The darkest hour is just before dawn

Not a lot of explanation required for these pictures.

Standing near front door looking through old living room and garage to the back corner where the Paris Bistro kitchen was.

Standing in hall bath looking into master bedroom.

Standing in what used to be the garage looking toward living room and hallway. Note the giant stack of popcorn ceiling debris in the foreground.

Anyway, as the Mamas and the Papas said, the darkest hour is just before dawn. It can't actually look worse than it does right now. So it's all downhill from here! Or uphill? How does that saying work again?

Let the destruction begin

This week we got concrete slab poured for the additions, and got underway with demo! The Paris Bistro kitchen is now just a memory.

Pictures from this week:



Breakfast room bump-out onto patio:



Oh wait, that's not a house picture. But she sure is cute.

Beautiful finished slab!

And here comes the demo.

The water line to the fridge wouldn't shut off altogether, so the kitchen turned into kind of a yucky muddy mess. We've found that the walls in the house aren't sheet rock, they're nasty paneling that has been textured over and painted. However, the old paneling was untouched behind the kitchen cabinets. So there's a new plan - tear out the walls, too. The house is going down to the studs.

Behind the oven - the house comes with a free spatula!

The current state of the "master bath".

And the "master bedroom".

Carpet rolled up and pad exposed in living room.

Kitchen just about done.

Action shot of the walls starting to get taken out.

Next week I anticipate... more of the same. Lots and lots more.

You're Welcome, Central Texas

This is big news. It's huge. I've figured out the way to end a historic 12 month drought. Just break ground on new construction, and the skies will open and pour forth their bounty.

So here's some pictures of the mess from this morning after the glorious rain, and some pictures from earlier in the week. The trenches are going to have to be pumped out to be able to resume work.

I'm not complaining about the rain. God knows I've been complaining about the LACK of it for months. The dying trees and plants, the poor birds and squirrels and deer and even the coyotes, everyone has suffered. I loved driving to check on the house this morning and seeing birds and squirrels frolicking in the puddles along the sides of the road. Little do they know that they have ME to thank for it! You're welcome, little squirrels!






From earlier in the week:





It's a huge mess, but at least we're under way. Thank you, God, for the rain. Could we try to keep it down to just a few major deluges until our house is done? Thank you, Amen.

Kitchen cabinet antici.......pation

I blogged earlier about the impending kitchen demo. Let's take a look again at the teeeny tiny green Paris bistro kitchen.

No, really, that's it. That is the entire kitchen. (cue the screams of all the bakers reading this).

Everything you see there is getting blown up, including the wall on the right. So clear your mind.

Take a few cleansing breaths.

In through the nose, out through the mouth.

Here is Madison Cabinets' preliminary drawing of my new kitchen. Some things will change, but this is substantially the way it's going to be.

The finish will likely be worn or distressed white or deep cream, possibly with a different natural finish on the island. I am LOVING having the opportunity to design custom cabinets!

Demo begins Monday!