& down come the walls

After the chimney issues and seeing the beams going to nowhere, we decided to tear down the walls. This was a tough job. We ended up getting a massive dumpster brought to the house for all the debris we were tearing out. Troy & I did the wall tear down mostly on our own. Money saved when you demo yourself! My dad was our hero and came out one weekend to help. We finished everything the weekend he was here, and even had our first fire (we burned all the lath we pulled out). We're pretty sure we ingested more dust, insulation and anything else you can have in house. I cannot tell you how happy I was once that part was DONE. Tearing down is only fun for a couple days and then we all think "OKAYYYYYYY we're ready to be done".

As you've probably surmised, we had to remove all the plaster walls. Such a bummer because plaster is always ideal. In this case it wasn't in good shape and the cost of saving it would have been monumental so it just wasn't possible. We removed all the plaster, walls and lath (also removing all the insulation). This brought us to the bare bones of the house. & you know what that meant next - drywall! & I didn't have to do it! YEA!!

Water barrels!

When we first looked at our home I immediately noticed two built in closets in the living room, made from what looked like old barrels. We came to find out upon closing on the house that they were in fact made from old rain barrels (or water barrels I suppose) and literally built into the walls of the home. They are SO COOL. We aren't sure if they came from the well house next to the house or not. Troy & my dad convinced me to remove them (as we had to get to the walls to replace support beams and move the radiator, re-finish floors, etc) and it would open up more space, but it was hard for me! I love them and the historic significance of them. but in the end, they were removed and honestly - it really did open up the room! We still have all the wood and hope to recycle it and make something fantastic for the house. Its such beautiful wood there's no way I will get rid of it.