Living in Marsh

We now live in our house and are loving every minute of it.  The sink leaks, the floors have holes, and the backyard is full of dirty dirt that gets tracked in the house and that's okay.  Two of the things we are most excited about (that we didn't even realize we had when we purchased the house) is the turret and the 6ft plus pocket door. 

 The pocket door had been painted to the point where it was sealed shut and the framing used around the door enclosed the sliding mechanism.  Sean used a heat gun to melt the glue and opened up the framing.  We had to dig out all the lath and plaster from inside the wall so it can slide but we got it out and it is an amazing condition!  

The turret in the entry way was visible from the outside of the house but the top 5 feet was enclosed (as you can see where

 the framing stops in the pic).  When we opened the living room up we noticed the turret was open as well.  We immediately knew we wanted to open it up.  As you can see it has a couple amazing windows which allow natural light in.  Its also about 15 feet tall in the center! Such an amazing entry way.  I don't know why anyone would ever want to close this up.

In order to take the wall down that separated the kitchen from the living room we had to put a beam up to hold the load.  Sean (and Jessie and his buddy Wally) put up temporary walls to support the original framing, removed the old framing, then put a beam in.

Temp Framing

New Beam! Bam!

View from the kitchen into the living room- and that amazing pocket door with a little better perspective on how huge it is!

Obviously since we are now living in our house, Sean had to build me a kitchen.  Luckily, Sean had some lovely metal, very red cabinets and a sink laying around from a prior house remodel through work.  They work perfectly for our temp kitchen.  

I don't know how this dog happens to get into so many pictures I take.  This is a view of our temp kitchen that is going to get
 us through this remodel.  Very glamorous, I know.  But best of all it was free!  The refrigerator was from a friend who didn't want it because of the huge head-butt dent in the freezer, but it works great!  We have been using old rugs to help cover some of the holes in the floor that need to be replaced and make it a little more comfortable.  

These are the stain options for the flooring.  Quite a bit in the distance but we keep looking at them.  I think the picture
 makes them look a little darker than they are, we are leaning to the top color.  Its very natural and will look amazing with our white cabinets... which we will have eventually...

OUR LIVING SPACE:

Sean put up new drywall under the window in this room and filled cracks.  His dad textured the walls
 and my dad primed and painted.  We threw in a couple rugs, dog beds and lamps and called it a day.  We needed a safe room 
among the chaos and this room was in the best shape.  If we do end up redoing the bedrooms it will be after everything else is completed.

    Since there are no closets in the house (yet) we have a "dressing room."  This is also obviously temporary but it gives you a good idea of what were living with.  Once we start working on the bathroom that is adjacent to this room we have to move this all to the porch. Notice the nasty walls, which we haven't done anything to.  

This is our hugggge enclosed porch.  Yes, our couch and kitchen table fit on it with room to spare (not pictured is also our coffee table)  We spent a lot of time cleaning this area and making it "feel good" since it will also be towards the last of things to change.

Happy dogs in their new house.  No, we don't make them match their bedding, they prefer to match and do it on their own.  

We also got front a front loading washer and dryer!  I am 100% excited about these and have done so much laundry since we got them installed.  I love them.  They are in a temporary located right now (pushed against the wall).  Eventually they will be stacked on the other side of this room, we think.