It's beginning to look a lot like ....DEMO DAY!!

But first we needed to add a little bit of Christmas to the new little house.

Storm door off, lots of stickers peeled off the mailbox & entry and a little bit of elbow grease - I think it looks much happier already! :)

Inside the first thing I wanted to tackle was the mantle. 

It's the first thing you see when you walk in the house, so it's important that it looks good. 

I had a sneaky feeling about the paint that was quickly confirmed.

I truly believe that anyone that paints latex over oil should be charged! Crimes against humanity! ( is that too harsh?) Well - at the very least they should be fined!

So - I sanded & primed ( then sanded and primed again!) I'm hoping that will do the trick.

Working so close to this wall all day, on a project that didn't really show me any grand result made ne eager to see some progress. 

So.....

I decided to just make a tiny hole - to be sure I liked the idea. 

Then I moved on to pulling up the kitchen floor 

Then started pulling out the radiators. 

Time for all of this to go

My pile of rubble was growing in the corner of the kitchen. It needed to be relocated outside.

Walter and his brothers arrived to install the HVAC!!! Yippee !

Their supplies reminded me of presents under the tree, I was so excited to see them!

As I was moving the rubbish from the kitchen to the deck ( since our dumpster has yet to arrive ) I had a chance to check out the back gate. I'm thinking I might love it! 

Too bad the chain link doesn't go all of the way around - but I do like the look of a traditional chain link fence & gate. 

The siding on this house is aluminum, but they left the windows & soffits wood. I was tempted to scrape & paint these, but there is too much rot on the windows. They will all be replaced & the trim will all be wrapped so that it can be completely maintenance free.

As much as I love hot water radiator heat - we are getting a completely new system for this house. It will be a high efficiency 2.5 ton HVAC unit, which will do an excellent job of heating & cooling this space.  The air handler & duct work will all be run in the crawl space - to preserve the attic for storage.

This also means that I can do away with the oil tanks and the oil burning furnace that is currently filling the room that I want to make into a laundry room. 

The radiators had to be removed and apparently had never been opened before because we found all kinds of "treasures" 

Any Chuck E. Cheese fans out there? I've got a stockpile of tokens that some little child would probably love to find in their stocking Christmas morning! 

A couple of little surprises along the way ...

I'm not sure what the story is with this board. Ron ( the flooring master) told me not to worry - he can piece it back to match perfectly , but the super sleuth in me just wants the back story! 

That, and we have an annoying little drip that was previously undetected. So, although I knew we'd need some roof work - I think it's going to be a bit more extensive than previously expected.

That's okay - no major unexpected hurdles ....YET :)

I have to say ... I was pretty happy with how much I got done in such a short time. 

I know , a crew of guys could knock this out in 10 min , but I don't have a crew of guys, so... 

Ooh - and look 

I love the old flooring. It can't be saved , and I won't try, but I think  it's so fun to see what the original house included. 

He he - the guts of our new HVAC system spilled out all over the 3rd bedroom. Why I think that's funny ... I don't know.

Maybe too many hours by myself in the little house :) 

Time to pack up.

I'm hoping the dumpster arrives soon - this pile looks gross, and the neighbors are going to hate me! 

The neighbors are actually very nice. 3 have already been by, and one sweet older woman is from Garden City! What a small world we live in! 

As much as I love the Demo phase , it's always hard to keep the vision, and the finished product in mind.

Of course there's always the hint of worry as little things pop up - even when we plan for them , and allow for all kinds of "cushion"

After a long productive day, when that moment of worry hit me, I was blessed with a sun shower ( my favorite - and a sure sign of good luck ) and then this ....

I pulled over to take a picture because it was so beautiful. The frame would not allow the whole thing to fit, but I could see both sides. Right in the middle - just below the highest point ... Is right where the new little house sits.

What a wonderful message of Peace and a reminder that all will be well :) 

Merry Christmas to all of you! 

xo