Another Episode of This Old House

Way back when I started this blog, I mentioned that LeGrande and I are doing some renovating in our 70 year old house. It's an ongoing project; beginning with making a door between our bedroom and the bathroom, redoing the floors, ceiling, and walls of our bedroom, and installing CENTRAL A/C and a heat pump back in the fall (THANK GOD for the central A/C!!!!! We've cranked it up already and what a blessing it is! Maybe we can snuggle this summer instead of sleeping as far apart as possible to keep ourselves from heat exhaustion.)

Anyway, the renovation project is now occupying the living and dining rooms. LeGrande cut a hole in the wall between the two previously disconnected rooms and planned on making a doorway. On Memorial Day, he and his dad did this-an arched doorway between our living and dining rooms. You are looking into the dining room.

I think it looks great! My job, other than feeding my hunky handyman, is to put wood putty in the nail holes. Once he finishes putting up moulding I will paint, which I love to do. It will be nice to be able to do it this summer while I am out of school...I feel like I need a project or two to put my energy towards after the emotional turmoil of the past month.

Tonight LeGrande began to tackle the next project...cutting out the back wall of a closet in our dining room so that it can become a pantry in our kitchen. Once he finishes, he will put a new piece of sheet rock on the dining room wall so that the hole won't ever be visible!

Here's the "before" picture of the closet as it looked from the dining room. Of course it had a door on it, and the back of the closet had sheetrock and shelving, but I did not get a photo of that.

And here's our kitchen before the big cut. The pantry will go in to the left of the stove.

The hunky handyman using the new jigsaw I gave him for our upcoming wedding anniversary to cut the wall out...

Once the sawing was finished, he pushed the wall out and we were left with a little walkway between the kitchen and dining room. I have used it several times tonight, wishing we could have a little secret passageway between the two rooms instead of a pantry. It would be like living in the Clue mansion! I fear though, that with the momentum that he has built up, that the sheet rock will be in place before the end of the week and my dream of the Clue mansion will be history. Oh well, at least I will have a real pantry. No more getting hit with falling tea boxes or spice jars when I open the cabinet we use for a pantry now! Stop by later for updates on the renovations!