Opening soon

Saturday was a big day. I spent all week, I think, gathering momentum and energy for Saturday, (plus continuing to stalk that sink I want on Amazon), plus fighting back a particularly nasty head cold.  But when Saturday morning came, I was ready. I cleaned off ALL the clutter, moved things out of cabinets and put them under plastic, took glamour shots of the old kitchen which I'll use to sell the cabinets on Craigslist, and finally, summoned Patrick from his den. SHOW TIME. We pulled down the upper cabinets and the soffit from the wall in question, and re-hung three of the uppers on the kitchen's other wall (which will, marvelously, allow me to stay functional in here as we progress.) We pulled out the range hood and capped the wires.

Then I emptied the lowers and put their contents under plastic, and moved them out of the way. Patrick demoed the kitchen side of the wall while I worked on the baseboard and door frame on the dining room side. Lemme tell ya, forged nails that have sat in place for 150+ years are mighty reluctant to budge.  Then, I walked in from the front room to see a happy little saw blade protruding into the dining room. Bzzzzzzzt...

CRASH.

Oh, lath is fabulously messy stuff. So messy. A few years into this regular home improvement game, I am no fool. I plastic-ed off doorways and bookshelves and the dining room table. Sunday morning, after the big show was over, it was deeply, deeply satisfying to crumple up the plastic, take it outside for a shake, and walk back inside to see surfaces that didn't need to be cleaned. 

This was the scene, Sunday morning. Already a big improvement. I feel like I can see the whole house from the kitchen-- standing at the sink, I can practically see the front door!-- and it makes such a big difference. Just being able to see light, and air, and rooms that aren't grungy and dated, makes me immediately more optimistic, being in the kitchen. 

As far as I know, our contractor, Steve, is planning on getting started as soon as he can, this week. He's going to build piers in the crawl space underneath (consider that first on the list of jobs I'm glad I don't have) which will support the big vertical posts he'll build into each side of the wall, which will support the big honking beam he's going to install across the new opening. We're gonna build (or he's going to build, not sure exactly) a big header to conceal the horizontal beam-- and we'll make it big enough to put in some recessed lights, too. It's going to be awesome, and it feels so good to have begun. 
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