The Incredible Disappearing Kitchen

Thank goodness for the reciprocating saw.

Our days off last week came and went in a cloud of drywall dust.

Our first order of business was a big-time trip to Lowe's, in New Jersey. It won't be our last trip to a hardware store, but I doubt we'll bother with New Jersey again anytime soon. Still, Lowe's had the tile we want for the kitchen backsplash, and a coupon for 10 percent off, so it was a successful trip.

And, now we've got some hardcore power tools. The reciprocating saw, in particular, was extremely handy as we tore out the old counter on Thursday.

The week ahead is pretty crucial to our revised schedule -- we want the kitchen floor tile to be down as soon as possible. We're lining up contractors to do the stuff we can't do -- but our confidence grows daily. I suppose that happens when you gut a kitchen and two rooms' worth of carpet in three days.

Speaking of carpet, we've got some more exploratory digging to do. We remain curious about the floor situation in the master bedroom -- there has to be hardwood somewhere under there. We're going to find it and see just what the heck it looks like. The same goes for the staircase. There's wood over the old wood, and I fear it might be in rough shape, but there's no way to tell until we dig. So dig we will.

Later in the week, I'll get some grass seed down in the backyard -- note the trash.




Some outtakes: