Before we begin...

July 25, 2012

Wow, had to face unpacking all of the boxes we packed up before we left.  I think there were forty down in the basement another fifteen in Jason's room.  We've spent the last few weeks going through most of them.  It is funny because we got rid of EVERYTHING we wanted to get rid of before we packed up the boxes.  After living in Italy for six months and having very little, I come home and see how very little we need.  As I unpack the boxes, at least half goes into the "Don't Need" pile.  I have been hanging on to most of it for sentimental reasons.  So began the big clearing out.  We ended up having a garage sale and most everything went.  It feels so much lighter now.

Some of the boxes I started to unpack, bur realized I was about to unpack them into a kitchen that was going to be remodeled, which means I would be packing it all back up again.  I just took those boxes right back down to the basement.  Then I realized we were remodeling the basement too, so up to Jason's room they went.  (he has the most room for extra stuff).

We had an office in the basement, and so we got rid of everything in that too.  We ended up cleaning out our file cabinet and shredding stuff with important information on it.  Look how much shredding we did...  

We boxed up all of the things like paint and art supplies and shelves of extra stuff we hang on to.  Finally, the basement has been cleared of all of our STUFF that we just threw down there.  This is what it looks like now, before we begin... This just as you come down to the bottom of the stairs.  That open space off to the left is where I stored all of my food because there is currently no space in my kitchen for food.

Standing on the stairs looking out, you can see the doorway to the office on the right, and the monstrosity of a furnace on the left.

As I turn from the stairs, I can see the door opposite that leads outside to a staircase up to the back deck.  To the left of the door is where we had a wall of shelves that were completely full of our STUFF.

The basement office had a desk, old mac computer, file cabinet, and shelves full of STUFF.  Seems weird it is so empty.  The pipe you see drains from our second floor.  This will end up behind a wall so that I don't have to look at it anymore!

 From the office looking out to the stairs.

Under the stairs we have our extra refrigerator and an enormous electrical panel.

If I walk past the refrigerator and turn around and look at the center of the basement, I see... AAAAAhhhhhhh, What is it???   It is EVERYthing but the kitchen sink...  The chimney runs all the way up through the kitchen (using up valuable space) and up through the second floor as well.  All of our "equipment" is in the center of the room surrounding said chimney;  What a waste of space...  We are going to get rid of the chimney.

Past the chimney is where our old washer/dryer used to be.  It is thankfully on the main floor now so that I don't have to do laundry in the creepy basement.  Those barrels store water... Yep, we have to empty them out so we can remove them from the basement.

Moving around the chimney you can see what we fondly refer to as "The Throne" as it is up on a pedestal and everything.  It is actually a working toilet, so in case of emergencies, (during big parties and such) we have five working toilets on site.

The water softener hugs the other side of the chimney...

Standing at the water barrels looking back at the refrigerator, you can see an opening in the cement.  This leads under our dining room.  This is where we are going to dig out BY HAND (really, using a jackhammer and carrying the dirt out in buckets) a space for an equipment room.  So all of that "equipment" you see in the center of the basement will go hidden away under the dining room.

 Moving upstairs...  This is the view of what we used to call our breakfast room.  It had a tall table and four chairs in it.  The only problem is that it's main function was to gather all of our junk.  We could never really use it for breakfast because the table was always full of our STUFF.  Man, we sure do seem to have a lot of it...

Oops, that view was a bit fuzzy... kind of how I am feeling at the moment.  I left it in because it shows the beautiful arch that I love so much.  Here is a clearer view sans arch...The doorway leads to the living room beyond.  That whole wall with the door in it will be gone leaving it open to the living room which lies mostly to the right.

Everything looks a bit bare because I have taken down all of the decorations because next week the demolition of some of the walls begins...  I left all the STUFF on the counters because that is just how it is at the moment.  There is nowhere near enough counter space now.  Still, it is a cute kitchen. The dining room is through the second arch.

Here it the other side.  I should have included a picture of the inside of the refrigerator as it is hanging on by a thread...well, the thing is actually completely duct taped together inside, so perhaps "thread" is not the correct word.

This is the view from the dining room.

This may just be the very last time I scrub this floor on my hands and knees.  Hallelujah.

 This is our music room which we are going to make smaller.  The wall that the piano is on will be moved almost three feet to the left of where it is now, making more room in the kitchen.

Then it is on to the living room.  We have been debating about the World Map.  It took us FOREVER to paint it, but I really don't like the colors, so I want it gone.  David wants to keep it.  That is actually a mirror on the right that is reflecting the map, no, we don't have two maps up...

We have to put a new window in here because this one doesn't open, and we want to be able to have fresh air..

This window (on the left) will be removed and a smaller window put next to the fireplace.  The rest of that corner area will be enclosed so that you don't have to look at all of our coats and shoes when you come over to visit...

That big white closet will be removed and there will be a window to to the outside there.  The left part of that wall will be gone and it will all be open to the kitchen.

So, that is the tour of the house as we prepare for the remodel.  Hope you enjoy the journey with us!
~Mary