Initial Deconstruction

So: the Howe Household. A house once filled with cats, kids, soccer and volleyballs, and laughter that has since been temporarily drained of its love and personality. This is looking to be restored this summer! The day that I arrived back on Salt Spring was a weird day - usually my schedule is already booked with appointments for the entire week long visit. But this time, I didn't have any commitments to rush off to - just the doors of the house opening wide to someone to love it again. Enter me!

Since mum died, the house hasn't changed much. As you'll see, everything looks exactly the same (which it should), just a little bit less lived in and sad looking. The purpose of being here this summer is more for me than anyone or anything else, but I'm also hoping to throw some new floor down, get rid of the carpet, paint a bit, and go through more junk than not, while at the same time, preserve some memories. The most fun part will be to see the changes that happen.

I started taking pictures a few days into the project which is a shame - because the ones from the beginning would have painted quite the picture. Sort of what happened when I got home was that I decided I had to start somewhere - immediately. So I started, and when I got tired of a corner, I would move to another one, which continued until it looked like this:

Fun right? I know!

I should have mentioned actually, the fact that Dad and Sam are living upstairs in the barn a few steps away. It is really nice to have them so close, but it definitely is an adjustment (or I am an adjustment for them) encorporating my daily routine into their daily routine. For instance, dad does this 'rebounding' thing every morning - he claims that by bouncing on a mini trampoline for 15 - 20 minutes every morning, he will 'wake his organs up' (right Dad). This spectacle is always visible at the front window of the barn. In case you don't believe me:

If you look veeeryyyy carefully at the middle window, you'll see dad bouncing away . . .
Day in the life of the Howe Household. Moving on . . . .

One of the goals of the summer is the rip out the oh-so-loveable poo-brown carpet and replace it with beautiful hardwood floors. Bam! Here it is! All boxy-and new:

Say hi dad! So that is 20 boxes of 3/4" solid cheery cherry hardwood flooring! Ready to sit and acclimatize for the next two weeks! Fun!

So truth be told, the mess that is a picture above this one was a little too much to handle. I mean really, living in the literal path of the storm was a tad bit overwhelming. Resolution: clean it up. Dad sort of made me realise that they way I had originally gone about things (ie: throw things everywhere) was probably not entirely condusive to accomplishing some of the things that we wanted to. I quickly figured out that it would be much easier to get the carpet out of there a.s.a.p and then work life around that. Bah! So easy!

Living Room sans junk.

It should be mentioned that the couch and chair (although not very old) are actually very likely a large contributer to the afwul smell that appears to be coming from the carpet (why we are getting rid of it). The memory of this couch will forever remain . . . no where. Notice below the cat hair that is still hanging around.

Empty(ish) sewing room. 

I know there is a question you are itching to ask: where the heck did I put everything? Well, I'll show you. Nothing a little picture can't convey.

I was intending to use the treadmill . . . so sad.

One other thing I would like to point out, with a visual aid again, is the spot left in the carpet from the couch:

You can call me crazy, but that spot it totally there!

Ok! So, before I wrap up the first post here, I have to add two more things very quickly. You don't think that I could clean everything up and not get a little taste of my demolition excitement, do you?

Ooo original floor!

Sesame discovery.

Now here's a fun story: again, I couldn't help myself, so I had to take a piece of the wainscotting off. Know what I found? Old sesame seeds! Can you say MOUSE?! I am scared of what to find behind the rest of it . .