Clean up.....Make a mess.....Clean up.....Make a mess....

DIY comes in two categories. 

The first is SEXY. Sexy is doing something that looks like you have done something in the end. Sexy is putting in lighting.......... painting and drywall...........putting up trim..... building furniture

UNSEXY DIY IS: DEMO. I hate it. H-A-T-E  I-T!!!!  And running electrical (Romex cost an arm and leg and it is behind wall where you can't see it.) And Plumbing (Copper pipe also cost an arm and leg and it is behind wall where you can't see it.)

PART 1- What I did two weekends ago.......

It may have seen like I was MIA for awhile but I have been doing stuff around here and it is all unsexy DIY It included cleaning up more dust and dirt that I swear I have never seen the likes of. It also involved ripping up the carpeting which is totally unsexy and ....well.....it just sucks.

 I had to get my house from looking like this:

To looking closer to normal like this:

So you get out some tools like this:

Recruit one happy and willing 16 year old, that you remind daily how you gave him life, to help you rip out the FINAL CARPETING!!!! 

Only to find these beauties under the carpeting but remember this is half the room because on the other side of the walls we took out are a super crappy floor.

Part 2- What I did this weekend

Now that the stairs are and the house is kinda back to normal, I figured that it was time to get started back on the laundry room. That is really what started this whole mess right? So to recap, her is the "mud room" back in October :

Mudroom in October

Access to basement:

Here is what it looked like after I tore out the exterior wall and put in the new windows and I got the bright idea of moving the basement steps so I could enlarge the laundry room even more. It was starting to be a black hole for junk in a short time.

See the basement steps? They turn and go to the left where the door is.

Beginning demo, got the bench out and part of the wall here. Notice you can't see a full sized door yet just a green wall. 

"Hey mom, where is the recip saw?"

Big L found the recip saw. GOD-HELP-ME!

AND OUR DEMO IS COMPETE! (Well about 80% anyway) Even the window got taken out today!

 Yes that is a hidden door! It used to be the entrance to the living room and there is a closet that is going to be there now. That is what I worked on yesterday. I gutted it and took out around six black bags of lathe and plaster. Super fun.

So that is it in a nut shell and I still don't have it all done yet. I have been working on the house and I have very little to show for the hours I have put in. There is something discouraging about working your ass off for something to look worse when you get done with it. I guess it does help to scroll through the pics above so maybe I will go back and do that a dozen times now.