Let the good times roll

Even though we only purchased the house in July, we were lucky enough to start demolition as early as May. Since my parents were the owners they made sure their tenant was out by May 1st and started some of the dirty work themselves.

My husband and I are teachers in Nunavik, Qc. At the time the demos were started we were still up North teaching. I however arrived home on May 7th as I was 8 months pregnant with our first child.

This did not stop me from getting my hands dirty as there was no way I was keeping away from all the fun. Big belly in one hand and a crow bar in the other I helped take down walls, pull out nails and carry (light) debris outdoors. My husband joined us on May 23rd, and him and some friends helped get the rest of the work done.
We started by taking off the old porch and balcony attached to the kitchen. It was rotting and had no foundation so needed to disappear.

Then we moved inside to the kitchen. The old cabinets, counter top and appliances were removed. Yucky old linoleum, 2 layers of plywood and 500 square headed nails later the old flooring was gone. We were ecstatic to discover that underneath these many layers was a beautiful soft wood floor. We are hoping it will clean up nicely and we will be able to have authentic old country flooring in the kitchen.

The old stairwell in the kitchen was a point of contention between Neil and I. I originally wanted them to stay as I thought they had such great country character. Neil wanted them gone so we could get more light into the kitchen. After much discussion, planning and drawing we came to the conclusion that while the stairs were cute, our kitchen would be a much nicer space without them. Also we weren't too excited about the idea of stairs leading up into our master bedroom. So down they came.




We moved into the older part of the home. While not much demo had to be done we were still able to put our mark on it. Out came the old fireplace and down came the cedar wall.

All the dividing walls, beaver board, old electrical wiring and insulation was removed from the 1912 upstairs section. Here is what used to be the office and the master bedroom. We opened everything up to become one giant room.














The bathroom also got the sledge hammer treatment, and as you can see it was a good thing too! All the plumbing came out and the rotten floor was ripped up.

Dirty work indeed but it is all worth it to know we are making a beautiful home for our little family. Speaking of which.....

We took a little break from the work to welcome our daughter Niamh to the world on June 19th.

And another to officially buy the house on July 7th. But we continued to work well throughout the summer. We were lucky to get allot of help from family and friends, and by the end of the summer most of the demolition was done.We were ready to get the construction phase started. Or so we thought.....