The REAL thing! The Kitchen Remodel begins . . .

Realizing this is a lot later than the actual event, I'll attempt at historical accuracy!  However, this is the documentation of the kitchen remodel--six years in the dream stage, eight months in the planning stage, five weeks of actual happening.


First of all, there was a wall dividing my kitchen from the family room.  It held my pantry, kitchen desk area, tupperware storage, silverware drawers, and was awful.  We hated it from the moment we bought the house, and always intended for it to come down.  When we started talking to contractors about the actual possibility, we decided to leave a pillar to support the beam holding the house up, but the rest of the wall was not load-bearing, and could actually come down!  Hooray!

I wanted to do something memorable on the wall, so we turned it into a Family Home Evening where my kids got to write (with Sharpie!) on the wall something they’d like to change in their lives.  As we were changing our house for the better, what could they do to change themselves for the better?  They each got to write a promise on the wall, then add anything else before it came down.  Some examples are: “I promise I will do my homework” and “I promise I will say my prars”, with a self-portrait underneath by S,  “I will try not lose my temper” from another child who is embarrassed so will not be identified.  More fun was added afterwards with the assorted, "I'm awesome", "I rule", etc etc.  

 Daddy was the first to really put his emotions into writing with "I hate this wall!!"

This one reads: "D is so awesomely sexy that they had to tear this wall down to stare at him and because he was too cool"

M's making bed promise (he's actually been pretty good at this!)

Here's S's homework and prayer promise : )

For translation purposes: "the best dasr in the houes is S Rocks! my book!" and on the side: "Both S & L are the best dancers"

With her bear family . . . every wall being torn down deserves to have a bear family on it first

I told them they were welcome to write this, but there was absolutely no way on this planet we were actually keeping pieces of sheetrock.

 Then, it come down! I love the space above the oven where the cabinets used to be : )

What a mess! Very thankful for shop vacs after this experience!

The wall down, only the column remains.  Notice the arch-shaped alcove over the fireplace? That's going to change too! : )

Next installment coming soon!