Just Imagine....

  It was time to do some cleanup on the job site. This was something Elicia and I could help with without being in the way. I wasn't looking forward to carrying bucket after bucket of sawdust and wood debris down the ladder, but it had to be done.
   The distance from the second story floor to the basement floor is 26'. That's a really long way to fall, and a really hard surface to hit, especially when it's an hour to the hospital. Elicia is really careful around the construction, and she's very good on the ladder, but she's 11 and easily distracted. I'm not 11, no spring chicken, and I don't bounce well.

  Hmmmm...  Maybe we could use gravity and part of that distance to our advantage. Ed decided to build a plywood slide to the first floor, and just throw the debris down, instead of going up and down the ladder. I liked the sound of that!

 Rick and I blocked off part of the  unprotected staircase entry. Ed made a plywood ramp from the second story to the first story floor. Elicia and I started throwing stuff down. Very therapeutic!

 
 It didn't take us long to get all the roofing debris and framing cutoffs thrown down. Then we swept and swept, to get all the sawdust out. Ed wanted to get up there and snap lines for the interior walls, and the floors needed to be clean to take the chalk lines.

 
  While Elicia and I were cleaning upstairs, Ed and Rick started the interior walls downstairs. I've been walking around inside this house for two months, but it isn't until the interior walls get framed in that I get a true feeling of how the rooms will be.  The load bearing walls were already up, but these are the walls that more finely define the areas of the house.

  

  They began with the wall separating the bathroom from the laundry/craft room.They framed the wall on the floor. I know this is boring stuff for anyone with a construction background, but for me, it's all new territory. I was thrilled. This is a room where I will be spending a lot of time...the craft room... not the bathroom. It was my own small defining moment.

 

  This is where the groceries come in, the wet coats get hung up, the dog gets rinsed, the muddy boots get stashed. This is where I hope to expand and improve my stained glass hobby. I want to explore oil painting. You get the idea.

  The enthusiasm was contagious. Elicia helped Ed snap a chalkline for the bathroom wall.

  By the end of Friday, the bulk of the downstairs interior walls were framed. I know they won't make much sense yet, but work with me here..
   This is the downstairs bathroom off the craft room.
Both of the full baths on the first floor will be arranged with limited mobility in mind, in the event that we need that in our senior years.




  
Between the craft room and kitchen is the pantry.

Shelf after lovely shelf to store way too much stuff. But I never know when I'll have to whip up a gallon something, oh, say,  Aunt Joyce's Secret BBQ Sauce. Yes, that actually happened to me, and I had everything I need in my pantry! 

  

   On to the entryway coat closet, and powder room.
Maybe I'll do a stained glass piece for that powder room window....hmmm.
   And that wall where the lumber is stacked?  The piano is going right there!

   The downstairs bedroom has a very nicely sized bathroom and walk-in closet.  I can finally picture the rooms. I'm starting to dream about paint chips and furniture arrangements. We still have such a long way to go before I even start painting, but until then, I can just imagine...