More renovation news

After two weeks, the renovations in the kitchen are going great. The drywall and ceramic floor have been installed. We've got a new back door. Now we just have to paint the walls, and wait for the cabinets to be delivered next week.

And as of this weekend, our stairs and upstairs hallway have also been refinished. Of course, we had to spend a few nights with our friends Karen & Shawn while all this was being done. (Chemical fumes and pregnant ladies don't mix.)

Here are the latest photos:

New back door:



New beam between the kitchen and living room:



New floorboards where the wall used to be:



High-top bar built in the open space:



High-top bar (looking back into the dining room)



Ceramic floor installed:







Stairs re-finished:





And -- best of all -- the black crud is finally gone from the hallway upstairs!

More photos of the kitchen

The contractors are finished with the first week of work on the kitchen. So far, they've gutted the walls, ripped out the wall between the kitchen and dining room, re-done most of the electric, ripped up the layers upon layers of flooring, replaced the kitchen window, and put up drywall. Not too shabby for 5-days work.

In the meantime, we're living exclusively upstairs. But hopefully by next weekend, we'll be able to start cleaning up and moving back to the 1st floor.

Here's our upstairs "kitchen":


And here's our upstairs "dishwasher":


And here's how things are coming along downstairs:

Gutted kitchen walls...


Dining room wall removed...


New box window...


Drywall installed...


New inset lights in the ceiling...



Next week, the contractors will put the finishing touches on the wall and install our new tile floors. At the same time, we're also having our stairs and upstairs hallway re-sanded. After that, we might actually be able to move back downstairs. Hooray!

Demolition Day!

If you've never been to see our house in person and you've been reading our blog, you may have wondered: "Why are there no pictures of the kitchen?". Well, lets just say the kitchen wasn't exactly one of the house's finest selling points.

In September we started planning, re-planning, and re-re-planning our kitchen renovation. A few weeks ago, Ariella cooked up a month's worth of food to store in our basement fridge.



Yesterday, we moved all the pots, pans and plates to the basement, took down our curtains, put a tarp over the sofa, and set up house entirely on our 2nd floor. And today (after nearly 10 months of living without a dishwasher) our contractor finally started demolition.

After one day, what was once an ugly kitchen is now... well... a really ugly kitchen. But by March, it'll be our dream kitchen. Here are some photos from day one.

Corner cabinets before:



Corner cabinets after:



View from the dining room before:



View from the dining room after:



View from the kitchen before:



View from the kitchen after: