Down Come the Ceilings

With the wall gone, ceilings were next.  But first, draping. EVERYTHING. 

Coming down fast! And messy!

Darcy's a little confused after her nap. " How long was I asleep?!"

Done.

Surveying the work. Planning for tomorrow.

Scenes from My Kitchen

The hazards of cooking in this "new" kitchen. The girls were all outside, so I was cooking AND watching Darcy. I ended up splattering spaghetti sauce everywhere, including right over the edge of the counters onto the living room carpet. HA! 

The girls and I spent Monday morning rearranging the living room -- switching the bookshelves and desk. Love it!

From the front door...

From the future sink...

Dinner guests arriving in 10 minutes, and he's got the bar area torn apart to quickly replace a support beam.  :-)

Panoramic view of school from the front door.

Finishing Touches

With the tile done, and the counter in place, time for finishing touches!  

The girls were excited to get "new" towels. These were WEDDING presents 16 years ago. I've had them packed away for a nice bathroom. Glad they'll get to enjoy them. :-) 

8 years in the making

The first day we walked into this crazy house, we knew this wall had to come down.  Maybe it was the brick wallpaper, the stock cabinets, I don't know... But James spent quite a bit of time restructuring the ceiling EIGHT YEARS AGO to prepare for this huge step.  

He was just going to get it some prep work done while we went to the library, but when we came home, he and Megan had already gotten started! This is what we saw when we walked in:

He had to wrestle the arch down...

And cut and cut and cut...

But before too long, it was time to start cleaning up

We got the old stove sold on FB Marketplace within an hour, and he moved the cabinets down to meet each other, so we could have a useful temporary counter.

And by bedtime, things were cleaned up, and we were enjoying new views.

As we sat on the hearth last night, I asked, "Why didn't we do that sooner?!" We don't know, except to say it's ok. I guess we weren't ready for what comes next.  But as I sit here the next morning, enjoying the view from my desk, I'm so glad it's done.

My new favorite color: Not Red

With the red wall gone, time to put up some fresh stuff.  

And it has never looked prettier...

Little pieces to finish up...

The Red Wall

With the bathroom tile done, and finishing touches in the works, ON TO THE NEXT PROJECT!

This red wall had been a source of many scrapes and stress over the last 9 years.  Such thick texture. And so red. Why???

We cheered when this started.  Oh so fun to tear sheet rock off the wall.  I even got in on the action. 

Done!

The Tile's DONE!

After a *few* months, the tile work ended today.  I can't even begin to describe how awesome that feels. We're thankful for Uncle Jeff's artistry.  

Because it's beautiful...