Most of the major remodel work Dean has done is stuff you can't see unless you pop your head under the house and look at pipes and electric and other very boring but important improvements I am glad my husband is able to do. I know he has saved us thousands of dollars on the remodel because of his job. He does gut and remodels up at Lake Tahoe all week long. He installed an electric water heater under the house. Not only does it heat the water more efficiently, but in the long run it should save us money. Plus taking out the old (disgusting) water heater freed up more room for a cabinet in the corner of the kitchen.
We are always amazed at the stuff we find, or the lack of what we find while doing this remodel. The previous owners had installed the water heater and just left the wall opened behind it. No actual wall was there just some insulation, very grimy and disgusting insulation. Well it's right there in the picture and I think it speaks for itself.
Then Dean found this strange contraption in the wall (leaned against the fridge). At first we couldn't figure out what it was. Dean finally looked inside an there were bricks inside it. He figured that they used this to pull the bricks up and would pulley it down again when they needed more while they were building the old furnace chimney. I thought that was kind of cool. However it would have been cooler to find say stacks of money stashed inside. Oh well.
Then he moved all the plumbing pipes that had been installed in the most awkward places, and put up new drywall.
Oh I almost forgot, he had to finish rewiring this side of the kitchen. When he moved in there had been an electrical fire years ago. So the whole house had to be rewired. I have a picture of the cabinet that he installed but I will have to post it with the next batch of remodel photos. Dean works so hard all week long. This kitchen remodel was only supposed to take a few weeks to finish (hahahhahahah). Although it has stretched into months, every step makes the house look more like our little home. It makes my heart swell with joy when I look at all the hard work we have put into this home. Today Sloan informed me we were never allowed to buy another house. Our house is small (750 square feet small). We love and live in every inch of it. The crazy thing is it only feels small sometimes. Someday we hope to start the addition. For now it works. I have to agree with Sloan. If the time came and we were to sell it would be hard for me to leave this little home. All of our first memories have happened within these little walls. I am glad we will be here for a little while longer. How many of you have gone through a remodel? How many of you are still going through a remodel? I would love to hear your stories on all your remodel adventures.
Sloan's newest creation. It reminds me a little of the day of the Dead art from Mexico with a hint of tattoo style. She was emphatic that I teach her how to draw skulls today, and I would have never thought this is what she would produce. I think it's very creative. You can see this illustration along with others on Sloan's blog, Blooming Doodles. She loves getting comments and if you have any young budding artists that would like to become blogging pals with her she would be thrilled.
This is my little Zoe's artwork. She is very excited to start her own blog also. She wants to be just like Sloan. So whenever she finishes one of her "scribbles" drawings she brings it to me and says, "You put this to my blog mommy?". How could I resist this request. If you know my Zoe she doesn't ask once, no, it's like the 2 year old version of rain man. Things are repeated over and over and then a couple more times. So I had a few moments and figured I would start her little blog Scribbles & Giggles tonight. 
