So long and farewell, Old Kitchen

May we never meet again!!

Steven and I are both very grateful for some time away from work for the holidays. We enjoyed a wonderful trip to Asheville with his parents for Christmas, then we got straight to work on the house on the 26th. Earlier this week, we met with the contractor who will be doing the exterior work (framing the exterior wall in the future dining room, plus windows and siding for the whole house). Also, our window supplier came to take measurements for all the windows. We should be getting the estimates for all of this by the middle of next week, then we will begin the process of obtaining a loan.

Baby Steps and a Tantrum

     Some light demo and clean up/out has been happening over the last couple of weeks to get ready for today's excitement in the future kitchen. A non-functioning air conditioning unit and gas heater were removed from the wall between the kitchen and garage, which uncovered a whole bunch of burned insulation around the heater (SCARY!). Steven has cleaned out the fuse box and removed every fuse along with its wiring that was no longer serving a purpose. He even found some live wiring that wasn't connected to anything (again, SCARY!). How this house never caught fire is beyond me...

It's OK to Laugh

     So, I'm going to have to take back what I said last time about us "getting back into a groove of steady work." Steven will be getting to work, of course, but I will pretty much be limited to taking photos and posting updates here for the next six weeks while a fracture in my foot heals. The incident happened at work last Thursday. I have a pretty great job that often allows me to work outside. Our crew has hiked miles through the woods and crossed plenty of logs over creeks, all while carrying a shovel and screen and being under a heat advisory. In my 3+ years of doing this, I've only had the occasional back pain, poison ivy/oak/sumac rash, and a couple instances of (minor) overheating... oh, and the tick fever that one time. Anyway, if I was going to break a bone, I was hoping it would have happened in a situation like this:

Then and Now

     Whew, it has been too long, hasn't it? I think Ginny's been a bad influence on us ;) We have officially been in our house for over a year now. I wouldn't say we have accomplished everything I hoped we would by this point, but I am impressed with what Steven and I have tackled all by ourselves.

    

     Just wanted to update you all with what's been going on, and I've REALLY been wanting to write a post to share some Merrimack Mill Village history. Over the last year, I've learned quite a bit about the Village from so many who have lived here for all or most of their lives (being the community newsletter editor is a great excuse to be nosy). Also, just a couple weeks ago, I finally met Dee Sellers Gentry who grew up in our house!

Learning As We Go

     Despite my good intentions, it just seems like I can't do better than one post per month! We have been continuing to get the infrastructure for the future kitchen in place and MUST have a finished flooring material in the space by July, per Nationwide. (We find their slogan a bit deceiving...)
     Since the last post, Steven and I have done more work on stabilizing the floor joists, and we also reframed an exterior wall to accommodate the window that will go over the kitchen sink.

Where did March go?

     It's hard to believe that over a month has passed since our last renovation update. So much has happened here at the house since then... maybe we should consider posting more often!
     I think I'll begin with the yard. It's been exciting to see what will bloom next, and I've been amazed at all the beautiful dogwoods around the village (there's a gorgeous one in our front yard too!). Daffodils, tulips, and most recently, irises, have sprung up across the front yard, and the azaleas that we just planted are covered with flowers. We also planted a kitchen herb garden in the front yard, which will be visible from the future kitchen window!

Pretty on the outside

     Since spring seems to be creeping in early this year, Steven and I have been giving more and more consideration to the yard, which basically hasn't been touched since we moved in (except for mowing the grass). Some randomly placed daffodils and tulips have popped up around the house, and these tall shrubs lined the front porch; however, we decided that we would like to update the landscaping and add more color.

Before: front landscaping and our lingering brick crumbs...