Rain, Rain, Go away ....

With all of the rain we had last week, I was a little bit worried that the little house was going to float away!

I was surprised that the creek out back grew to be as large as it did ( 6-10 ft across in some areas) , and made such a wonderful sound as the water rushed by, but it never came above the banks. 

The house is outside of the flood area and is not really at risk, but...after Gaston....do we really trust that anyplace is truly safe from flooding? 

I was relieved to see that even in a monsoon - the creek was not even getting up into the yard. 

Time to get these walls in order. The colors are making me insane! 

One of my great clients turned me on to this Behr Paint & Primer combo paint. I loved the way it looked in her house, and I have to say - I am pretty impressed to see how one coat has covered even these crazy dark colors! 

Of course, we will still need a second coat, but so far this Behr paint ( tinted to match one of my my favorite Ben Moore colors) is really impressing me. 

Living room with 1 coat - plus you get a sneak peek @ the kitchen island!

One of the true bonuses of Christmas Break...

I happen to have a surplus of teenage boys with extra time on their hands sitting in my house! 

I was only able to get Jack to come help today, but with two of us working, we got a ton done. 

We pulled out the rest of the kitchen cabinets / sink & dishwasher too. Loaded all of these, plus the big pile of upper cabinets that I had to stick on the back deck, into the dumpster. 

I worked on the remaining layers of flooring. It is still pretty messy, but I finally have it down to the old adhesive and we can see through that to the wood. So far the floors look like they are in good shape, and I think Ron will be able to work his magic when he comes out to refinish them. 

Jack also removed the broken pull-down attic ladder for me. 

( Did I mention how much I loved having a helper today! :) #happymom

He was less than thrilled about sticking his head in the creepy old attic with no light. Me telling him that I had been up there several times already was no consolation. He worked quickly to get that ladder off and get out of there! 

Oooh and he came across some more " treasure" while working. 

I decided to start pulling out the kitchen wall. We are almost ready to have Marcus & Doug come start framing , and I wanted this to be open before they arrive. 

I was a mess by the end of it, but...demo really is fun

After opening up the wall I came across these treats. They really left me stumped. How in the world could this crazy mix of "treasures" make it's way into the middle of a wall? I will never know. 

Honestly - the clean up took as long, if not longer, than the demo! 

My plan thus far has been to open the wall all of the way to the fireplace, but....

Now that it is open, and I see the header board already in place, ( I guess because of the pocket door that was there) I am wondering if I should reconsider. 

What do you think about leaving the opening just as wide as that header? 

I would replace the wall to the left of the fireplace and it would extend about 30" to the left of the mantle. 

I have not made any final decisions on that, so feel free to chime in. 

Thanks! 

B