Siding and drywall and dust, oh my!

When we left town, the red door was still there.

When we came back, it was gone.

 They also put up siding the day we left.

 They hung drywall while we were gone.

 Drywall is messy. People warned me, but I had no idea.

 Then they sanded. Oy vey!

Remember the monster return vent that took up the entire hallway?

It's going to be SO small now. The floors are being patched today and tomorrow.

 New floors are going in as well.

Remember our tiny, dark kitchen?

Remember the wall we were going to take down

and the laundry room/porch that was going to be demo'd?

TA DA!!!

Here's another shot of the future kitchen and den from the dining room.

Vacation

We escaped the mess and chaos for an entire week. The kids were off school for winter break, so we headed up to Boone, North Carolina (Go App State!) to stay in a lovely cabin for 3 nights. We spent the rest of the time in Waynesville visiting the grandparents. We spent a little time in Urgent Care with our very sick boy, but still managed to have some fun.

 Sleepy Creek Cabin

Tubing with her Daddy at Sugar Mountain

At least there was a comfy leather couch, fireplace, and cable for the sick boy.
Lilly got lots of one-on-one time with Alan while I took care of Jonny.

They toured the campus at Alan's alma mater.
This picture scares me a little. I can now picture dropping her off at at college.
She turns 9 next week, so she's half way there.

 Al took her to eat at Proper, which is located in an old jail.
Alan's friends lived in the building when he was in college
and their names are still carved on the wall.

 Yes, he had a friend named Dink.

Catching up with his old friend, Doc Watson.
Finally, as we were leaving town, Jonny felt well enough to visit Mystery Hill.

 The first smile on Jonny's face after having pneumonia and a double ear infection.

 The crooked house was crazy. It made me kind of dizzy for the rest of the day.

Mystery Hill 

 Doc Watson

We had to drive up a mountain on our way out of town so Jonny could touch snow.

Lilly had a great time.

Jonny? Not so much.

Me? I was just happy to have a kitchen

and grateful for antibiotics.

Doors and windows, windows and doors

We moved our front door so our parlor will be a more usable space.

Do you see the two windows to the left of the door?

Ta DA! The old door will soon be gone and there will just be a wall of siding there in its place.

We (I) agonized over choosing a door. I didn't want to lose the view from our dining room looking out onto the porch. I like to keep tabs on the neighbors' comings and goings. 

That sounds a little creepy, but whatever. 

Even with sidelites, it would drive me crazy to not be able to see through the new door.

SO, I choose this door

Yep, that's a LOT of glass. I had buyer's remorse for a minute (doors are expensive),

but I figure you can always hang up a curtain for privacy.

I probably would have made a different choice if our front door looked into a private area of the house, but it's just a dining room and kitchen. We're usually dressed in there.

Anyway, we relocated the dining room windows to the new bathroom,

and reused our bedroom windows in the new den.

Our new outswing patio doors have been installed (view from the future kitchen)

We only had to order 3 new windows for the entire addition. 

Now, what color should we stain the mahogany door and sidelites? I'm thinking dark.

Or maybe I should paint the sidelites cream like the trim and just stain the door?

So many decisions to make every.single.day!

It's hot up in here!

 Our furnace has gone to scrap metal heaven. It was only 17 years old,

but the ductwork was MUCH older than that.

It was warmer in the crawl space than in the house.

We now have a 90% efficient furnace,

all new ductwork,

and 4 new return vents!

The REALLY great thing is that we only paid for an 80% efficient furnace,

but got a free upgrade when they discovered the 90% efficient one 

was going to be easier to install due to our setup!

This old house has never been so warm, or so quiet. You can't even hear the furnace when it's running.

It feels like a newly built home and we haven't even re-insulated yet.

We also got a new air conditioner.

August in Georgia?

Bring it on.