Tearing apart our house {phase 1}

By now, most of you know about the enormous project we are currently working on. Our house is over 100 years old and definitely starting to show it's age. After adding another member to our family this past spring, we decided we needed to do something to make the use of space in our home more efficient. We had to decide between adding a few rooms on or completely gutting and renovating the house. We went with the latter. The last few weeks have been spent going through our stuff, and getting rid of a bunch of it, either to the trash, goodwill or for a garage sale/consignment store. After packing up all our belongings into boxes, we moved ourselves out to our barn/garage and set up house in there for the next 6-8 weeks. Russ & I and Calvin & Gracie are sleeping in the barn, and Bradyn and Austin are sleeping in Phil and Emily's trailer.

The dining room/living room section of our "house". Notice the garage door behind the couch.

The bedroom part of our "house"

Tuesday night Dad and Mom Lotterman helped us move our junk.....ahem, I mean stuff into the barn. That was our first night in our new "home". Things went well, and we all slept decent for the most part. Early Wednesday morning we all woke up to some rain and thunder, but all was OK after that. Dad and mom Lotterman came back to help me get the rest of the stuff out of the house and took some things home to store in their basement. That evening, with the help of Cornelis, Russ began demolition. He started with all the trim and wood work in the house, and hauled it back to the burn pile at the back of our yard. After the kids were all in bed for the night, I donned my gloves and dust mask and went to work with my pick and hammer taking out the cabinets in our kitchen. We worked until about 11 that night and got almost all of the wood in the kitchen taken off.

The kitchen on Thursday morning looking from the back doorway towards the kitchen sink

More of the kitchen - looking towards the living room. Notice the lovely spindles are gone!

The pile of junk in the kitchen

On Thursday after the boys and I cleared out the huge pile in the kitchen, we went to work on the upstairs. I worked on taking off all the wood work, while the boys had a blast destroying the walls down to the studs. We were a dusty mess, but it was a lot of fun. That evening, with the help of Keith and my dad, the upstairs was almost completely gutted. I love how open it looks now that all the walls and closets are gone.

The former sewing/storage room looking towards the stairs (lower lefthand corner). This will be the new playroom, storage closet and hopefully half bathroom.

The former playroom. This will be the older two boys rooms.

All in all things are going pretty much as planned. God has blessed us richly with family that is so willing to help. We are overwhelmed by all who have helped us and who plan to help us in the future. Please continue to keep us in our prayers throughout this time of change in our lives. Pray especially for my patience as I try to make a home in our barn.