With all the trimmings...

We have walls! The upstairs of the addition was formerly a small apartment with 2 bedrooms, a bath and a kitchen that was not well integrated into the rest of the house. During the demolition party and the subsequent weeks, we cleared the whole thing out to start with as clean a slate as possible:

Apartment kitchen area:

Demolition in progress:

Then came the fun part. We moved the stairs, expanded the bathroom and rebuilt the 2 bedrooms and hallway so that it all flowed with the rest of the house. (FYI we did have professional help with the stairs and structural stuff.) Then we ran all new electricity, replaced the insulation and hung new drywall. Whew! As you may imagine, our social life has been pretty limited lately. Here's the new view when you reach the top of the stairs, looking into both guest bedrooms and the bathroom:

Nothing fancy and not done yet, but progress is progress. My dad brought his carpentry skills down this weekend and started trimming out our windows. It made the biggest difference, and we are starting to feel a real sense of accomplishment with how much has been done so far. It looks like a different house.


A big thanks to our dads and everyone else who pitched in to help!