Entrance

Here are some before photos of the entranceway of our house. When you enter the house, there is a 4 foot long hallway that ushers you into the living room. We have taken the hallway down and plan to reorient the entrance so that you enter into a foyer with a large coat closet as soon as you enter, a tall and narrow shelving system on the left for shoes, mail, key, etc. The new plan would have us entering into the living room to the right.

Structural Wall -Midpoint

Unfortunately, we don't have photos of the demolition. The house had piles of dusty rubble that we cleaned up with snow shovels. Then swept, shop-vacuumed, mopped three times and voila...the wall is ready for the structural guy.

Structural Wall -Before

Just because I haven't written does not mean that we haven't been busy (triple negative). We have decided (probably against better judgement) to open up the walls between the kitchen and living/dining rooms and renovate the kitchen. The plans have been in the working stage pretty much since we moved in (April 2009), but they were really just dreams. Well, I think as soon as you dream of a kitchen with more than one drawer and a tiny bit of extra cash comes your way, you dive right in. We did, anyways.

Somehow February seemed like the best option. I'm always a little bored on my holidays anyways, so why not cram an entire kitchen reno into 3 weeks! Step One was to wait patiently to be able to tear the drywall off the wall that we intend to remove. Actually, Step One was having a Structural Engineer come to advise us on how to keep the house from falling down, since the wall in question is structural...of course. Step Two was seeing if we could afford to pay a contractor to do the structural work. Step Three was doing drawings for the permit application and it was actually Step Four that had us waiting patiently for said permits and waiting patiently to be able to tear down the drywall. As you can see, we weren't very patient. We cut a "window" just to see what it might look like from the kitchen to the living room and vice versa.

New Fence, New Fence

Two weeks before C's parents arrived the landscapers called to say that they would like to remove the old chain-link and set the new posts starting the next day. We swiftly hacked away at the tangle of overgrown shrubs, sapling and vines that made up our "garden", creating a pile of brush taller than a person. The posts were set over the next 10 days(!), the fence wood was delivered and C's parents arrived. Forecast for their visit....rain every day! The sloping backyard was a challenge, but 6 days later and plenty of caked on mud, the fence is built. Gates will be tomorrow's task.

Old Fence, New Fence

In preparation of C's parents coming to build the new fence, we pried off all the old fence boards that were attached to the chain-link, hammered out the old nails, took the split boards and cut them down, then hatchet-ed the bits into kindling. All in all a very hands-on day. I felt a bit like a pioneer because once all the outdoor work was done, I headed to the kitchen to do some canning!

New Shed, New Shed

Once the old shed was gone, we pulled down the fence boards, which turned out to be beautifully aged cedar. We ordered a cedar shed kit (Outdoor Living), waited 3 weeks for it to arrive and got to work! It was sort of like a very lengthy Ikea construction that required more tools. Also, some of the trim plan was crappy, so it meant a lot of fiddle-y cutting and building. I installed the doors...first attaching all the hinged upside-down!

Old Shed, New Shed

C's parents planned a "working visit" for the Fall and it was decided that they would come and help build us a fence. In order to accommodate the new fence, the old shed needed to be torn down (it was in the way of a stretch of old fence boards that were attached to the existing chain-link fence). Of course, a new shed was needed and had to be smaller as the new fence was going to be built along our lot line. Hence, old shed out, new shed in. The existing metal shed was constructed to last and took 4 hours to dismantle.