Roof nearing completion, and some new space on the way!

It has been a very busy week. Our dumpster finally arrived last Thursday and every day since has had lots of back breaking demo material removal. The 40 yard bin is nearly full and we are cramming the last bits into every corner!

The good news is that we almost have the back yard back!

The roofers have been at the house every day except the weekend and expect to finish tomorrow. Stay tuned for the final before and after comparison photos.
For now, here are a few shots of the shingles going on. We love the color and the "3d shingle" look.

Over the weekend, we were both at the house doing more demo. On Saturday we tackled the old hedge in the front. We tried to find a way to trim it back and save it, but it was neglected for too long and had to be sacrificed.

And Abbey found windows on the side of the house under the massive vine growth!

We also spent three hours at home depot on Saturday night meeting with the kitchen department to further plan our kitchen cabinets. Here is a sample of the direction we are heading. It adds a little more detail to the renderings that I made earlier.

From the peanut gallery, just a little message from Abbey. I don't like to brag that much, and don't think its very becoming at all, but I shall brag about Gregg for a spell. For any of you that think determination and elbow grease won't amount to much, my future husband managed to remove a cast iron bathtub from our home all by himself. I don't think I can convey the fortitude this required. I think the thing must way 500 lbs at least. The best part was that he also found a use for the extremely ugly stair rung dowel thingies and created my second favorite quote of the house saga so far - "I moved it like the Egyptians moved their blocks" (please try to imagine both of us in ventilators, huffing and puffing, and you can tell just how proud Gregg is of his accomplishment even through the respirator). Yes, he is quite cute, handy, and is all mine ladies!
On Sunday Gregg cleared all the debris from the bathroom wall demo and moved it all to the dumpster trash can by trash can. Then the old and extremely heavy cast iron tub came out. Meanwhile Abbey was hard at work in the kitchen taking down more of the plaster wall and removing more of the subfloor.

Also, over the past few days we have been prepping the kitchen for the new beam to replace the load bearing wall. Last week the new footings were framed and today the cement was poured. Tomorrow the new 14 inch beam will go up and the old wall will be gone!