Renovation: Kitchen is barebones!

It is amazing how much a 3-man construction crew and my hubby can demolish in a day.  Yesterday, the crew came in, took the drywall down on the three remaining walls to be replaced with beams and columns.  This took, oh 2 hours maybe!

They pried up the hardwood flooring in the dining room, kitchen, foyer and study.  This will be reused but was running the opposite way than that which is in the rest of the house.  Bill has removed nails from about 1/4 of the boards so far.  As I said it will be relaid then we will have someone come in to sand and refinish the entire house.  The crew completed all of the rooms but the dining room.  They will be back on Wednesday to complete that.

Next up after removal of the flooring is bracing to allow removal of the load bearing wall studs.  Then removal of the studs and putting in beams put in to handle the load.  We also have 4 columns going in to carry the load from the beam to the pillars under the house.  I am learning first hand just how much work remodeling is --- and no it doesn't happen in 30 minutes like on HGTV.   I already knew that but the reality is so much more.

As promised, here is the proposed new layout of our house.  Keep in mind the back bedroom and bathroom changes are not happening in this phase except for the new doorway!  Another causality of budget was the ventless fireplace and cabinetry in the living room.  We are piping/wiring for it but will not tackle that till later.