March Madness

I've been planning for the last week to get the tile for the breakfast nook cut today.  I hired my brother to help us out just so we could get the damned thing done.  He showed up around 10 this morning and we got right to work.  Dylan and Shaun cut tile, and stuck 'em all down to our table, while I ran the clean-up crew, washing dishes and cooking lunch for my workers.

Fitting the cut tile.

All laid out and ready to be gooey-ed down.

Getting on with the gooey.

We'll let that dry over night and tomorrow we will finish it up!  OMG by the end of this week, could Na'Nook finally be finished?!

The table didn't take too long to cut up and paste, so after lunch Dylan asked what else we were planning to do to this place.  We are expecting guests in April and I've been wanting to get the house nice and cleaned up, so I whipped out my list and we decided to plunge into some of my other 'To Do's.

First we decided to tear out some carpet.

Next week, wood floors!

Then, we decided to remove some walls.

That's right.  Remove some walls.  We're serious about our home improvement projects.

Whoa!  Didn't I say clean up?!

I guess that will give me something to do for the evening.

Anyway, although the entry of our house is now completely stripped, the overall finished effect will be much more roomy, open, and tidier, and really allow a lot more light into our somewhat dark 'living room'.  Not that our living room is that dark, but the walls are painted dark red, and that entry area was incredibly awkwardly fashioned anyway.

Tomorrow, we have furniture moving to do.  The living room carpet will come out and we'll tape off the windows and anything else that's important to prep the walls for texturing and re-painting.  Haven't decided yet if we'll stick with the red or move on to some other fancy color. (And finish off the Nook table with some grout.) By Thursday we should be able to install our wood floor and start on with the other projects.  I'm picturing some shelving, a small vacuum/broom closet, and a bench.

Big plans, big plans.  Pretty exciting, really.