We Remodeled Our House

I've been wanting to write about what has been happening here for awhile now - so here I go.  We remodeled our house. 

We GUTTED it.  The only thing that really stayed put were the bathtubs and walls.  We lived in our basement, all five of us with our dog over Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I ended up moving with the kids to my mom and dad's house around the corner because it was easier for the kids while they were in school.  

It was AWFUL and WONDERFUL at the same time.  

Dan and I are still married.  

So now that we have come out the other side...I'll show you what we did and why.

Our house was trashed.  Gross.  Disgusting.  

I didn't even want people coming in anymore.  My couch was ripped, the carpet was beyond cleaning, the linoleum torn, the cabinets falling apart.  I think my house is so cute, but all the builder grade finishes we had chosen nine years ago were worn out. 

 We weren't ready to move, and even if we wanted to, no one would buy it the way it was.  

We couldn't replace the cabinets without doing the floors.  Which led to replacing baseboards, and blinds.  Painting.  Staining.  

The list was really long.  

We started on a Saturday and I shocked Greg beyond belief when I asked him to help me rip out the pantry.  Give this boy some goggles and a sledgehammer and he was more than happy to help. 

 Funny how DESTROY the pantry goes over much better than CLEAN the pantry with an 8 year old boy!

 Even Lauren wanted in on the photo shoot.

 Taking out the door frame. This pantry was just a small closet and very dark.  

You can see the original pantry space here. 

Totally useless and had tons of wasted space up at the top and in the bottom. The new kitchen plan called for tearing this out and moving the refrigerator over into this space.  So we had to rip things up!

This was the first day we did anything.  That is the only reason Dan is smiling, because he doesn't realize what a huge pain this whole project is going to be.