catching up: workday one

Last time we left the renovation, we were tearing out the cabinets and stacking them in the far end of the kitchen in preparation for our first real workday. I was excited to get everything started and couldn't wait to see our nest with a few new additions.

After we got all the cabinets out, it was time to call in Uncle Contractor. He made quick work of our walls and within a few hours I came home to this beauty. Granted, he had to call in an electrician for some surprise wiring that we hadn't planned on (cords were crisscrossed all over the area we were planning on placing a giant hole). The electrician was there and gone before I had finished calculating the extra cost into our budget. And then we were one step closer to our goal: an open kitchen. In the meantime, Uncle Contractor was working on opening up a doorway and adding his custom touch that he incorporates into all of his houses, lovingly called "Vinson Arches" by the Man and I. I was a little concerned about how the curved arches would look against the angles of our vaulted ceiling. But I loved it, and that was just the bare frame.

Keep in mind that it is during this time that our central heat and air died. So not only were there folks knocking holes in our walls, but we also had a fleet of HVAC crews bidding to sell us our replacement A/C (and take away our precious earmarked reno money).

I took a quick break from meeting with the work crews to run an errand or two. When I returned, I found that Uncle Contractor wasn't kidding when he talked about making quick work of our project. Not only had they finished tearing out the wall, but Uncle Contractor included a surprise for us. We had not planned on having an arch on the opening between the kitchen and great room. But after seeing the finished (up to this point) product, I couldn't have imagined it looking any better. I was actually on the phone with the Man when I walked in and saw our surprise and I think I almost hurt his ears with my shrill squeals of joy.

Poor thing, I was still dancing and jumping around when he got home. Imagine the most excited 4 year old you can grabbing your hand and dragging you all over a construction zone while insisting on doing happy dances and talking non-stop in near gibberish out of excitement. Yup, that's what the Man came home to that day. As he calmly pointed out while patiently enduring my explosion of effervescence, even the entryway was finished! Who would have thought everything would have come together so fast after all the chaos of the previous days?

I couldn't help feeling relieved when I realized that we weren't crazy for having a giant hole torn in our wall and all of those times doubting myself (so far) were finally being proven wrong. It felt great and completely changed the look of our house. Uncle Contractor still had some work to do, a few "finishing touches" as he said, and we still had the drywall crew coming in but I am still amazed by how quickly it all went.

If only the rest of the remodel could be done in a flash...