What's consuming our time & energy these days?!

We've always wanted to remodel our kitchen.  We've been living here for 13 years now.  One day in August, Tim came home and said that a handyman he knows had stopped in the office asking for work.  Tim presented the idea of having him begin the demolition.  After praying about it, we decided it was the right time, finally, to start this project.  Exciting and scary all at the same time, for cautious me anyway!

Our current kitchen was really split up with many doorways and hallways - kind of in 3 separate areas.  This was the "baking corner" and desk area.  It also has the broom closet and the back stairway.

 This was the main kitchen area - pretty much all lined up against one wall

This is a photo from the other direction and shows how the stove was across from the sink with a shallow countertop.  The pantry was also at the end of that counter, but out of this picture.  The hallway leading to the backyard is in the far right corner and the hallway to the half-bath is right next to the stove, as well as the door to the garage.  Basically, the kitchen was a major thoroughfare!

This is the back hallway - a catch-all for coats, shoes, and outdoor toys

The hallway to the garage, on the right, and the half bath straight ahead.

The space was instantly cut in half with plastic and tarps 

The construction zone

The kitchen zone

Removal of the drywall revealed FOUR layers of wall material - drywall, plaster, lathe, and wood

The shell of the half bath before knocking that wall down

 The large horizontal board is the beam Tim and Will made to support where the wall used to be - it says "Built by Timothy and his son, William, on August 28, 2010   Joshua 24:15"  The vertical boards are the temporary "walls" supporting the 2nd floor while the beam was going up

Leveling the floor - there was a 6" difference between the floor height in the hallway and the floor height in the 1/2 bath.  The hallway also sloped downward as you got closer to the door!
Oh, the challenges & joys of having an older home.

The view of the outside from the backyard - cutting the hole for the new window - the old bathroom window was tall and narrow, so you can see where it will have to be patched.

 View from the inside with the new window in and the floor boards down

View from the outside with the new window in and  the door raised up 6".

We've been blessed with the ability to manage this project ourselves and save a TON of money that way. - I'm so fortunate to have a husband who knows this stuff!  And also to be able to continue using the old kitchen throughout the past 3.5 months.  I would have really been struggling if we'd had to eat out all of that time!  In all, I think I went without a stove for 2-3 days, but otherwise, have been able to cook normally.

The demolition began on August 20.  This photo was taken on Sept. 10.  It's progressed a lot since then, but not finished yet.  Stay tuned for more progress!