The Home Project Continues...

This will probably be the title of quite a few posts to come.

I'll keep it short, since none of you probably really care that much about specifics of our house.

What we've done, in a short sum-up for the week:

1 - Re-arranged the dinning room, with the china hutch on the other side. Put all the dishes in the china hutch, since I have no cabinets right now. It's actually not a bad set up (or at least it won't be, when I start remembering where everything is).

2 - Re-wired the stove outlet, so that the stove's on the other side of the kitchen. (Both 1 and 2 in prep for that wall to come down.)

3 - Spent way too much time at Home Depot. One trip at 6:30 a.m. (sorry, Rob, but thank you!).

4 - Oh yeah. Put the ceiling back up. With insulation (there was none there before, hence our cabinets were always cold).

5 - Bought and installed a light for right above the sink. A light was there before, but it was old and rusty and, well, we bought a new one.

(Rob put up the dry wall and said, "Do you like it?" I thought for a moment and said, "Well, it's not the purple I would have picked. ... Maybe a magenta would have been better.")

What I've learned about Home Projects this week:

1 - Home Depot is addicting. We haven't yet spent too much money, but I realize why people can and do. (Ex: "You know, while we're at it, ..." and "You know that light I don't really like, here's another one that's cheap and looks TONS better..." and "Since we're already in project mode,..." and...)

2 - Home projects are addicting and exhausting, all at the same time. Loving it. It's fun. But we're both really really tired.

3 - It's not just the project part. It's the set-up. The clean-up. All the normal chores I have to do ON TOP of the project, so we can have a normal life.

4 - It's not necessarily hard work. It's just constant. And consuming. When we have free time together (when the kids are asleep, mainly), the first thing I think is, "Okay! What next?)

5 - Is it possible to have a project done fast enough? I don't think so. Even if this was the fastest project ever, it probably wouldn't be fast enough for me. I like doing it, but I want it done!!

6 - I'm pretty helpless when it comes to most of this stuff. Rob does the heavy-duty stuff that requires either knowledge or strength or both, and I do the clean up. That's better anyway, cause I do the clean up better than he would.

7 - Every part of the project takes at least 3 times longer than you think it would.

8 - The previous owners were obviously Home Depot junkies. I've walked around the store saying, "And that's the light in our kitchen. That's the one on our front porch. That's our pole." etc.

That's enough for today. Here's what our kitchen and dining room look like right now.

Not a great angle for the dining room, I'll admit, but at mid-day, it's what I had. (This is the other side of the wall in the picture that's coming next--it's the wall that's coming down.)

And this is the wall that's coming down: (And for everyone who's been asking: No, it's not a load-bearing wall. But if it is, we'll find out!)

It'll go from top of door frame over to the countertop, and stop a few inches in front of that. Keep the molding, because of tile-finishing issues, for starters. And we're not taking it all the way to the ceiling for various reasons, but that really is what the clincher was for me. Keep it visually 2 seperate spaces, while still creating space. Sweet! ... When the wall is gone, we'll tuck the dishwasher next to the fridge, and that whole space will be open. We'll be able to walk in our kitchen. Imagine that!