Here We Go | House Project Week #1 | Demo Day

Here we go!

Whew!  After moving into this house almost two years ago, we are finally starting our project - officially, for real.  We spent the last three days packing it up and emptying it out.  That little sentence was short and sweet and hardly does justice to the physical labor that we, ok, mostly Mike ; ) endured.  As of midnight - it was ready.   We had a moment last night before we left, remembering being in the same empty house two years ago, painting the walls around midnight on a very similar September night dreaming of the possibilities of what we could do - some day.

It has taken the entire two years we have lived there to get our project started - from architectural delays, city reviews, finding the perfect contractor, we have finally made it.  It still doesn't seem real quite yet - until I arrived this morning and saw the dumpster in the driveway!

Left, photo of our little family just after moving in... and a visit to the pumpkin patch.  Look at that sweet Emma : )

The "site prep" team is there this morning getting everything dismantled and outta there.  Since most of the front of the house stays intact, they were carefully taking off doors, marking and labeling everything that will get reused.  

I am so glad that we are planning to use everything we can from the original house - we've been careful to not be too wasteful or have too much debris from our project.  While we were packing, we made a big effort to have a huge donation pile, a big recycling pile and a small trash pile.  Anything that is salvageable from the house (cabinets, mantles, lumber, etc.) will be donated to charity home stores.  The appliances will be saved for the new kitchen.  I am so glad to see that mantle go!



It wasn't original to the house and really wasn't my style... or the mauve faux stone tile that surrounded it that I painted white.  Also, gone now.  Goodbye!



Here is Emma at 10 months, 2 years ago right after we moved in.  You can find the house tour photos from that day, here.  In that post, I talk a lot about what we hope to do with the house - it is so exciting to actually see it beginning to happen today.

One a sad note, we had to take down a tree that was planted too closely to the curb and to make room for the new driveway.  I really hated to take it down - such a hard process.  We will be sure to replant several in the spring when we start our landscaping.  The good news is that Doug, our tree man, said that moving the current driveway off of our big giant oak tree will really help it in future... so there is some good news.  

He and his crew did an amazing job of taking it down and leaving the yard in great shape.  It was so impressive how fast they were!  Emma and I watched out the window and talked about what trees we would plant in the spring.  

I highly recommend there service to anyone in the area - Durbin Tree Service, (816) 356-1861.  He is one of Mike's parents' friends and was so helpful and knowledgable during the decision making process.  He recommended trees that we can replace it with and the proper areas they should be planted.

I have been so good about posting a weekly menu for the last month+ and today I'm dropping the ball.  Because I hardly have our toothbrushes unpacked (ok, I do have those unpacked, but that is about it...) the only thing I have planned for the week is tonight's roasted chicken (again) but with roasted root vegetables.   I think I might do carrots, sweet potatoes, beets and red onions roasted then tossed in a lemon thyme vinaigrette.   I will share the recipe later this week - along with those Spiced Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting & Toffee from last week.  

I hope you all are having a great monday morning.  We're spending the next 6 months at Mike's parents' house - they are so kind to have us.  I love their home.  It is so warm, cozy and with big generous rooms.  His Mom has done such a great job decorating it - I'll definitely share photos in the next couple of weeks to give you a visual of where we'll be.  I'll wait until she has her Fallizing done - no one does Fallizing like Joy Hobick! 

Happy Monday,
Jenny