Demo and Redo

 We have talked about expanding the main living area for the last several years. When Moriah moved out, Julia moved downstairs to her old room and the dining room is now expanding into Julia's old purple room. JD cut costs by doing the demo himself. This is a load bearing wall, so we had a design engineer sign off on JD's plans. 

We host a church home group in our home every Friday. This was about 1.5 hours before guests were due to arrive one Friday. We had everyone working very hard to have it cleaned up before arrival time. Yes, we have continued to meet with the half walls, etc, but are going to have tonight and next week off as it will be even more unlivable. 

This is the view from the kitchen. 

After the walls were down, we removed the glass cabinets that were between the kitchen and dining room. It's so much better open now.

The one break that JD was out of town, Alei and I painted the hutch - 

The island is actually going to go down in width where the bar stools are in the middle of the kitchen and the counter here will extend for bar stool seating. 

After much trial and debate, I decided to go with painting the current cabinets over staining or replacing. They are good quality cherry but very, very worn by a dozen children over a dozen years. After research, I went with the Dixie Belle chalk paint regime that is many coats, but I'm confident it will last.

The outside has gone from brown to "fluff". 

The island is "gravel road," - the doors will all be sprayed in the backyard. The rush for the cabinet frames was to get them some curing time before the new countertops come in next Thurdsay. There won't be any doors back on, or drawers inserted, until close to Thanksgiving as they take 21 days to cure.

 We have the building guys starting Monday on moving a few doors, installing a new large window, putting in a woodburning stove and a few other exciting things before the new floors go in. The goal is to be down by Thanksgiving!