July 14, 2009

And the Walls Came Tumbling Down

We are making progress. It's weird to have someone workign on my house for me. I've never done it that way. Usually we are moving in the second we've signed on the dotted line and then living amongst the dust and the paint splattered clothing and the weekend/late night projects. We still have the late night/weekend projects, but it feels, I don't know, very grown up, I guess, to have contractors and painters doing things that we either would have tried to do our selves or only dream of doing. Not that we arent' doing projects. ALL THE TIME. which is why I've neglected my poor little blog.

Yesterday the A/C went in, leaving behind a cooler house, a far too complicated digital touch screen thermostat and a spot where there will be an exposed heating duct. When the wall came down betwen the kitchen and the dining room it turned out that the main duct to the upstairs ran right through the middle of it. After listening to all the "we could knock out this plaster or that wall and put it there's" we put out the idea of having the duct running up the outside of the wall. the kitchen will have a slightly industrial edge to it anyhow, so why not. I overheard the contractor tell the A/C guys what we wanted and then followed up with "look, he's an architect, they want an insustrial style kitchen, he knows what he wants, so just do it." We didn't know we had that kind of pull....

Now that the wall is out and the ugly old refrigerator has been hauled away (thank you craigslist!) we can finally get a clearer picture of what we will have. It's hard to see in photos so you'll just have to take my word for it but it changes the whole house. And once we put in the salvaged hardwood flooring that I scored at Habitat for Humanity (perfect match thank you very much!) you wont know you're in the same house. My only concern is that Briton seems worried that the house will fall down with out the wall, so somehow we're going to have to convince him of the strength of the pretty little glue-lam beam that runs across the ceiling where the wall once stood. (I want it exposed but it won't go with the look of the room, ah well, maybe just one exposed part is the right way to go....sigh...)

Yesterday I wallpapered two roller shades for our room with the last of my Orla Kiely wallpaper and I would have a picture of that for you but the airheaded woman who cut the roller shades for me at Lowes took out all the hardware and didn't put it back, and I havent' made it back up there yet. Lowes is my enemy. I know I'll be spending a lot of time there for the next year or so, but ohhh, how I dislike that place. It shoudl be called Slows not Lowes.

Ok, back to work, bags to pack, laundry to fold. junk food to buy for my husband to eat while I'm out of town for the next five days. More pictures coming soon!