There’s so much to say I don’t even know where to start. I guess I’ll start by saying it’s been a crazy week to say the least. Between the bombings at the marathon on Monday and then the search for the bombers and finally the lockdown of the city and capture of the terrorist on Friday- it’s felt like we’re living in a movie. And on top of all of that- we completely gutted our new home. It’s a miracle we’re all still standing.

With the gutting of the house came a lot of questions answered and a lot of lessons learned. Lesson number one: with any major renovation  just go ahead and double the budget because it’s going to happen. Even being the most detail oriented people and researching everything to death, Jared and I are still stretching our budget to a frightening number.

So allow me to get off my sassy horse with all my “sexy appliances” and “high end fixtures.” We’re going to have to get a lot more realistic about what we can afford. That means even harder bargain hunting, getting really creative, putting in a lot of hours ourselves, and making compromises.

But that’s all the negative stuff. Let’s talk positives! Check out all we’ve accomplished in the last week.

1. Completely gutted the entire first floor- living room, dining room, kitchen, back mudroom, and entryway.

2. Gutted the upstairs bathroom. As I mentioned on Friday, this was not in our plans for a good year or two. However, with the kitchen ceiling open, we needed to move the pipes for the bathroom (directly above the kitchen) now.

3. Found a great new spot for the toilet though! Kidding.

4. Two interesting discoveries were made. There’s a gorgeous curve from the staircase in the kitchen. This was blocked by a doorway to the basement before but we think it’s way too cool to cover again. And then there was the discovery that the back mudroom used to be an open porch. There was siding above the drop ceiling and this awesome post they built right into the wall! 5. Then there was a lot of progress on our bedroom which I’m pretty proud to say, I did most of myself. Wall paper down, check! Vinyl flooring in closet up, check! Drop ceiling down thanks to me and Mum, check!

6. And finally, Mum and I got really well acquainted with the wallpaper steamer. The entire hallway and up the stairs is covered with 80s purpley blue streaky wallpaper and whoever put it up used a lot more glue than the bedroom walls. Those ripped off like nothing but the hallway was another story. We’ve gotten most of the walls done before we figuratively and quite literally ran out of steam.