Let the Walls Come Down

Looking back over past entries, I am keenly aware that much time has passed since I last wrote. It is easy to let life go by without feeling the need to remember it in detail. And truthfully, the time between my last entry and this has been filled with stories no one ever thought they would have to tell. When Covid 19 became a thing, ravaging it’s way through populations and communities all over this world of ours, I bet a lot of people found more time to write. I did not. In my household, after the first 3 weeks where we pretty much sheltered in place as was suggested, we went to work.

Thankfully, we stayed healthy and safe through it all. My business remained open and is today even more busy and fruitful than it was before. Erik’s business continues to grow and he continues to work on new products in our very tiny kitchen.

And so, after 4 years of living in our home on this land of ours, we are beginning to make some real changes to it’s inside. Up until this point, most of what we have done has been outside the house. First we spent about a year clearing off old buildings that were on their way to falling down and full of so much MOOP (matter out of place … thank you Nick Martin). We bought and built Quonset the Hut (a 30x90 foot metal building put up before any permitting was even started). We have created a large fenced in garden spot. Erik built a chicken coop. We have a bee hive. And we fenced in all 14 acres of the property. That has been the best money spent I would say. We are always happy to have people we know on the land. But the constant throng of people hiking that we used to have was more than we signed up for. And someone was going to get hurt with our 3 dogs constantly on high alert.

We began this process back in March. Meeting with our GC and getting to know him. He has an easy, comfortable manner. He is real, honest and good at what he does. And his crew is made up of people we want to have around. It’s a comment that gets frequently made…. That we are lucky to have such good people working on our home. I am not sure it is luck so much as necessity. I mean, if we are the company we keep… keeping good company for the next 6 months as we re-make our home is critical. We are living in it as the changes are made. We have worked hard to be able to afford them and saved so that we could do it the right way.

This first week started with packing up and moving out the entire middle floor. We created a small spot to store food and essential dishes/ pots and pans. From there the crew of 2 came in and began ripping up flooring and taking out cabinets. They are being kind and leaving the main floor toilet and kitchen in tact for as long as possible. This next week may see them going away, but this weekend we can still cook and wash dishes inside. Our overall goal is to knock down the walls that surround our current kitchen. As we do this we will make the side entry into the house bigger, move the guest bathroom, add new flooring to the guest bedroom (they pulled up 2 layers of old carpet this week…) add hardwood to the living and dining room area, re-tile the kitchen and create an industrial kitchen space that we can do what we both love most… cook and hang and entertain. So stay tuned and I will do my best to document the process and have some fun while we do it.

As the walls come down

We make more space for what’s important

Former entry into the guest bathroom. The original design of the house led guests through the bathroom into the house through what we have always called the “hobbit” door. Currently a 30” door with the worlds smallest mud room.

Current view from outside of what was Wyatt’s bedroom.

Looking through what used to be a closet in Wyatt’s room to where the washer and dryer lived… in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs.

Found in perfect condition as the walls came down.