The chimney is gone...

The original chimney from the kitchen is now residing in pieces in our backyard along with all the stucco and insulbrick from the back bedroom. The contractors put plywood and then tyvek over it yesterday. It looks loads better (which wasn't difficult). Now we are onto the electrical plan and the fireplace.

Second Floor...

We were trying to avoid work on the second floor, but given that the stucco is in such bad shape we need to remove it and put the Hardie plank siding on it instead. The second floor will also be receiving a much needed new window- the current one is a salvage (I am using this term lightly) from an old home and in absolutely decrepit condition.

Now I have to decide on countertops for the kitchen. While I love the idea of silestone (engineered quartz), the cost is pretty prohibitive and we are leaning back towards natural stone... carrara marble is what we both love but I am wary of the upkeep.

The Walls are Up!!!

Windows and doors arrived...

The windows and door arrived for the back bay window and door. The crew made some good progress this week on getting the framing started. They needed to as we are having the final kitchen measuring on Monday. Then we get to plunk down the down payment on the kitchen....

Today is the first day that I can really see how everything is going to fit together. I can imagine sitting on the couch looking out the window at the kids playing in the backyard. It's going to be great!

Starting to look like a house again

The framing is going well and we have the layout for the worlds smallest powder room. However we get the benefit of a ground floor bathroom, we cannot wait!
The chimney that was causing us potential grief (aka money) appears to no longer be an issue as from what I can tell the thing is currently laid to waste in our backyard.
Portugal won the game today, I am guessing this must have inspired our carpenters!

Back to the studs...

The drywall is gone and we are back to the original studs (well original for the most part). More wonderful knob and tube and no insulation on the common wall. We will be taking care of the knob and tube and insulating the heck out of the common wall.
The old subfloor is in pretty good shape and is beautiful random width pine, amazing that such nice wood was used as a subfloor.
Framing should start soon.