The house is as livable as we can make it in light of all the things that need doing. The kitchen is clean and functioning. And ugly. Most things work except the fridge that freezes stuff and the dishwasher that makes things dirty. But I've been able to turn out fairly regular meals and some decent apple pies so I'll take what I can get right now. Bathrooms all work but need updating. Again, nothing we can't live with. Master bedroom is okay for now. The hardwood floor in the bedroom has been refinished so that's a start. Oh, and of course the bedroom now has in-wall speakers and "disappeared" wires for the flatscreen TV. That's all we're doing to it for the interim.
Nothing like promising family that I'll make Christmas dinner this year as a bit of motivation to really get cracking. So, we hunker down for some serious stuff. Not the kitchen though. I guess since I can actually cook in it, it doesn't warrant emergency status. What we really do need is a place (other than bed, since that can get really crowded when you have people over) to sit and read, or watch TV.
First up is what will be the library/TV room, affectionately known as the "hub room" for its centralized location. Strange to type it, but we've been calling it the hub room since before we even moved in. 
One of the things I really liked about the room was that the ceiling has these dark wood beams. They lent a certain coziness to a room I envisioned having floor to ceiling bookcases; said bookcases currently stacked in the adjacent living room together with boxes of books. And more boxes of books. All the more reason to get the hub room finished.
I've decided not to be attached to them. The ceiling needed to be replaced...it's the one place in the house that isn't double drywalled. It was made of a lighter material, with a terrible bumpy textured coating. Ugh. In order to remove the ceiling,the beams had to go.
With much prying, grunting and swearing, they went. I don't like 'em anymore. Mainly because they were a real bitch to get out and I suspect not so easy to put back either.We'll repurpose the wood where we can. The orange thingie is a Rory toy that he drags around to whatever convenient spot he can find to lay down and chew it up.
Keelan was enlisted to help remove nails from the wood, and ended up getting pretty excited about the whole tear-down thing that Norm started. So he joined in.
I have no doubt that Rory will be a fine reno-dog. Not phased at all by falling bits, power tools, and big bangs. Just happy to be in the same room with his people. Sometimes, for his own safety, he is relegated to a safer vantage point, but mostly he stays out of the way on his own...usually just sitting and watching. Maybe hoping when the ceiling opens up that kibble will fall like manna from heaven. Who knows?
Happy to discover that things are dry underneath and just as solid as the rest of the house. Whoever put this place together didn't intend for it to come apart without a fight.
As it turns out, some of the walls in the hub room aren't drywall either. The panelling was an obvious no-keep. It's not your parents' rumpus room type stuff...it's actually quite thick and I'm sure in its day was considered pretty glam, but not for me. It was going to come down, but after I removed the intercom (a whole other blog entry) I found that the panelling was backed by 3/8 plywood. I guess they didn't want anybody punching holes through the walls during tense family get-togethers. Anyway, the whole thing is staying...it'll make a lovely solid foundation for the drywall.
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