Our family is ringing in 2023 by making a significant change: we’ve bought a new (to us) house a few miles away from where we currently live. We did so to get more space so that my mom can move in with us. Among the many things that attracted us to this particular house is that it already has an apartment built out in the basement so Mom will have her own space, but we’ll still all be under one roof.

But, as they say, nothing in life is free. This house is also approaching 40 years in age and we bought it from the estate of the original owners who passed away last year. They had not made any updates to the house in at least 25 years so we are spending the next 1-3 months tearing out carpet, stripping wallpaper, getting bids for new flooring, a kitchen upgrade, etc. We’re in the midst of the tearing out part, and I don’t see any reason to pay someone to tear things up when I’m perfectly capable of doing it and actually enjoy that part of the process, but I’m no spring chicken so I’ve been perpetually sore for the last two weeks and probably will continue to be for at least another two.

I’m going to try and remember to document the process here so I have a record of it later in life. To get us started here’s a little photo array of the “before” as well as the early stages of demolition.