What have we done?! DEMOLITION!

We knew going in that we wanted to gut the living room. We wanted that whole open concept first floor. #millenials

What we planned: remove the drop ceiling, expose a few brick walls, take out the carpet and *fingers crossed* refinish the hardwood floors we hoped to find underneath. We wanted to do the major construction before we moved in. We had also decided to hold off on doing anything to the kitchen for the first few years. Evan said that if we did anything to it, he would want to redo the whole thing and we just weren't sure if it was feasible financially to take that much on.

What we didn't plan for: how much debris we would actually have. We went through BOXES of construction trash bags. Literally hundreds of bags of trash. We had started filling bags and then taking them to the backyard for a dump trip to be named later. Unfortunately, the bags were full of plaster and when you leave those outside, they absorb moisture and get *real* heavy. We just kept piling trash bags out there and soon, we had to crown Buckle "Queen of Trash Mountain" because she liked to climb into the huge debris pile and then whine until we
, her loyal subjects, climbed in to rescue her.

As we got further into the demolition, we saved as much material as we could to be repurposed. We kept much of the lath that came from the walls and the ceilings. I didn't know what I wanted it for but it felt like a project would come forward for it. As we removed the drop ceiling, and then the plaster ceiling, we realized that the wiring was only updated where it met the outlets. The ole knob and tube wiring was alive and not well. We didn't plan on having to rewire the whole house. Thank goodness for my husband. He had some experience in house construction, a lot of experience with furniture and cabinetmaking, and a pretty good handle on wiring/plumbing. I had a lot of experience painting and dreaming big. Needless to say, Evan brought more practical knowledge to our renovation team.

We also discovered just how many different wall treatments you can apply in a hundred+ years. Five. FIVE. All to cover up the most beautiful brick. We had a handful of people helping out in the process. Shoutout to Mom and Dad and Ben for getting dirty and helping keep us sane.