progress on august 26:

kitchen

rebar installed

progress on august 27:
master bedroom wall exposed

stripped!

progress on august 29:

walking through the front door

master bath

master bath

ready for the weekend?

we need to order the windows and doors soon!

is the house still there?

we think it is. they did more demo to the exterior ...

august 25 - tornado hit our house, or that's what it looks like

see the big beam here:

at the end of the day, it was installed above the kitchen. we needed it since we wanted to open up this load bearing wall:

wow, alot happened in one day ...

fdq stopped by the house 3x today! here's what he saw:

this morning
wall pretty much gone
no more kitchen!
this evening
inside

we're trying to select our windows now. and, of course, there are changes:

• new foundation because existing foundation is falling apart
• new hardwood flooring throughout instead of patching
• light tubes instead of skylight in hallway
• maybe lower the kitchen bay window

sl turns 1!

sl turned 1 year old on august 18th so we visited them to celebrate. as you can see, the girls had a great time together!

smiles all around - they look like sisters!

regifting

wrestling in the park

the interior demo progress

what about the inside? here's how it has progressed in just 2 days.
august 20:

dining wall gone! and the kitchen door too...

then the next day sugust 21:
entry into the hallway appears

hi, fdq and z!
new hallway - bye bye, closet! kitchen cabinets gone
and most of the pink bathroomview of the expanded hallway

z enjoying the front lawn

like her parents, not too impressed with the tree protection

dets on the house

• built in 1920 (master bedroom addition ~1970's)
• 3 bedrooms, 2 baths (although technically a 2 bedroom since you have to enter through a bedroom to get into the master)
• 1,200 sf (1,450 sf after our additon)
• addition: family room and hall bathroom
• remodel: living/dining, kitchen, hallway, laundry, master bathroom - pretty much everything
• cost: $$$ to buy and $$$ to remodel

dets from week 1

they started in the back yard by tearing down the deck and siding. removing the siding revealed some scary stuff.
scary old termite damage

scary old wasp nests

old newspaper circa 1949
they also dug for the new footings.

footing 1
footing 2

it begins!

january 31, 2009 - saw the house for sale
february 11 - bid accepted
march 10 - bought the house
june 1 - submitted plans to city
august 11 - building permit approved
august 13 - demo started!

before
august 16

august 17
august 18
august 19

whole lotta changes

z at 1 week

z at 8 months
life changes when a baby arrives ... dramatically. we don't go out often anymore and when we do, we come home early. i have stayed up past midnight only to take care of z, not to socialize. it's all about the baby. because of her, we bought a house. crazy, but true. all of a sudden, her future was of the utmost importance. we had to buy a house with good schools. after a crazy rollercoaster ride of real estate rigaromole, we bought one. an old one that needs a remodel. behold, the most expensive, oldest thing we've ever bought in our 30-some-odd lives.
home sweet home?

introducing: baby z

mom with baby z

dad with baby z

yes, it's been a long time. and this is why. baby z was born on 11/10/08 at 8:08 am via c-section due to being breeched. she weighed 7 lbs and was 19.88 inches long. she was born with lots of hair - even on her back - eww! check out more photos here and here.