The During

Here are some of the "during" pictures. 

I have many mixed emotions as I post these... most of which I can't really flesh out into words at this point. The two most prominent, however, are exhaustion and gratitude. Someday, I hope to write more about what we've learned in this process, but for now... let's just say that I'm so glad to be on this side of this endeavor.

The first wall comes down!

And there go the cabinets. It's amazing what we were able to sell on Craigslist.

I so do not miss these days. :) This was also the longest phase, because Charlie arrived right in the middle of it, and the electrical work, which we wanted complete before we put the walls up, took longer than we anticipated.

Although there are a few that come close, this was hands down my personal least favorite part of the renovation -- patching, texturing and painting the ceilings. This was just not fun.

I think I had the lowest expectations for opening up the stairs to the basement, but I really think it's one of the best decisions we made. Our home feels so much more connected and open now.

Finally putting walls up!

The cabinets arrived all boxed up on two pallets. This was intimidating to begin, but it was also very satisfying, because I could really visualize how things were going to look.

If you've every bought anything from Ikea, you know that the directions have no words, only pictures. We puzzled over quite a few of them, and had to reassemble more that a few pieces. Despite that, I would have to say that we've been very pleased so far with their product.

Caroline was actually very helpful for this part. She seems to have an inherent sense of how things go together.

Like I said, this part was very satisfying!

Here are the countertops going in. Daniel had really wanted to have concrete countertops, and providentially, we moved next door to a man starting up a concrete countertop pouring business. His help was truly invaluable. I have more pictures of this, but it probably deserves its own post. The island piece weighs about 600lbs, so getting it in the house was quite an adventure.

Before the floors...

And during. This instantly transformed the space.

Okay, I'm just going to leave it here... there are more pictures I could show, but I think I want there to keep at least a little bit of wow factor for the reveal.