The Trash Heap Grows

Kitchen floor find

Today we peeled away the layers of floor in the kitchen. First, there was vinyl, then another vinyl layer, then a tile layer, then this sticky, black tar like crap. However, under the tar is an unfinished wood floor! We are going to ask the floor guys coming to do estimates if this floor can be saved. It would be so nice to have a wood floor in the kitchen.

Area of floor where cabinet was, showing bare wood floor

The Attic Space

There is a door in the kitchen, leading to a set of full sized stairs, leading to this space. It is as large as the whole downstairs. In time, there will be a master bedroom and a full sized bath, with glass windows overlooking the backyard

The Wall Comes Down

Last Thursday, James knocked out the wall between the kitchen and the living room. What a huge difference! The large, open space is wonderful, and will be the heart of the house. There will be an island between the 2 rooms, and the living room will have a seating area with a small TV as well as the dining room table.

The Trash Heap

James got this trash pile in just one evening of work. We are using the garage as the dumpster for now, I'm sure it will be packed when we are done with gutting everything.

Our first before and after

Destruction begins!
Here is a before and after of a kitchen wall. Three walls are covered with that lovely, REAL brick and cement (yuck). James took a sledgehammer to it all. We are gutting the entire room down to the floor.

After that, we are going to install new plaster board, paint, put in a new vinyl tile fooor, and install a kitchen from IKEA. I think perhaps we will end up with this one:
http://tinyurl.com/zezxw

The carpets in the dining room (that used to be the living room) the hallway and the three bedrooms will get removed. Underneath is lovely hardwood flooring! We are looking now for a flooring company to come out and redo them all. This is the only time our house will ever be empty, and we want to take advantage of that.

The house has wallpaper everywhere, and it all needs to go. We'll take our time with that, with the exception of Tristan's room. I think seeing purple flowers on his walls will drive him insane, so I'll take the time to undo the wallpaper and paint his room before we move.

Photos taken by the Seller's Agent, before we bought it

Our modest, yet cozy new house.

Well, here we go! After living in a rented house for almost 12 years, we finally have bought a home of our own. Here, we will chronicle our process of updating this 1953 ranch home.

This home was lived in by the previous owners for the last 39 years, and it shows. It is cozy, and the layout nice, but it needs serious updating to bring it to 2006. The first things we need to do, before we move in will be the entire electric system, and the hardwood floors. The rest we can do after we move.

James spent the other night beginning the deconstruction of the kitchen.