Renovation Update

(I really don't like the way blogger displays pictures, thank heaven for the HTML edit features)
The pictures are as follows . Zach helping with tearing down the dining room wall, The new door installed, several pictures of the living room. I built the archway wall between the living room and the front entrance. Several pictures of the kitchen including the famous fridge and freezer. We installed the double doors leading to the backyard from the kitchen)











Lorraine mentioned in her post that she would like to see some pictures of the renovations. Other than the shudder down my back whenever I think of the renos, its interesting at how much our family experiences have changed as the renos progressed. I have been collecting photos over the last few weeks and to to think that we tore down the first wall the Canadian thanksgiving before Jeff went on his mission and that he is now back is totally depressing. Oh well, at least hopefully the results will be worth it. I have been called into a bishopric and released, have one son graduate with the other graduating this year, have one daughter go from grade school to almost finishing junior high, have sent one son on a mission, and the other is getting ready to leave, have no children in Primary anymore and had a dog invade our home only to leave because he couldn't stand the mess. An interesting journey.

As for the renovations, the house is a typical Canadian 70's multi level home about 1100 square feet. The main floor is around 600 sq ft. The front door opened directly into the living room. The living room and dining room were connected in an L shape. The kitchen was a small box with a door leading to the back hallway that lead outside and downstairs. We demoed the wall between the dining room and kitchen, the back hallway and the front closet. We added a wall between the living room and the old dining room, the wall between the front entrance and the living room and expanded the doorway between the front entrance and the kitchen. I added archways from the front entrance to the living room and the kitchen. In the kitchen we reoriented the sink from the back of the house into the old dining room. We removed the old dining room window and replaced it with a standard window. Removed the window in the back of the house (the old kitchen) and replaced it and the back door with the Double doors. I had to rebuild the double door frame as the frame was for a 6" framed house and ours is only 4" as well we wanted it to swing out rather than in. We installed hardwood in the living room and front entrance, installed new lighting everywhere. In the kitchen we are going to do tile. We did a blacksplash around the sink, shelves and behind the cooktop area. I built all the kitchen cabinets and still need to make the fronts. The cabinets have been built around the appliances
we have purchased through the years. The oven and dishwasher were special purchases through ebay. The boys and I went down to California to pick them up (with the trip it was still cheaper than buying them in Canada). We built a pantry and installed a hood. As well I am also building an island in the kitchen.

So I have been the brunt of many a joke in the family, the last being that I would have the house finished before Ross left on his mission. This time I am actually hopeful that the renos will be complete by the summer. I guess time will tell.

Lorraine hope the information was sufficient, its been fun to see my skills inprove but am looking forward to it being finished. Linda is as well, she already has another list ready to go.