Do you believe in magic????

I definitely do!  Whether we are talking about strange magnetic forces at certain times of the year (Haloween of course!) that can make a broom stand on its own...

or the demolition of things that just shouldn't be.  Both are magical in their very own way!

I have finally had a chance to download the pictures of the demolition to share with all of you.  I promise to take pictures of underneath the house to show all the cinder blocks we have moved and used.  But until then, here are some before and after shots of everything....

Kitchen Before...

During...

.

Above is my sweet dad getting in on the demo action.

After...

We took out everything, including the loft! 

It is so open now!  I am looking at putting some track lighting in.  My dad likes the little lights, I like the pendent lights, especially this that I found at Home Depot.

In the next picture, you can see what our next job will be to tackle...rewiring the electricity and rerunning the plumbing.  They are currently running side-by-side.  Yikes!  And yes, we did have a small flood, but thank goodness we had turned off the electricity first.

The Living Room/Offic/Dining Room has gotten a face lift. 

Dad said, "This wall is really bothering me.  What would you say about opening it up and tearing it down?"

My reply, "I'm good with anything.  If something is wrong, you will be the one that has to fix it anyway."

So, what happens next?  Down comes the wall!  TIMBER!!!!!  (But he was so right!  It looks so much better. 

Before....

There was a partial wall that seperated the office (above) from the living room (below).

During....

No cabinets!

Wall coming down!

Almost gone!

Getting down to the subfloor!

Yes, you saw right.  That is 1/2" insulation sheets and 1/8" plywood that the builder polyurethened after putting down.  And can I just say that there were at least 15 million nails in the floor!!!!

Finally, a clean slate!!!

Downstairs, we took out the "bathroom" that the builder had put in and removed the shower stall.  However, we found out it would not fit through the exterior door to get rid of it.  So what do we do?  Let Aaron (one of my best friend's loaned me her son for a few days) have at it with an axe.  Afterwards I received a big hug and he said, "Burnsey, thanks for making my Spring Break so great!"  Who would have thought givin a teenage boy an axe and sledge hammer and letting him destroy things would bring him such joy.  He just kept laughing and saying over and over, "I love my job!"

Before....

During...

After...

The Craft Room....

Darlene, Aaron's mom and one of my besties, came over and took a look around.  The bubbles on my craft wall were driving her absolutely insane (she is so OCD & I love her for it!).  You could still see the pencil marks on the outer edges of the "bubbles" from where I drew them with the compass.  She took my swatch of paint colors, got the darker coordinating color and outlined the bubbles.  And I must say it does look marvelous!

Before...

After...

They really pop now!

Wow, we really did a lot in just under a week (everything was done during Spring Break).  I have a feeling we'll be working on things this weekend too!

Happy blogging!

Tammy Jo 

P.S. - I think I have come up with a name for my cottage.  "Briar Rose Cottage"  Let me know what you think!