Flashback Friday: The dining room

I feel like I've neglected to truly chronicle the evolution of the house. I haven't done the transformation justice. I want to show everyone (ourselves included!) just how far we've come.

Today, I'd like to take a trip down memory lane. Back to a time when the dining room was carpeted, and there was a Vino scooter living in it. Walk with me:

This is a view from the living room into the dining room. There was an awning over the patio, which was promptly ripped off. As was the cabinetry built over the original (GORGEOUS) woodwork, which you'll see in a minute...

Into the kitchen. This is before we stripped off all the wallpaper and carpet. The wall you can see in the foregrount on the left was added to close off a sweet little alcove and make it into a bathroom. It wasn't properly vented. The fan fed right into the dining room. Good job, guys...

It's free! Free of carpet and ridiculous, shoddily-built cabinets! Oh, wait... There's asbestos linoleum under there. Attached to the floor with TAR PAPER!

And they've painted the floor. Oy veh..

Good thing the tar paper comes off with water. Unfortunately, it wasn't until MOST of the work had been done that this was discovered.

Stripping isn't always as sexy as one might think.

Oops. There's a hole in the wall.

The bathroom wall is no more. It presently houses bikes and tools. It will not be a full-sized bathroom when we're finished. The wall will be built flush with the existing wall (the previous owners bumped it out, so it protruded into the dining room, making it...dumb.) and it will be our powder room. It will be properly vented so none of our dinner guests will have to tolerate any aromas not immediately relating to their predigested meal.

There's still much to do, but looking back reminds us of how far we've come... especially when we walk out and sigh because it smells like wood stain and there's a chicken coop living in the living room instead of us.

If you scroll up and look at the wall adjacent to the kitchen, you'll see another major hurdle we have yet to overcome. We're moving that wall, you see. Beyond that wall lies our closet. A little closet may have suited the wee victorians, but at 6'1" and 5'10" respectively, it does not suit us. It's nestled under the (steep) stairs, and isn't terribly modern or practical. We need to move the heat register and the wall, cutting into the dining room a bit. Perhaps about 5'... but those five feet will make all the difference in the world at 6 AM when we're rooting around for SOMETHING TO WEAR!

Enjoy your weekend!

xoxo