Daily Note: July 10, 2009

The closet in the nursery is finished! As promised - before, during and after photos are below. I'm so impressed with Jeff's skills. Aren't you?

Ta Daaaa!!

And now for a peak at the very latest construction project. A tiny army of Culvers came down on Wednesday and Jeff and his Dad spent the entire day ripping a giant hole in one of our walls (while Jeff's Mom slaved away in my yard). So while I was at work, the wall between our kitchen and living room received a major makeover. This has been a dream of mine for years. I love having people over for dinner parties, but then I always end up stuck alone in the kitchen while everyone else hangs out in the living room. This way, when I'm working in the kitchen, I can still be a part of the conversation! Despite how long I'd envisioned this change, I have to say that coming home from work and finding this wall:

Looking like this:

Was a shocker. There is still much work to be done, but already, the house is filled with so much more light. And last night when I wanted to refill my water in the kitchen without missing a moment of The Deadliest Catch (don't ask) in the living room, I could scamper to the kitchen and watch the show from the kitchen while cracking ice and refilling my glass. Next, Jeff is going to make built-in bookshelves all along this living room side so that our massive piles (and piles) of books (finally) have a home. Once the shelves are built, he can trim out this hole to make it look less like 2x4s and more like a window or doorway with fancy support columns. Of course, even further down the road is our plan to gut the kitchen and have a do-over in there, but until then, the view of our mediocre kitchen will just have to do.