Here We Go Again

Third time's a charm.  Isn't that what they say?  My dreams of moving to Utah didn't include another remodeling project.  In fact, when I imagined the house we would buy when we got here, I saw a relatively newer home in which I could just put down my furniture and call it good.  I imagined that all I would have to do was pick out colors for the various rooms, paint the walls, hang my pictures and Voila! that would be the end of it.  But apparently the remodeling gods (and they are definitely gods of mischief, let me tell you) had something else in mind.  Because here we are, in an old house that needs a lot of work, beginning a remodeling project yet again.  The reasons for purchasing an older home all seemed very reasonable and necessary at the time.  Being close to the BYU campus was, and is, very important to us.  And newer homes in this area were way out of our price range.  But now, in the midst of drywall dust, paint splatter, endless sanding and a back patio full of our displaced belongings, that 30 minute commute isn't looking half bad. 

Here are some pictures of the basement, taken just before we moved in:

Utility Room/Storage(stairs to the left)

Downstairs hallway- we like to call it the "rat maze"

Kitchen

Dining area

Family Room

Family Room

And here are some pictures of the ongoing project:
First, we pulled up the old, nasty carpet that smelled of cat urine.

Stairs to the basement

Then we knocked out some walls and turned two long, narrow, claustrophobia-inducing hallways into an open landing at the bottom of the stairs.

We also took out the walls enclosing the kitchen, so that the kitchen is now open to the dining room and the family room.

View from the family room

Finally, we removed the wall between the family room and the utility area to further open things up and make the stairs more accessible.  We also turned the storage room (out of sight, to the left) into a nice, large laundry room - hooray!

View from the Family room - stairs to the right

There is still a lot of work to do before we can have the new carpet installed, but we are pressing forward and moving as fast as we can.  I know it will be worth it when we are all done, but I just have to keep reminding myself of that or I might lose it and attack someone with my electric sander. 

AFTER pictures, coming soon!