*had some requests for some house renovation updates and realized i haven’t posted much of anything since spring. so much news! the downstairs is no longer a pit i’m scared to fall into, there are actual walls where there should be, and we have lots of new windows. here’s the downstairs scoop:
*we have dry wall! the main living room wall has sections for built-in shelving, a lower section of a build in credenza, and space for art with a drop-down screen for movie watching. the front windows have not been replaced yet, but C has trimmed them out:

*the kitchen is also partially framed: the far wall (past the brick chimney in the picture) has space for built-in cabinets and the fridge:

*beyond the kitchen is the back entrance with new double doors that open to the patio, closet and upper storage space and a door to the half-bath:

*we replaced the window in the entrance, which brightens up the entire back  area and provides a few of the patio:

*the new half bath is in the corner where the old kitchen used to be. the new window replaces the old one that was above the kitchen sink. (see pics here. we removed the back window, which was not original to the house.)

*because the house had next to nothing original left in it when we bought, we’ve tried to keep some of the interesting aspects of the original walls, like this section in the new bathroom, which shows where an original staircase was in the house, mostly likely a small back stairwell:

*C backlit this section, which i have yet to capture some good pictures of.

*we put in two windows that had been bricked in at some point in the early 1900s. these windows frame where our new kitchen will be, creating a lot more light in the middle of the house. this is the view from the driveway now. we’ve had a lot of mason work done to restore the brick below all of the windows throughout the house:

*next up: replacing the two windows that frame the dining room. they are pretty busted, so they are covered with insulation to keep the winter cold out:

*once the windows are replaced, all of them will get trim. then the living room and kitchen build-outs will start happening, the hardwood floors (which are all piled up throughout the downstairs, waiting to be installed), and the stair treads.

*winston has been surveying the process from his favorite perch and likes what he sees: