and a few during pictures...

just for fun! it has been a while since most of the demolition happened, but i'm so proud of my husband for doing so much of this himself! seriously- he's a super hero. it's not just because our last name is Blazer (but that's pretty super hero-ish), or because he has fun super powers like packing moving vans or always getting the lime to the bottom of the Corona bottle. it's not even because his nub (part of his thumb is missing- ask him about it) strikes fear into men of all ages.

nope- this guy was diagnosed with testicular cancer in March and had 2 surgeries to try to remove all of the bad cells. just prior to the second surgery, we discovered this little "diamond in the rough" house and made an offer on it. after his surgery it because clear that he would need 6 weeks of chemotherapy to thoroughly kill the cancer cells, and he STILL followed through with the demolition on several areas of our new house. this involved much sledgehammering and ripping of plaster, as well as removing TONS of bricks from the original exterior of the home. he's my hero... but mostly because i just love him alot. : ) and he's doing really well now- cancer free as far as anyone can tell, with good prognosis for the long term!

so here's a few little tidbits to get you excited about the after pictures- soon to come!

behold our kitchen ceiling... apparently the wiring was a little "off." but now we have great lighting in there, so a little extra work for the hubby benefitted me greatly!

the foyer floor had to be ripped up to see what was underneath. apparently it was a little too "holey" to be refinished well. i'm still a little bummed about that- i like old, worn "holey" floors. but i like the pretty new ones, too, so don't hear me complaining!

the man posing next to his handiwork. removing plaster walls is a lot of work, so i hear! i wouldn't have been much help anyway, but i had to stay home with the kiddos while he worked. i felt kind of lazy, but my work is happening now! painting, painting, painting, packing, and painting....

this is the same wall, just from the other side... you can see some of the trim and bricks he removed from the kitchen in this picture!

this is the door to the basement from the kitchen.

we moved it to the foyer (by we, i mean my husband and our contractor, mark. mostly mark, i think). plaster & brick are SO messy...

this was the bathroom entrance from the kitchen. like i said in a previous post, i wasn't crazy about having a full bath IN my kitchen. nor did i want my kitchen storage space to be limited by this doorway! so our wonderful contractor moved the door to the other side of the bathroom (now in the mudroom) and cut it's size in half. it's now a tiny powder room, which is fine with me! i wish we could have kept the full bath so it could be a "guest bath" if we had someone stay on a pullout in the family room... but i gladly sacrificed that for more kitchen space & a great breakfast bar leading into the family room!

YAY! i can't wait to get some AFTER pictures... i may go over there this afternoon with the kids in tow to see how things are coming!

(anyone know how to make the underlining go away? i tried control "click", font change, control "u" and a few other old tricks...)