looks into the den will soon become a doorway...



View of the kitchen from the sunroom. That big red wall is about to...you'll see...



This is our den...that brick wall is getting a major facelift. White built-in bookcases will go on both sides of the fireplace with a square window at the top of each one to let in some light. We're putting in a new mantle...I can't wait til we get started on all of that!



That window will one day become a door to the screened-in porch...



This is the back of our den. That window on the right is the one that will become a doorway to the sunroom/breakfast room. The wall with the wetbar separates the kitchen and den so we are going to tear it down and put a big island in so it will all be one open space.





This is TL starting to demo the wet-bar...





No more wet-bar...





We need to make sure that wall wasn't load-bearing before we tear down the beams...



TL took out the window that looked into the sunroom and it's now a doorway...again, we're going for that one open space, flowy feel :)





We had lots of cleaning up to do...



View from the sunroom and den...now a much more open space...and it's gonna keep getting better :)





A full day's work...yep, he did all of that in just one day!



This is our new garage door! I never knew I could think a garage door could be so cute! :) We still need to have it framed out and finished so that will happen later this week...