The great remodel part 2

   When we first started  getting our hands dirty I had no idea what we were in for. I am convinced that my husband, who dreams in blueprints , was secretly overjoyed at the prospect of a life long project. At one point I offered that I was willing to bulldoze the whole house and set up a triple wide mobile home but my vote was vetoed and the work soon commenced and hasn't stopped since.
   One of my favorite projects was giving the old fireplace a facelift. It went from caveman to elegant  in three days. It was a bit grand for our small living room though, and occasionally we would walk to close to the mantle  and ram our arm into the corner. It was like living with my brothers and the "hurts donut" all over again, we all had bruises on our upper arms for weeks.  We also upgraded to a pellet stove and I was overjoyed to walk over and turn up the thermostat when I was cold. We recently moved the entire fireplace to a different wall.
   When I decided to wall paper the kitchen I had no idea what I was doing. I found a couple rolls at a yard sale and started the project. Boy was that a fiasco. My five dollar wall paper turned into three hundred dollars when I had to "special order" more rolls because I had failed to measure anything.  When it was finished it looked like a garden had thrown up all over my walls, it actually made me feel a little dizzy. Terry, (Mr. White walls), just shook his head and walked away.
   A few things I've learned along the way are building terms like header, floor joist, bearing wall (that one is real important) and sub flooring. There is a difference between a drill and an impact drill but not between a reciprocating saw and a sawzaw. I now know there is more to installing a window than cutting a hole and shoving it in. The words "change order" were always met with a frown and it does matter how many electrical sockets you have in one room. My mag flashlight works just as well as my hammer and if you position the picture right you can hide all your mistake holes.

   Scott taking out the caveman fireplace, Doug holding the wall up.

 

 

 
 

Melody inside removing bricks

 

fireplace out, now what?

 

                                                                                                        This is the finished product, I love it.

 
 























Please try to look past the hottie in the leather jacket for a small sample of my wall paper.