Under Construction. . .

I had no idea how undeniably emotional renovating our home would be!! The workers showed up at our home on Monday, September 25th, at 7:00 a.m. By 7:30 there was a huge pile of rubble in our front yard, and the sounds of destruction could be heard all over our neighborhood (horrible sounds - ripping, tearing, hammering, sawing, etc.). The home I have grown to love like no other I have ever lived in was being ripped to shreads. I literally felt that my heart would break. I could not escape the feeling in the pit of my stomach even after I drove miles from my home. I took the boys on a long car-ride that morning. I got a chai latte and called my favorite sounding board - my mom. I think I wept on the phone with her, certain we had made a huge mistake when we decided to renovate. I'd be telling a story if I said that was the only time I have had second thoughts. . .

The picture above was taken at noon on Monday. Mr. Cole's crew is undoubtedly a group of hardworking men. The destruction continued that day and the next, and the hole grew to the top of the roof line. The picture left is of our living room. For a day and a half, we had a lovely sky light in there. This room has since been completely gutted. The wall to the right has been torn down to open the kitchen to the living room, and the french doors are gone. A fireplace will replace the french doors, and there will be new wooden doors with large windows flanking the fireplace.




Now I just had to get a picture of this! This is what it looked like as we walked up our stairs that Monday evening. A beautiful view of trees greeted us as we topped the stairs. Now remember that this is the home I love. . . I felt sick at my stomach for the first week or so. But, I know we will love the finished product, and that is what keeps us going. . .








This was Joshua's room. It will now be our guest room. We are adding on a bathroom and walk-in closet so our guests will have the privacy of their own bathroom and an extra place to put a pack 'n play if they would like to separate their children.






The most fun part for me has been getting to know the men who work for Mr. Cole. They are a cute little fraternity - a group of men I would never have had the opportunity to meet had they not come to work in my home. They have wonderful names. Names like Stumpy, Flat, Homeboy ("Home" for short), and good old Gerald. Gerald is in his 60s, reeks of cigarette smoke, but is very sweet and hardworking. "Home" is Erik and I's personal favorite. He is also a fireman, a Christian, and the loving father of a very lucky little girl. Flat has strawberry blond hair and a wife with severe kidney problems and no medical insurance. More than once, I have come to our home exhausted only to find that they have "destroyed" yet another room. (We are literally gutting the house so each room is slowing being dismantled.) My usual response to the workers is, "Would you please stop tearing my house to pieces?" To which they laugh and respond with words of reassurance like. . . "We promise one day you'll come in, and it'll look better. We just gotta do the tearin' out first."

This is a picture of the house taken Tuesday evening. By Wednesday at lunch they had put the ceiling on, and we were in "the dry." I need to take some more pics. We now have our new roof on and the deck has been torn out. The porch on the back is longer, etc. Things keep changing. . . This week they are hanging sheet-rock!!! Yippee!! I am hoping that this will be a turning point. Maybe from now on things will start looking better instead of worse. . .