the begining of the epic greening of a house

saturday marked the beginning of the rest of my life...just kidding. but it did mark the beginning of home renovations. which maryjoy had to hug me and say that she would be there when i wanted to melt down. i am getting nervous that i might loose my mind. i am so surprised about how much mental energy all this takes. yall know, i am not the sharpest knife in the drawer, so this is going to be a real test of mental and physical strength. i hope i am up for the challenge. i am playing the role of general contractor (emphasis on the general)...

this is my kitchen as it stands now. soon, all this stuff will make up the basement kitchen.
i think my new kitchen with have cupboards all the way to the ceiling.
and i think they will probably be red. i will definitely have butcher block countertops.

this is the dining room.
i am going to build in some bookshelves in those little spaces on the side of that former fireplace. i would like to restore that fireplace.
i don't know if i will be able this time around,
but what is a house without more improvements right?

this is my RED bathroom with the glass door.
it won't stay red, but i think everything else will stay.
at least for a little bit.

this is from the dining room into the living room.
i like the cut out.
i kinda want to cut that whole wall out
i am not sure if it is possible, but if it is i am doing it

this is the living room
i like that the house has so much natural light!

these are the CRAZY stairs into the basement
this absolutely has to change.
they are a disaster and a safety hazard
whoever installed these was trying to kill someone

the games began with one trip to home depot
(the day would include 4 more. good thing i am close to home depot)
one trip to fragers and then the breaking of a lock
this is kinda becoming a habit.

grrr!
i was upstairs with a contractor giving me an estimate
i knew the lock had come off when i heard the ¡cheers!

here are my true friends
(only true friends do stuff like this all day on a saturday)
and man, these ladies know how to WORK
holly, lindsay and me destroying a hardwood floor
how is that for green?
we really tried to preserve it, but there was no way
at least that we could see
and we have to get the floor off that rise.

me and linZ

holly
"it's called work"
this girl is not afraid to work so hard she is sore
she loves it so much soon we are going to reinsulate my attic together!

then we found that part of the floor was rotted with water damage.
i got quite worried
the sheet rock dude i am hiring, louis, was there and he started taking out the wall
we found that the yucky smell in the room came from the mold on the bottom of the insulation
BUMMER
so i started taking the whole thing out
i am hoping that the water is seeping in,
which i think it must be
but...time will tell

pulling out insulation
i can't decide if i should redo the sheet rock or go for exposed brick?
if you have an thoughts on this, let me know

please note the amount of stuff floating in the air.
what looks like snow is probably asbestos
i am still coughing and i have that mask on

then we found this
and MAN DID IT EVER SMELL!!!!

me, my dead rat, and my asbestos
it didn't take long (6 hours) before we were pooped out
so the house is still in this shape
if you know how to get raised floors out, let me know
we can't figure out how we are ever going to get all that wood out of there...


now i am perseverating about what i should do with the exterior of the house.
lindsay and i drove around cap hill on sunday checking out pretty houses
here are a few
again, i am open to suggestions
let me know if you like any of the following too!
i want to figure out a way to make the cool masonry show more.

just to refresh your memory... this is my house
¡mi casa!
so what do you think would make this look cool?

i like both of these...