Day 82

The new house used a colonial style. In traditional colonial designs, there were two dining areas, one formal and one casual. There was also access to every room in a more free-flowing manner. 

This house did not fit that traditional mold. 

Usually, there was an opening from the main living room into the area traditionally used for formal dining. We had a wall with a built-in space for a cabinet. Apparently, the previous owners used this space to display antiques.  Because this wall disrupted the flow of the entire first floor, there was no area specifically designated for more formal dining. Instead we had a square room of nothingness. As mentioned, we did turn that room into a much improved laundry room, but we still had a flow issue on our main floor. Now that we knew the kitchen would be moving, we wanted to figure out a way to utilize the space where the kitchen currently resided. 

The possibilities were limitless. We threw around tons of ideas. We talked about a lounge, a wet bar, comfortable seating and an emphasis on our beautiful backyard. However, we knew one thing for sure, we wanted to create access to the family room and finally fix the first floor flow issue.  

The solution: an archway from this newly created space into the family room.

But we were definitely putting the cart before the horse. Now that the updated family room had beautiful hardwood floors and the current family room was destined to be the new kitchen, we had to shuffle things around and prepare for the eventual destruction of the current family room.

After moving furniture from one side of the house to the other, our new family room was in order. With more windows and access to natural light, it felt much cozier. It did still feel isolated but that would eventually change when the archway was added.

It was now time to get the old family ready to be transformed into the new kitchen. Practice makes progress, so we were becoming proficient at pulling up carpet and tiles, so of course, there had to be a curveball thrown our way. 

Or maybe three or four.