Date Day

Time for some new ceilings! My parents sweetly took the girls for the day, and I stayed busy with laundry while James got everything ready. 

Sheet rock is here!

The befores...

We had to finalize the placement of the (future) kitchen lighting before we could start sheet-rocking, so that meant I spent lots of time measuring and deciding. Kinda stressful. It's all been so theoretical to this point, but now. This is real.  Exciting, but sobering.

We have lights!

So, it's time for sheet rock!

And HOURS later, it's done.

Oops, forgot one of the vent holes!

I can't get over how calm it looks in here.  

BEFORE

AFTER

We've been married almost 16 years, and for the last 9+, this house has been a huge part of our conversations, decisions, arguments, stresses, and joys.  Today was a joy.  So much work, so many decisions, but man, we had fun together.  

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.