Spring seems to have come a little early to our neck of the woods. It's so wonderful to have the warmer temperatures, even if they are a little too warm for late winter. Sunshine always brings joy and happiness as we look into the garden and see the daffodils beginning to bloom!
The hellebore's are blooming!
The pansies that were planted in the fall, love the advent of spring.
We are in the mist of a little renovation between our kitchen and dining room. My kitchen is small and I've always dreamed of removing the wall between these two rooms. We have hardwood floors and we didn't want to disturb them. So we decided to remove a half wall instead ..all the way to the ceiling! This has opened up the whole area and makes me feel like I have a larger kitchen! It is not one inch larger, but gives the eye more room to roam! Grayden is doing the work, taking his time being very careful as he removes each piece involved. Next we are ordering a quartz top for the half wall. I'll let you have a little peek at the progress thus far. I will show you when it's finished.
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| Dining room sheet rock removal |
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| Studs exposed |
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| Kitchen view |
It's not easy for me to have such a mess in our home. My daughter asked me how I was doing with it all. I told her I was doing okay. It is quite dusty and messy and the vacuum has been used more than ever. The whole house will be painted after this project is complete. How do you do when there are renovations taking place in your home?
I also was the winner of a wonderful apron from Susan. She has a wonderful blog about her baking adventures inspired by her mother. Please visit her at http://mymothersapronstrings.blogspot.com/2016/03/in-honor-of-mrs-pattmore-crumpets.html Susan also specializes in stamping and paper crafting realistic paper flowers.
Susan has made over 135 aprons that she gifts to her readers! I am the lucky recipient of two of her beautiful creations. Thank you, dear Susan for the joy you send out to the world!
Lovely growing things. I was poking around in the garden today to see what survived, revived and died. It is so thrilling to see the bits of leaf and growth just peeking out of the earth, or barely protruding from a thin stem. We don't have any pansies, but the daffs abound.
ReplyDeleteThat is an ingenious solution to enlarge the room by fooling the eye. A few years back, we did take out an entire wall from the kitchen to an unused bedroom, I now call it the keeping room and it is basically where we live in the winter.
Jeri, it is a lovely time of year. Everything waking up in the garden it so thrilling.
DeleteWe were really unwilling to take the wall completely out because of the hardwood floor. Your keeping room sounds perfect for you. I'm excited about this "new" look for our home. ♥
Isn't Spring wonderful? Full of the magic of rebirth and new life. Although Autumn is my favourite season, each brings its own differences and beauty, and I think it is the bright colours that burst forth from the dead~looking ground that make Spring just so special and full of happy smiles and joy.
ReplyDeleteI don't envy you your renovations! Still, once over you will be delighted I'm sure.
~~~Deb xoxo
p.s. delightful music!
I love the change of seasons, Deb. Each one brings forth a new perspective. I really can't imagine living where they are not as profound.
DeleteThe renovation, so far, has me excited for a new perspective from the kitchen. After 43 years, that will be nice. Enjoy your day! xoxo ♥
Seeing the plants come to life is my joy! We're still a ways from seeing plants blooming but we are having a rather early warm up so we may be enjoying it all soon too! I've lived through a few renovation projects in my home. I know just what you are going through. Yes the dust and debris is a pain but in the end you'll love it! Opening up the room is what everyone seems to want these days so you can't go wrong! The apron is sweet- what a nice giveaway to receive!
ReplyDeleteLiz, you have all the beauty of spring to look forward to. The renovations of the past have kept us from doing this one. It is going quite well and I'm eyeing the moment when it will be all done! Have a lovely day! ♥
DeleteThe worse thing about renovations is that there are dust and mess everywhere and you can't tackle them because the work is not done. I always try to remind myself of that excellent moment when the builders finally leave and you have, as the case may be, as spacious kitchen (well, mine isn't :-)
ReplyDeleteAmalia
xo
Yes, that messiness is what I'm dealing with. Since my husband is doing the work, I think he is much neater than others that have done work for us in the past! My kitchen will not be larger, but will give us a more open feel! Have a great day! xo ♥
DeleteOoo blooms blooms glorious blooms!! What a great feeling when the bulbs give up their slumber!!
ReplyDeleteMartha, my daughter would be envious of your new kitchen/dinning area!! She is hoping for that same feature to have her's half ! open :-)!
It is going to be so nice! Isn't it fun to have remodeling for a new lift in the home? Even though the work and mess is there, the out come is so happy!!
Looking forward to see the finished work! Have fun and enjoy your Spring flowers, Love warmth and many blessings, Linnie
Dear Linnie, we have a ways to go before it's finished, but I'm so excited! I hope you show you a finished opening as we have envisioned it! Have a wonderful day looking forward to your spring, dear one. xoxo ♥
DeleteHaven't had any renovations done, since we did over our kitchen, in 2001. :-) But renovations is awful. No way around it.
