Until There Was Nothing. . .Except a Groovy Floor

Well, we've been served our last meal. No, we're not awaiting a tragic fate--we've just removed all kitchen-y things from the kitchen and the room is officially empty. The last meal cooked in the kitchen, by the way, was Dad's delicious chocolate chip pancakes, a special request from both boys this morning.

After breakfast, Bill cleaned up, ran the water for the last time, and began to destroy the remains of the kitchen. I attempted to take the boys to church, (there was a church picnic at an alternate location this morning about which I totally forgot and then ended up missing church) while Bill dug in with a crow bar, hammer, safety goggles, and a whole lot of toil. By the time I got home with the boys, all the lower cabinets were gone, the stove was out front, and the dishwasher was almost out the door. Bill finished tearing out the drywall and then rewired a few outlets. Then, after moving a couple of switches, it was time to tackle the floor.

Ah, the floor. There were three layers of linoleum, each one uglier than the next. Now, I don't care what kinds of illicit things people were doing back in the 70's; there is no excuse for a floor that looks like this (see photo below). Plus, there was a subfloor that was 3/8 inches thick. The worst part: there were about ten three-inch nails per foot of subfloor--no lie! See the photographic evidence below. Bill worked all day and managed to get half of the floor out and to the dumpster. It looks like the rest of the floor will be coming out later this week. For now, we have a wide open kitchen with only the soffit and floor left to remove. Unfortunately, the soffit was built off of the rafters, so as soon as we take the soffit out, all the insulation will fall down, too. Anyone know any magic tricks to keep this from happening?

In the meantime, we're using the Mud Room as a kitchen. In case you're wondering what people eat when they don't have a kitchen, tonight's fare included grilled meats (sirlion), microwave mashed potatoes (no gravy), and grapes all served on the finest paper plates money can buy. Stay tuned for more culinary delights from the newest in fine dining, the Mud Room.

And the Walls. . . Come Tumbling Down

First of all, we're pleased to say that the mud room is functional and looks good to boot. We'll move the refrigerator into the room soon, but for now, the room has already come in handy. The pocket door allows us to feed Angus her breakfast and dinner without one lively little puppy harrassing her. Plus the shelves hold a lot of food which will come in handy when we get rid of the kitchen cabinets.

But the most exciting news is that the kitchen wall is almost gone! (Slideshow below.) From the beginning when Bill was explaining the ways of science to Elijah (ala Monte Python) to only the studs remaining, it took just about an hour or so--and almost no swearing! There is already a lot more light in the kitchen and the space feels huge! The next step is to work on the wiring which Bill will probably do today. Then, it's time to tear out the cabinets. It's starting to feel like we're really making some progress.

It Has Color

At long last, the mudroom has color on the walls, a floor, a light fixture (aka, space heater), molding (mostly finished), and cabinets in place waiting to be secured. The room is really taking shape as you can see from the pictures (plus a bonus picture of Beau and Angus fighting over the air conditioning vent). Bill put in a new door leading into the garage, so the room is officially part of the house rather than part of the garage. I'm already loving having a mudroom! Next, we'll put in a countertop. Right now, we're thinking we'll use some white tiles for the counter as opposed to a laminate. Bill will install shelves soon, and once we move the refrigerator into the mudroom, Bill will work on the bench--or not. We may wait on the bench and get to work destroying the kitchen. We anticipate the new appliances arriving the first week of September, and the cabinets are due during the last week of August. Wait--what's the date today?! Yikes! We better get moving, huh?

We managed to accomplish all this progress on the mudroom and still squeeze in a day on the boat during which Beau, we are happy to report, did not get seasick! We also took a two-day trip to St. Louis to visit the City Museum, Gateway Arch, and the St. Louis Science Center. It was a fun trip, and I think we all enjoyed having a little downtime together without drywall, paint chips, hammers, or tape measures. (slideshow below)

Of course, it wouldn't be life with the Grays without a few perils and crises along the way. Beau, bless his little heart, had a close encounter with a bee on Thursday. I guess we should have stuck with the name Ferdinand after all. Apparently the bee attacked Beau's mouth because by about noon, his face started swelling up like Brando in the Godfather--he needed a trip to the vet "we couldn't refuse" if ya' know what I mean. Two hours and one hundred twenty dollars later, Beau was as good as new. It's nice to see him drool again. Just about the time life returned to almost-normal, there was another incident with the little snarling, yiping, chewing bundle of joy. As he was jumping at Angus during a walk, Bill corrected him with the leash and the little buggar fell back, dislocating his hip. We called the vet again--we have the number on speed dial, by the way--and took him back in to see his new best friends at the vet's office. After an hour-and-a-half wait in the examining room, Beau limped back to the car, almost as good as new. We also moved a little faster having lightened our wallets by another one hundred sixteen dollars and fifty eight cents. It's nice to see him harrass the dogs again. Dooley is doing better about correcting Beau for his obnoxious behavior, but Beau still hasn't learned that trying to take Dooley's dinner out of his bowl is the equivalent of a death wish. Don't go by Dooley when he's eating--any Grandma will tell you that! But the little pup thinks he's invincible. The upshot is that Beau is on pain meds for his dislocated hip, so he's real sleepy and a most pleasant puppy to have around these days. (We're in the process of trying to get a black market life-time supply of his pain meds.)

Both boys are doing well. We got E moved into his locker at junior high. It only took him a few tries to work his combination lock, and all of his classes are pretty close together, so there's not much chance of him getting lost as he moves from one class to the next. Well, then again, this is E that we're talking about, so there is still some (likely) chance that he'll get lost. Hopefully, he won't get stuffed into a locker or given a swirly during the first week of school. He's still loving Cross Country and had a practice meet today which went well. Andrew is dreading, dreading, dreading the beginning of school, but since he gets to start the year in a brand new building, I'm hoping that he's distracted enough by all the new stuff that he forgets he's learning. Both boys start classes a week from this coming Monday, but unfortunately, I start work this Monday. It's going to be tricky getting the boys taken care of while they're home and both Bill and I are at work. Mom and Dad A are pitching in, and I think we have the rest of the time pretty well covered. If not, we'll just lock both the boys in the dogs' cages with a bowl of kibble and hope for the best. Hey, it works for the dogs. . .

Presto-Chango

At long last, the mudroom is starting to actually look like, well, a room. We started with this: and now we have this:

The drywaller came on Tuesday and, along with some help from one of his friends, had the whole room drywalled and taped in about three hours. It's amazing how fast the work can go when you know what you're doing. Unfortunately, they decided to come on the hottest day of the year. (The room is not air conditioned yet.) The drywaller will come back tomorrow to continue working on the walls, so we're hoping to paint this weekend or early next week.

Oh, and here's a nifty addition. In case you can't tell from the photo, it's a pocket door between the kitchen and the mudroom. Bill's idea, and a good one, too!

We picked out the linoleum floor tonight, and Bill's in the process of building the cabinets, so they should be ready for installation shortly after we're done painting.

And in case you're wondering, the hounds--all three--are doing well. Beau, in spite of his occasional bouts of insanity, is a wonderful puppy. He's learned to play fetch, sit, stay, lie down, walk at heel, and shake hands (or paws depending on your species). He's also learned to annoy Dooley and Angus, put his paws up on the coffee table in the sunroom, and emit a shrill puppy bark that sends everyone running from the house. Learning is good--sometimes.

In the meantime, Dooley has been helping out by harvesting produce from the garden while we're working on the renovation. Besides corn cobs and cucumbers, he's found some wonderful tomatoes for us. Anyone need some tomatoes? They only have a few little punctures. Otherwise, they're perfectly fine!