remodeling - round 1

...mom and I did lots of sanding this weekend. we sanded doors, molding, cabinets, and anything else that was wood and had paint on it.
this is the original fireplace...
last weekend paul and tony came up to see the diamond in the rough and tony started stripping the fireplace which had heavy lacquer on it. we think the mantle is cherry...it will be a beauty when its done. i didn't get any pictures of tony hard at work, but i promise i will. she is coming up for a week in may to help us paint...we are so lucky our family loves to remodel! :)

this is the mantle with one coat of stripper on it...we still have lots of work to do on it.

this is the wall that use to separate the living room from the kitchen...

this is looking at the wall from the kitchen side...

as you can see the wall is gone, and there is a new wall framed it.

brian has been working his tail off on the demolition and restructuring of the wall. there was a heater vent and electrical boxes in the wall that had to be re- routed as well. he even put arches in it to match the entrance arch...he impresses me daily with his remodeling skills!

looking from the kitchen to the living room...

see below...there used to be a door that went to the kitchen from the back entrance. we decided to do away with the door, so brian removed the door jam and also arched this entrance. i will have to get a picture of the finished product next week.

as you can see we have been in full throttle remodeling mode. brain has literally been working his bun's off! we did lots of prep work this weekend (sanding, removing hardware and doors) to prepare for paint. brian also worked on tearing out the kitchen floor to prepare for the wood floor instillation. this week we have sheet rockers coming in to re-texture the new wall and to re-texture the kitchen. the wood floor guys might get started on the floor in the kitchen as well. we are hoping to be ready to paint doors, moldings, cabinets, built-ins, ceiling, etc. this weekend. tony will be up the following week to help finish up all the painting. we are in the process of ordering new windows, but looks like those will have to be put in after we move in.

we were able to find a great renter for our b'ville house. as hard as it is to leave our b'ville house it is sure nice to have renters that are as excited as we are about b'ville and our house. we hope to be moved into our house in longview by the end of may. well, that is the tenbusch update for now...more to come!