Let there be LIGHT!!

Three two things happened. 

1. The electric was run in the kitchen, meaning we now have four new cans in the ceiling. 

2. We had a fan installed in the bathroom.

3. We got a new kitchen window AND a new bathroom window. Boom.

New kitchen window from the outside

New kitchen window from the inside

New bathroom window from the outside

New bathroom window from the inside

& look, it has privacy glass so I don't have to use press n' seal anymore! You know you loved it. Come on, it was a pretty smarty pants idea!

New lights in the kitchen ceiling. I've never had recessed lighting so this will be pretty cool for me and also be good for the room, as anything hanging from the ceiling wouldn't work out due to height constraints.

& last but not least, the new bathroom fan.

The bathroom is going to be the next project but there's definitely going to be a pretty big lapse in time before that happens. I mean we will probably drywall and seal it up but as far as floor and tub and sink and all that jazz, we're going to wait for a little bit. I can handle a janky bathroom for a little while. But I want my kitchen!! 

The most exciting part of my week - DRYWALL!!

The kitchen has *drumroll please* DRYWALL! Its 80% finished. The mudding will happen when the rest of the drywall is in place. Saying that we are excited is an understatement. We are more than ready to have a kitchen and put our home together. To have a flow to this house!! 

The outside of the house, near the kitchen, is still full of materials. Concrete, wood, dirt. The dogs literally hang out there. They think their on vacation. It's random what dogs think are the coolest places in the world. But hey, whatever keeps them busy.

Onto this kitchen - yes!!

We decided to close the gap that exposed the stairs. As far as tying everything together, it made sense. It would have been great to have the exposed look but cleaner lines won on this one.

We also rose the door way quite significantly (I may have mentioned that before). I LOVE IT. It makes everything just feel so much more open and larger. Great decision. (The view is looking towards the basement stairs. Side door on the right, stairs on the left)

In order to fit the cabinets into the new space, we had to bring in the entryway space a little bit. You can see in the photos where the new beams have been put in (drywalls up on the left side). You can especially tell by where the top beam now is, as that used to perfectly framed the entryway. 

I cant wait to see what the whole space looks like WITH the cabinets. Let's all cross our fingers for the next couple of weeks. & then that tarp is coming DOWN. 

It's so close I can taste the food that I will be cooking!! 

Oh I hadn't mentioned the bathroom?

Ahhh yes, the bathroom. Since the kitchen is adjacent to the bathroom, when all these foundation issues happened it also affected the bathroom. Hey, another reno we can start early! 

So as you can see, the two rooms are directly next to one another., separated (obviously) by a wall.

This meant that replacing the kitchen wall and putting in the foundation meant we had no choice but to address the bathroom as well. So we cleaned out our ONLY BATHROOM and the cabinets and walls came down. New framing was put in (below is where the new window will go, it was awkwardly in the shower before). I feel like Im up north for some reason. In a cabin. In the woods. 

^^^ you can see the new foundation right there in the photo above. Anything to keep the mice out!

We will get insulation and dry wall put up, but for now it's just a awesome, empty bathroom. Luckily Troy and I are pretty darn easy when it comes to this stuff, so Im not minding too much that its like this. The shower is the hardest part. The toilet still works and we have a sink so this will do for now.

We got insulation!!!!

This is a pretty big day. We came home this afternoon from a weekend away and a few things happened that are pretty exciting in terms of getting this kitchen done. #1, the new door is up. & I LOVE it. It actually opens and closes and looks awesome.

Our door before: (I couldn't find one of it actually on the hinges in the space, so this will do for now. Also, does anyone want an old door?)

Our door after:

I just love it & think it looks fantastic. & as I said, it opens. Which is always a bonus.

Ok #2 fun thing that has happened - our kitchen (& bathroom) have been insulated! We had the foam sprayed in both rooms over the weekend. Since we as well as the dogs were gone, and it can get pretty fumey, it was the best time to do it. 

The kitchen is really coming together now. Another piece of the puzzle done! 

Here is the bathroom first (everything is wrapped up now, as far as walls and ceiling. I know the curtain rod set up is something you all envy).

& now the kitchen. I apologize for the poor lighting. Its all tarped off and the only light is from the door so I did the best I could.

So this is looking up into the ceiling. Those are the beams that our new ceiling will be on.

This is looking at the new window. To the left is the new door. 

We raised up the doorway significantly. Since we thought we were getting tons of height in the kitchen, and now are not, this helps make things feel a bit bigger. I love the idea of opening it up.

This is looking to the door and the stairs going down into the basement. 

Again, looking at the new kitchen window and the right wall (which the bathroom is behind) of the kitchen.

The new beams running across the ceiling.

Looking down the basement stairs, which is right off the kitchen. We were toying with keeping the stairs open. They are in really good shape and just require a little bit of clean up. Depending how the drywall will go in the area, we'll see what happens. 

Big things happening over here at the farmhouse! Electric will start in the next couple days and drywall is set to get started on Tuesday. We might have a kitchen soon enough!! 

A new foundation & a kitchen wall

So with the new foundation laid, in the ground and buried, a new wall was put up on the house. PROGRESS!

Look it how nice that new foundation looks!!! So fancy. 

Now we're all wrapped and ready for new siding. We will install the door real soon, as we had to wait for the wall to be all in place before putting it in. Again, progress!!!

Although our yard looks like a building supply area. Anyone need materials? I mean really, what do we do with all this stuff? Gese louise.

Oh, the foundation needs to be replaced.

I keep doing this whole "where did I leave off?" thing, but seriously - where did I leave off?

So the beam that was placed in the kitchen has done the job at lifting the roof line. However while discovering all the roof issues, we ended up having to tear down the entire kitchen wall because of foundation issues. Hurray. The journey continues.

The picture below is when the wall started being torn away. The beams you see are still supporting the roofline and at that point really, the wall. The bottom siding of the house had been removed in order to replace and repair the footing of the foundation.

Watching the wall being torn down was terrifying. I think in the back of our minds we knew that it would be bad, that there was more hiding behind that wall. but again, we knew we were getting into this when we bought the house so even though all of this has been madness, it's been somewhat expected.

The huge concrete slab that was kind of "patio" was making it hard to really see and/or fix the issues in the foundation. So it was decided it all had to come up. I was OK with this, as it was pretty ugly and would have been replaced later. You never know how much concrete you have until it has to go away.

Once the concrete was all gone, more of the walls were removed and it was determined that a new foundation wall had to be built. This literally HAD to be done, as the kitchen floor was essentially floating. So a trench was dug and the building of a new wall began.

& yes, that's totally the inside of the house you see. 

As much as a pain this all is, we are lucky that these issues were discovered before we put in a new kitchen. I couldnt have imagined the floor giving out on a new kitchen, and having to deal with it then. We're very fortunate that all these things will be taken care of and we dont have to worry about it again.