Pantry, Sleeping Porch and More Electric

So we are finishing the fourth week of this demo, and as usual, the contractors are making major progress. We still have two teams working on different floors, so there are roughly 10 people on site now, working on all three floors of the house. The chaos level is high, but things are pretty exciting.

In the basement- the electrical team continued to add outlets all over the place, and finished moving the panel upstairs. All week, we've been losing power to various parts of the house, so it's nice that now (almost) everything is back on. We had to go a couple nights without the air conditioner- and it's not something we want to do anymore.

new panel on the first floor is done

On the first floor- they added the new beam to replace the load-bearing wall between the kitchen and dining room, and removed the temporary wall. This is hugely exciting and makes the kitchen feel open, bright and huge. They removed the pantry, and started framing in the new mudroom and halfbath. It's just plywood now, but don't worry- it won't stay this ugly. Unfortunately- we lose total access to the backyard until the new door goes in, so that's a little problematic.

new beam between the dining room and kitchen

pantry comes down - view from the old porch

On the second floor- they removed the horrible old windows, which made our bedroom surprisingly brighter. Then they framed it in to prep for new windows.

sleeping porch before - with old slat windows

current sleeping porch- framed and partially closed in with plywood

current view from the back of the house-- lovely, yes?

Most annoying thing so far - So the lack of laundry is still annoying, but this week the most annoying thing is the invasion of men into my morning. For years, I have had a morning routine that consists of oversleeping, showering, making breakfast, and then sitting quietly to watch the news while drinking coffee with at least one cat napping in my lap. It's an important part of getting centered and prepped for the day. Now that the contractors are in the house, my routine is totally out of whack. They are working in the kitchen before I can get downstairs, so I've been skipping breakfast and the news, and coming to work with wet hair. To make it worse, now cats have to be pinned into the front two bedrooms to stay out of the way of the workers in the house. They, of course, hate being confined, so now I'm spending extra time having to chase them down. The only good thing is that I'm getting to work earlier, so that's something.

the pantry has moved to the fireplace room

dust guards between the fireplace room and kitchen/dining room

the constantly growing pile of crap in the backyard.

Next Steps- A plumbing team will start in the basement, moving pipes up into ceiling and out of the way. The structural team will finish up the old pantry and frame the new half bath and add windows and doors. Upstairs, the team will install the new windows and start prepping for the new washer/dryer.