The project begins

Once the chimney came out we had to move forward with our project.  Rob and I have both been so excited about actually starting the kitchen remodel.   And so the day after Christmas, as soon as we could technically take down the decorations, the work began.  And boy howdy....did it begin!

 First the cabinets got cleared out

 Then the walls started tumblin' down!

 and the floor came up and that beautfiul linoleum that we worked so hard to cover a few years ago reared it's ugly head!

 And then the wall was gone!  That there will be an island someday soon.

 The plastic went up because the ceiling was coming down.  Oh the ceiling!  I think that the insulation has taken years off all of our lives.

 We discovered that we had had a mini fire at some point in the light over the old sink.  Thank goodness for fire retardant insulation.

And here's a look at some of the wiring we found buried in the walls.  Um....is that to code?

We've learned a lot about the house.  Turns out the front part of the house, the living and dining area, was an addition,  You can tell by the roof line up in the attic and the changes in flooring.  The beams in the attic we also used when they poured the concrete forms for the house.  There has never been any insulation in any of our outside walls.  The holes were drilled for blown in insulation and then it never got blowed in....

We are also learning a lot about home remodels.  1...Basically...we could do little without my dad.  Rob's a good worker but I'm basically a grunt that can break down cabinets for the dumpster, by new appliances and sweep.  2...Patience is your best friend. I didn't think that the dust would be this bad but oh the dust!  It's really inevitable and totally makes sense it's just that when you are dusting things off twice a day you really get an idea for how much dust there is.  3...Rob and I struggle with decisions.  Enough said.  We can't make them.  It's not that one of us doesn't agree with the other it's just that the two of us can't decide on anything!  We are SOO excited though for the end result.  It's so much fun watching it all come together.