Room to grow

Remember when I was on bedrest oh-so-long-ago and we gutted the first floor of our house and created an additional bedroom upstairs? And remember the fun it was of living through a remodeling project while pregnant?

Well we're about to start another gut remodel project. Remodel v2008: now with children!

We're converting our house to a single-family dwelling in two weeks and as part of that project, we are tearing down the walls and ceiling in the lower level, installing some new supports so the house doesn't fall down, putting up all new drywall and dropping a new staircase. Oh and my most favoritest part of the whole project: built-in bookshelves and toy storage. Because the downstairs, my friends, will be for the children and the toys. And the first floor will be rightfully reclaimed by the adults in this family as a plastic-free zone.

What's that you say? Didn't I learn my lesson last time about living in a house under construction? Pfft. This is going to be cake. At least this time we have a refridgerator and a stove. And there shouldn't be any snow falling into my bedroom through a hole in the wall where the chimney used to be.

For the newer readers, true story: we lived here for six months with neither a fridge nor a stove. My problematic cervix meant I couldn't leave the house or even walk downstairs. My mom made me grilled cheese and french toast on an electric griddle on top of the ironing board in the hallway. And we stored all the perishables in a little college dorm fridge. There was a lot of pizza consumed. It was good times.

I am hoping the whine of the tablesaw is a nice complement to the white-noise machine we use for the kids when they're sleeping. And there's nothing dangerous about a toddler being around a gaping hole in the floor is there? Jack does have a little hardhat and tool belt and tool set. I think I shall put him to work. We need some crown molding installed and I think he's ready for compound angles.