ReplyDeleteJust have to keep your eye, on the finished product. :-)
Gentle Spring hugs,
Tessa
Tessa, you are so right, as I hear my husband sawing away. We've been through many renovations over the years in this home and I seem to feel the same about the messiness. Have a lovely afternoon. ♥
DeleteWhat an inspired idea...adding visual space (which is practically the same as adding physical space, don't you think?) without disturbing those beautiful hardwood floors! Win-win!!
ReplyDeleteThe mess with remodeling projects? Ugh. I LOVE house projects, so I used to take it all in stride...even when plaster walls were being torn out and old windows were removed and floors were taken up...because I focused on the end result. Now, however, I only get excited about projects that can be accomplished in a weekend! If I can't put everything back together after a few days, I am in a dither!
Your rooms are going to look fabulous! Please show us "after" pictures!
Cheryl, since this is in the kitchen, working meals around all of the destruction has proven to be a challenge. I'm trying to practice patience which is a challenge for me! ♥
DeleteYou are doing well in the midst of the construction/deconstruction messes. I hate messes, which is why sometimes I am too willing to live with something that really should be fixed. It used to be that women preferred to have a dining room that did not show the kitchen; now so many of us have gone to the more open look. I know that it will be wonderful when it is complete and will make serving in the dining room so much easier. Congrats on another apron win. Susan is a peach.
ReplyDeleteVee, changes in our home always scare me. I almost didn't want to do this as we are older and projects go slower. We were already having the interior painted this year and decided it was now or never for this project! ♥
DeleteYou have much more in bloom than I do. I'm eager to see your finished kitchen. I think it will make a big difference to open it up like that. I remember our major remodel in 1992 where we had some walls taken down to enlarge a bedroom. Then we had all the wood floors in the bedrooms refinished which meant 4 bedrooms of furniture were piled into the living and dining room for a week! We lived in the basement--we all slept in the small TV room--5 of us--in February. Only that room had a heater. The rest of the basement was unfinished. But it was actually a lot of fun to be all together like that.
ReplyDeleteCathy, your memories sound familiar to ours. In 1989 we had hardwood floors installed in our whole house! We moved all of the upstairs furniture into the Florida room, including the kitchen appliances. We then went to the beach for a week while the floors were being installed and finished. Renovations are fun to look back on. ♥
DeleteHmm I think my earlier comment may have got again wonder why that happens!
ReplyDeleteOh well here is another :-)
I was so excited to see all the wonderful blooms :-D
And I was telling about how my daughter is wanting that same partial cut out between the kitchen and dinning room !! Isn't it wonderful to get a new look? Among all the mess and work that goes into it it is so very worth it in the end!! :-) It is going to be wonderful!! I am looking forward to the end result :-)
Sending love warmth and many blessings XX OO Linnie
So sorry Linnie, but I have the comment moderator on. Thank you for your sweet comments! xoxo ♥
DeleteWhat a difference it makes and I can see you will love it. I think you are putting a counter there and how nice that will be for serving in your dining room. And then to get the house painted. It will be like a new house--at least a face lift. Worth the mess of the construction, right! I'm like you, would be cleaning up as we go ...
ReplyDeleteDotsie, we are putting a counter on the half wall. Grayden removed the door way stud this afternoon and it's even more open. As you can tell I'm excited! ♥
DeleteMartha you spring garden is really blooming so beautifully! I will have to wait until May to see flowers like this. We might get snow this week! I won't complain because we need the moisture here--it has been very dry for weeks and the forest and brush fire danger was high.
ReplyDeleteI had a kitchen like yours when I lived in Brooklyn and I often thought about doing the same thing you are now doing. The problem I had was that I'd lose quite a bit of kitchen cabinets and my dining room hutch would only fit on the wall next to my kitchen, so I decided not to do it.
I'm sure you will enjoy having your wall open and having a counter there. I look forward to seeing the final results.
The new apron you won is very pretty! I will visit this blog next--it sounds wonderful!
Pat, we debated about this remodel for a long time. We did not have cabinets on the kitchen side. We've lived in our home for 43 years and still look for ways to improve its function. It's a slow steady process as my husband is doing the work. The results are already living up to our expectations.
DeleteI'm happy to hear you are getting some moisture as fire danger is a scary thought. Snow is the best kind of moisture as it settles into the earth slowly. Have a wonderful week! ♥
You will be so happy when it's finished. Just seeing a glimpse really opens the space. I know it is a pain in the rear, but it is so worth it. Good the see your plants blooming. I love this time of year. Enjoy the weekend.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Linda. I agree it will be great when it's finished! ♥
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