Let the Renovations Commence

Please ignore the scraggly house plant that is slowly dying since we moved it outside while Neal deconstructs the dining room. These poorly installed doors and windows have been one of the banes of life in our little yellow ranch in the woods. By this time next week (knock wood, fingers crossed), the set on the left will be replaced with pretty new windows and a half wall. We can't decide on a door for the set on the right, so that may have to wait until next year.

Here's the view from inside. Neal started pulling down sheetrock to see what horrors lay beneath. The previous owners did a lot of rigging things in ways that don't make a guy who used to work construction happy. The good news is that the header is a 2 x 10, which is code or code plus (Neal told me this. I don't instinctively know it.), which means that we will be just fine, structurally, when we enter phase 4 of The Big Renovation of the Little Yellow Ranch in the Woods. We're in Phase 2 now. Phase 3, slated for next summer, is the addition of a mudroom and porch to the kitchen entryway. Phase 4 is a second floor.