The Kitchen

Living Room, Kitchen and Pantry + Barn

With the heating system out of the way, we were ready to start the kitchen. We slowly began ripping up the old floor and tearing down walls. We still had two years before our five years were up and so we were really in no hurry. We had also been working on the living room and we got that done to the point of just needing carpet. However, it would be a really bad idea to put carpet down with so many other rooms nearby that still needed drywall and sanding. 

Things with the pandemic were getting better and I was back in school teaching. Although I was very happy with where I was teaching (for the past 20 years), things began changing. Greg is six years older than me and I thought it might be a good idea to start looking near the farm for a teaching position. This would allow me to continue to teach until my retirement, while he retired on the farm. I went on Wecan one night and I was shocked to see an opening in Argyle. I immediately applied. The next shocker was,  I got the job!

Now, the kitchen was on fast track. We spent a week there and ripped everything out, put in the electric, and put up all of the drywall. Most of the work is done after 4:30 PM because Greg is back at work. He works virtually and so for the day time hours he is on the computer. This is when I do the painting of the barn or the mudding of the drywall.

Tomorrow, we go back for another week. It is time to get it mudded, sanded, primed and painted. Thank goodness, I can do most of this myself. I will, however, give Greg the yucky job of sanding. He will have the weekend to get this done. We will also enjoy a family celebration for Greg's birthday. Cabinets have been ordered. It's a good thing we saved so much money on the heating system because we are paying for it now. Wood prices have sky rocketed due to the pandemic and our kitchen cabinets are way more expensive than I ever imagined. 

It will be close getting it finished by the start of the school year due to orders taking a long time to fill (also due to the pandemic). However, we will have a kitchen  and a living room (with carpet) by early fall. 

Our lovely kitchen before new drywall.

After drywall.

                                 

                                                   I have also been painting the barn!

                                                                         Before paint

After paint- with more to do.

Left to Do

We have done an insane amount of work on this house so far, however, there is still much to do. With a kitchen and living room, however, it should be pretty comfortable to live in while we tackle the rest of the house. 

We have one more room upstairs to complete and we have a parlor, dining room, foyer and stairwell to do downstairs.  After that comes, siding and finishing it up by restoring it to its original look and putting a new wrap around porch on it. 

The end is in sight and I think we will make our five-year plan.

The Living Room

                                           

The big project in the living room was tearing down the chimney from other rooms and creating a brick wall on both sides of the chimney in the living room. That was after we uncovered the chimney hidden in plaster. I can't wait to carpet it, put up the drapes and place our furniture (which has been ordered).