re-beginning

Well, let me explain...

Thomas has been super busy at real work.

And we got to take a Fall beach trip to Charleston with the White side of the family! It was pretty cold and super windy, but nice to get away and be together.

Micah babe dressed very warmly for playing in the sand. Seriously. He wore this on the beach. But he loved feeling and tasting the sand!

Thomas spent the last 3 weeks trying to get downtown to the permit office, but couldn't take any time off from work to go. He didn't want to do too much work at Hobbs and get in trouble with permits later. We will be completing the project in two phases/permits. First we will work on remodeling the current structure. Then we will work on removing the front room to meet historical standards and repairing/expanding the laundry room into another bathroom and a mud room.

Last week, Thomas finally had enough time to obtain our first permit. So Saturday morning he was ready to begin demo in the kitchen and main room. He woke up at 5:00 am. When I got up at 6:00, he was standing at our front door, looking out the window at Hobbs house. He reminded me of a kid on Christmas morning waiting to open a present. He was so excited to re-begin :)

The kitchen cabinets and appliances came out relatively easily.

As it turns out, the beams that we thought were plastic in the kitchen were styrofoam. It will be nice to have real materials someday :)

The "fireplace" did not come out easily at all! Thomas took this photo sequence of Walker trying to attack the fireplace with a 20 lb. sledge hammer. He said it just bounced right back. As it turns out, each plastic brick was individually glued to an incredibly sturdy structure.

Thomas says he is getting a little tired of Hobbs' obsession with fastening things.

The boys spent a lot of the day taking down layers of sheet rock, plaster, etc. The goal was to get the walls down to the studs so that they are ready for new electrical wiring.

I am amazed at how much better it smells already!

One of the last tasks was to remove the drop ceiling in the living room. Once again, it was very securely built.

It was surprising to discover that the wall paneling and the fireplace bricks went up to the original 12 ft. ceiling. The drop ceiling must have been a much later addition and was probably to preserve heat, considering it is one of the only parts of the house that was insulated.

It was also surprising that the original ceiling looks great underneath. A few patches and new paint should do.

By the end of the weekend we almost filled a second dumpster. I love how the insulation looks like pink icing on a cake. 

And here is a peak at what it looks like now as we were showing Jan, Hugh and Micah babe.

Today was Thomas' birthday. And all he wanted was to go tear up a wall after work. So I took the babe for a walk and he went to swing a hammer. What a different time of life :)