The following pictures are brought to you by Denovan (because I have no idea how to do it!)
Do you remember when our kitchen/ dining room / living room / hall looked like this?

First to come down was the hall wall paper. I will NEVER paper again!!! And then I brought in the Schaupp Boys to help with the first level of the demolition ( Fun, Fun, Fun)

Yes, even the organ had to go! we couldn't even give it away, so Michal had fun dismantling it.

A special thanks to Michael and Matthew for all their hard work. Also, Kim Richardson and his BIG truck were a wonderful help getting everything to the dump. And Mason Black and his little truck helped with the final clean up.

Because we weren't busy enough, I decided to remodel the upstairs bath at the same time. Again, I called in my favorite go to guys, Michael and Matthew. They even brought in their dad for the more technical work. Thanks again Schaupps!!!

Painting all those stripes was an adventure and a lot of tape!

Sorry that we have no pics of the floor that had to be patched, it turned out great.

The REAL contractors had to be brought in for the heavy duty demolition including portions of four walls. (the 2 windows in the kitchen were made into one large window, the wall between the kitchen and dining room was removed, the doorway into the kitchen from the hall was enlarged and put at an angle, and the doorway into the living room from the hall was enlarged)

Hurray. It is finally starting to almost look like a Kitchen!

As you can see, We have hard wood floors throughout. ( that's a protective cover down the hall until all the work is done) The front door was centered and window " lights" put on both sides. (the door area still needs to be painted.)

Almost done! the grouting was to be done the next day. This view is from the dining room at the top of the new island.

Our new large picture window as seen from the bar side of the island. Don't you love the view? Some of the dishes have already been moved into their new home.

Hey look, no old, ugly chandelier,

Hurray!!!!

This view is from the hall looking through the kitchen to the dining room. Notice the absence of a wall. (the light bulbs in the light over the island were just what we had at the moment not the ones meant for the light fixture)

This view is from the hall at the new widened doorway into the kitchen.

I always wanted pillars, and Lee delivered 2 sets of them: One set between the kitchen and the dining room, the other leading into the living room from the hall.

The new refrigerator was moved to the center and a wonderful pantry built around it. What will I do with all the storage? The protective covering on the refrigerator hasn't been completely removed yet. Lee (our contractor) says we are on the home stretch now. There have been several surprises along the way, but the whole project has really been great. Lee ( general contractor ) has been fantastic, Noah (cabinets) amazing, and Mark (painter) magical. Thank you for all your hard work and patience.