Empty Rooms

The last two weeks have been spent emptying rooms so that all the work we are doing (or paying other people to do) can be done. Thanksgiving was crammed in there somewhere, too. But today all the emptying out started to pay off. The painters came to work on the kitchen and dining room!

I can guarantee that our kitchen is never this empty:

In addition to the holes left by the removal of the ugly light box in the kitchen, there was water damage to be repaired.

The water came in from the balcony above the dining room because the people who added on the dining room and balcony apparently thought that it never rained in Dodge. We fixed the original problem, then really put a cap on it by enclosing the balcony. But that's another story.

And there was also a hole behind the refrigerator where the water line comes down (from the attic, of all places). Have I ever mentioned the really weird plumbing in this house?

Today was mainly prep work. The shades and other odds and ends on the dining room walls were taken down and tossed aside. (And we are really going to have to replace those shades before next summer -- Dodge in summer with uncovered windows is not worth thinking about.)

Another empty room there, actually. Though there are still a few odds and ends -- like the dining table -- in that room, it is emptier than I've ever seen it.

Look at this! The ugly holes left behind by the ugly light box have been covered up!

And, after a good morning's work,  the water damage is repaired, the ceiling is repaired, the wall paper has been removed, and we're just waiting for all the patches to dry so that painting can begin tomorrow.

In other news, we are emptying out three other rooms so that new flooring can be installed next week. That's five rooms of furniture and STUFF that need to be moved into the other five rooms of the house, most of which are in use as bedrooms. Fortunately, the work in the kitchen and dining room will be completed before the other three rooms have to be emptied, so we can shift stuff into those rooms if necessary. Never a dull moment.

Future Vet's room is the emptiest, because he's not currently using it.

After the painters have finished, we'll move his bookshelves out into the hallway. In the meantime, you may be wondering where all of Future Vet's STUFF disappeared to. Why, to Media Guy's currently-unused bedroom, where else?

The other side of Media Guy's bedroom is being filled with stuff from the living room and family room. Good thing he's in LaLa Land until the end of the year.

The cats and kittens have been banished to the upstairs bedrooms until the painting is done. But here's one kitten picture to tide you over:

That's Harley on the water reservoir, no doubt wondering where everything has gone.