Wide, Open Spaces!

The current view from the dining room toward the main entrance.

I've started drafting this update at least five times, but then Steve would keep working and I'd decide to wait for the next phase. He's finally taking a day off, so I can share the latest (exciting) phase of the main-floor renovation.

The picture at the top shows the newly exposed front hall and the stairs to the basement, as well as a temporary railing. If you look at the ceiling, you can see all the walls that Steve tore out.

If you look at the floor, you can see the remnants of all the dust he produced.

This stage of the renovation took about a week, and resulted in 800 pounds of waste, almost exclusively drywall/Gyproc, being taken to the dump.

For contrast, here's a picture of the front hall before construction.

We rarely used the closet, except for shoes and boots, as the hall was too small even to move around in. Instead, we used the hooks for our everyday jackets and the dog-walking equipment. Below is a picture closer to the view used at the top.

All of the wall at Kane's back has been removed.

Our original plan was to build a new closet approximately where Kane is sitting (that door behind him is the linen closet; we were going to take it over). But once we got the walls down, we loved it so much that we are both reluctant to build any more walls than necessary. So the current plan is to build the wall between the hall and our walk-in closet, and leave the rest open (with railings, of course!).

Instead of a closet, we'll probably use hooks and bins as we did at our old house — since there are only the two of us, and we only really use one coat per season. Something like this:

But without the stacks of beeswax(?) on the bench.

We'll also have a separate set of hooks for visitors who rarely want to hang up their coats, when given the option, but will be sure to also have some hangers for them, just in case. Our seldom-used coats will go in our new walk-in closet.

I'll end with a few more in-progress shots, just because it makes me so happy!

The dining room (and screened porch as well as Bagel and Kane) as seen from the front hall.
This view was not possible before we knocked out the walls.

As a pleasant surprise, we also discovered that a dog crate fits perfectly right at the end of the steps. The crate is only there when we have a foster dog, like Bagel who is its current occupant.

The next steps are to build the new walls (Steve's job) and then to paint the walls and re-tile the floor (my jobs). I probably won't share any more updates before those jobs are done.