Bathroom Sink

Here's a picture of the sink we plan to re-use. It even has those x-knobs that I love. I'm sure there's a better word for them, but you get the idea.

Ta-Da!

My two year old, Greta, is really into exclaiming, "ta-da" at random moments and most times used inappropriately. She did however understand the concept the other day when her little naked self came running out of the bathroom after going potty on the big girls toilet yelling, "TA-DA!". Adam and I had one of those ta-da moments the other day. And it had nothing to do with using a big girls potty. :)


This is the new living room with the wall to the right housing a walled up double-sided hearth. Our homework assignment from our contractor was to get in there, rip down the sheetrock and expose the fireplace and chimney so he could advise us on how best to take it out.

We got to work ripping off the sheetrock right away and as expected found the lapboard underneath. We pryed off every piece as gingerly as possible so that we might be able to reuse it for possible flooring in the hallway and dining room. You can see the fireplace hearth boarded up down at the bottom of the pic. Well, little did we expect, once we took off the boards what exactly the fireplace and chimney would look like...

TA-DA!!!

Okay, seriously, how awesome is this? We were giddy when we discovered just how cool it looked and the thought of taking it out went completely out the window. Right away we started dreaming up new kitchen designs and furniture placement in the living room. I think it can work. We just have to pray that our contractor can figure out an inexpensive way for us to reinforce it from underneath.

This is the view from the front door with the fireplace to the left. Has some wow-factor to it huh?

This is the other side of the wall pre-demo in the to-be kitchen.

I was on the other side of the wall hammering on the lapboards so Adam could pry them off easier.

This is the side from the kitchen with the hearth filled in. I love how the chimney narrows at the top because it still gives us the roomy open air feel that we were trying to achieve. High ceilings are nothing to complain about either. Kitchen design is coming along slowly but surely, but let me tell you, that is hard work! I lose sleep every night trying to come up with a perfect work triangle design and still give me all the cabinet space I need including the plate rack and pantry that I want. I've tried Google Sketch-up to try to visualize it on the computer, but it took more mental energy to figure it out and I ended up using a pencil and paper. If anyone knows of a good kitchen design resource to use, do tell!

Kitchen Demo

Adam and his dad took out all of the cabinets last weekend, the sink and the countertop. We're one step closer to a master bathroom!

It was our goal to recycle some of the cabinets into a pantry of some sort in the new kitchen, but they came out in pieces of wood instead of solid pieces. They were built board by board and they really couldn't have been salvaged.

This hole was for the exhaust fan for the stove hood. My father-in-law came home and told me they found 7 dead mice when they pulled out the hood. Barf.

The old sink that we are going to give away to some church friends who have been wanting one. We've got our eye on an apron front farmhouse sink from IKEA and were happy to find this one a new home.

These videos were taken back in April. Everything still looks the same except for the window treatments have been given away to an old Southern lady who requested them. Apparently she had toured the house when she had considered buying it and fell in love with the hideous baby pink curtains and sheer drapes with bug poop all over them. She said she was into "shabby chic" stuff. My mom put it best when she said, "Well, how about shabby shabby?" :)

1st Floor

2nd Floor

Outbuilding

The Big Upset

Thanks to Adam's Aunt Sharon's fresh perspective (seriously, thanks) we are doing a little flip-flopping in the house.

The master bedroom on the left side of the house will now become the kitchen...

and the kitchen will become the master bathroom and walk-in closet...

And the dining room will occupy the old utility room. (Who doesn't want to snuggle up to a bag of garbage while eating their pot roast?)

As for the rest of the house, the master bedroom will take the place of the old dining room, the living room will become the sitting room and the sitting room will become the living room. Whew! Detes to come...