So...is this up to code?

 Demo continues on our new old farmhouse...

Having to remove all trim in dining, front room and a couple others so we can take old dry wall out and repair damage.

 T has been hard at work tearing things up (in a good way) when he has the time to get over there for a day. Ok, I take a little responsibility for this "has the time" thing...for some reason (4 boys) I like to get away occasionally (4 boys) and leave him and the kids (4 boys) together...you know, they need bonding time, right? 

Yes, I live with 4 boys. 

And I'm a girl. 
It's rather stinky. literally. as in my whole house.

It's not as easy as I make it appear.

(insert HUGE GUFFAWING LAUGH here)

Back to business...we are a day away (I think...I hope...) from either choosing our general contractor or becoming our own general contractor.  After one more meeting tomorrow, T should have a decision (and he's reading this so yes, honey...take the hint). 

The main pro of having an outside contractor: someone else running and supervising all jobs needed (tiling, framing, electrical, plumbing, etc...) and dealing with all of the issues.

The main con of having an outside contractor: you are paying approx 10-15% of total budget to them as their fee, therefore losing money that could be spent on other renovations.

Either way, we hope to get things finally underway in the next couple of weeks, besides just demo, although as T says, it's a good thing we have had to wait on contractors because he needs to get the house ready for them to work anyway. 

So up today are some fun demo pics! 

T discovered a fanastic ceiling in part of the kitchen. 

We are thinking this may have been a porch originally or some type of outdoor space or walkin because as you can see the wood ends right where the future laundry room wall connects with the dining room wall and where newer framing is by the current back door. As well as the spot where an old door used to lead to the current garage...all kind of connects.

 We were a bit bummed it didn't cover the entire kitchen ceiling, however we may now finish out the kitchen with the same wood. And of course, I'm really really hoping we can keep it original in the laundry.  Yea, yea...lead paint...so the plan is (interpret to mean MY plan...not T approved yet) to sand it down a little and put a poly coat on it to irradicate lead fears and keep vintage look.

We aren't quite sure if this is up to code...no? 

nice, open wires.

And everyone has a lightswitch in their ceiling...yes?

not sure I want to know what that turns on and off...

T has also completely demo'd the old fake fireplace (it was a working gas fireplace but no chimney, etc...) and bookshelves out of the front room.  

We have decided not to enlarge the front room for now, we like the smaller, cozy size and still plan to put a full fireplace where the large window currently resides. This will give us the chance to put a brick chimney outside enhancing the curb appeal on the front. 

large window will become fireplace...side windows will stay.

He was able to keep most of the older bricks and we will reuse them as the brick front of the new fireplace :-)

Oh and fun find...along with those exposed wires in the kitchen...T also found a really old half-smoked cigar stuck behind the old mantle.  No joke.  

How does that even happen?  

"Hey, anyone seen my cigar? I left it on the mantle just a few minutes ago.  Oh well, I'll just light up another..." 

It's a wonder this house is still standing.

Anyway...Slowly but surely, this place is changing for the better :-)  It's looking more like home.

In the meantime, we are LOVING the pond...

This kid LOVES walking around the woods.  Yes, I realize his strap has slipped around the carrier leaving him a bit open on the side, we fixed it as soon as we saw the pic I promise.

the animals we are still discovering...

This isn't the favorite catfish but he's a good representative of the 30 or so we think are in there. 

Our lone duck

we think this is a Kingfisher

We have an albino catfish now lovingly called "Whitey", they boys (including T) talk about him like he's their long lost pet. Hard to see here, but he won't come close for a selfie yet. ;-)

 and walking the property. 

It's truly a relaxing place and I can't wait to live there.

Oh...and here's another teaser on my new tub...the color on the outside of it, I LOVE it.  Picture doesn't do it justice, it's a little darker in person.  It's not navy or bright blue or even midnight, it's just a perfect color. This is also the color that is on the bottom of the sink for our bathroom too :-)