After all of the months of planning, and dreaming, working our way through the buying process, and the first of several road trips, I finally got some work done inside the house today.  Even though I arrived on Thursday, I had errands that took my whole day on Friday, and yesterday was spent in Colorado Springs.  First, I bought an 18 foot, flatbed trailer that I found on Craigslist.  When it comes to hauling siding, roofing, gates, and other long items, this is going to be invaluable.  It will also come in handy when it’s time to rent a tractor or haul my new Jeep home.  Okay, it won’t be a ‘new’ Jeep because I just don’t care for the four door model, and I don’t have that much money, but I’m watching on line almost every day.  More on that later.  I had ordered a 12′ scaffold and had it delivered to one of the Home Depot stores down there, so I swung through and loaded it up before heading over to see the kids and grand kids across town.

I’ve been itching to get started, but I was also giving myself a little time to adjust to the altitude, since that whole breathing thing seems to be kind of important.  The first day at a new job is always a little scary.  Turns out, the dress code is super casual every day instead of just Fridays, and I think I’m going to get along with my boss really well, so there’s that.  I need to figure out who to complain to about break and meal periods, though.  I packed a lunch this morning, but after working on the kitchen all day, my hands were covered with all sorts of nastiness; 25 years of kitchen grease, some sort of brown smelly stuff that was in the sink, and what was probably some mouse poop inside the wall.  There was just no way I was going to touch food.  I may need to pick up a water jug and find a spare bar of soap to take until the well is back up and running next week.

I probably won’t do ten hour days everyday (that boss I mentioned said no to overtime…..  jerk!), but I feel like I actually made a major accomplishment, so I’m off to a great start. The guy that had the place before us put a wall between the dining room / kitchen and the living room that was just too high and too poorly installed, so I took it out.  I mean, I understand he may not have been a professional framer, but ’16 inches-on-center’ isn’t a tough concept, is it?

We’ll eventually put something back in it’s place, but it will be a little less obtrusive.  For now, we have a pretty blank canvas.  I spent the day removing cabinets, the range, the island, and even part of the window wall so I could examine our remodel options.

Those uptight, negative Nancy’s on those DIY house hunter shows are always asking for an “open concept” whatever that’s supposed to mean.

This is our open concept: