If You Ever Felt Like, Totally Ripping The Floor Out, You Would Do This (updated March 5)

More, more, more. Here's what a kitchen floor looks like when it's ripped out and all you have left is boards seperating you from the dirt and mud of the earth.

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Ripped up linoleum looks like this.


This is the tile that was UNDER the linoleum that is OVER the stuff that seperates us from the dirt and animals.


Here's the ripped up floor portion. You basically take a sharp object made for scraping, jam it under there, and start prying. It's not a pretty sound because these were nailed in with many, many nails.


Stuart and Cher investigate the lack of linoleum.


Here's a closer look at that wood under the nice stuff that used to be here.


First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the tarpaper that covers up the floorboards...


Tarpaper a'plenty.


A few before and afters to show you the nitty gritty.

Windowsills look like this

Here are the windows without sills.
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Look, Ma, windowsills!!


Things of beauty...and they're not even finished yet.

Paint Can Cover A Multitude Of Sins

That is really oversimplifying things. First you do the drywall and taping. Then you sand. Then you mud. Then you sand. Then you mud. Then you sand. (Repeat until you become dizzy). Then you paint. We've finally begun painting. Cabinets are coming soon. When I say "coming soon" I mean, "will move from other rooms in our house into the space in which they SHOULD occupy rather than occupy spaces in which they just take up a lot of space".

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The dust you see...an occupational hazard. Just get used to it. Acceptance is much better than denial, people, and the sooner you do it the better.
Here's the red color we're doing the kitchen in. The cabinets are much lighter and will contrast quite nicely (that's what we keep telling ourselves so we can sleep at night anyway).



Here's our Joy's sister Debbie helping out with painting. Chris, her husband, worked at Dunn Edwards and got us hook-ups on paint.


Smile, Debbie! This is a good look at the paint color too...


Looks like a got a little paint in my eye.


This one is as posed as most of those "politician hugs baby" photos.


I call this one "Paintbrush in Plastic on Can: A retrospective."
Waddya think? Art or trash? I like to think it's symbolic of something deep...

And The Walls Came Tumbling Down

Jeff is smiling because today he gets to cut big holes in the wall.
Cutting holes can be a lot of fun.
See Jeff. See Jeff cut. See Jeff smile.
Cut, Jeff, cut.


Ok. There are a few preparations to do before you cut holes.




Tape, Jeff, tape. Good job, Jeff. You tape good!


Behind the plastic.






Before.


After.


Same dramatic results, different angle.

When Ben Franklin Discovered Electricity Did He Have THIS In Mind?

Did you know that rats LIKE the taste of electrical cords?
I did not know that.


We (and when I say "we" I mean Anthony) replaced the rat-chewed wires
with fresh new ones. Mmmmm....electrical wires.

And the drywall went higher and higher

Here's the wall bare as the day it was born.


Here it's getting a new coat of sweet drywall lovin'.


It's finished...well, sort of. It still needs to be "mudded" and sanded. Repeat until finished. "Mudding" is the process of sealing the cracks between the pieces of drywall.



Here's the opening that will look into the living room without drywall.


And, believe it or not, here it is WITH the drywall. I know this is riveting stuff...



I could show you more, but I'm sure you get the point. Oh, ok. Here are a few more. Don't MAKE me take out the photos of our honeymoon in Kuai...I will.

Uh...there's this thing sticking out of our kitchen wall

See, this is what the wall looked like a few days ago.


Today there's this thing sticking out of it.



So, what goes in here? Regular or unleaded?


I have since come to find out that this is so that plumbers can easily get to our sink if it becomes clogged and they have to "snake it". It's common practice to have these outside the wall of the kitchen if you can't easily get to the drain (which we won't be able to do because of the bay windows).

It will be stuccoed (is that a word) over and painted so that it will barely be noticeable. At least, that's the plan. Check back to find out how it goes...