The current entryway of the house (that was also my Grandma’s laundry room) will become my dining room. I love the row of windows, I love that we will still be entering the house in the same place. And a large beam will make it possible for us to open it right up into the kitchen – creating massive amounts of space. There will be a slight step up (just an inch or two) from the dining room to the kitchen as it is two separate foundations. This room was the first room enclosed in the screened-in porch during my Grandpa’s 1950s remodel. It is a peer and beam foundation and I am worried having the laundry out here for the pipes freezing in the winter as this is still northern Minnesota. However, the laundry is backed up against the wall of the basement stairwell and is very close to the main house so I feel confident that it is going to be just fine. Do I like having my laundry in the dining room? Of course not – there was no other place to put them. These are the compensations we make when remodeling older homes that were simply not built to accommodate the appliances of today.

This room is also joined to the “wood shed” what will become my mud room. I am hoping that because the wood shed shares the exact same roof line and foundation that I will be able to simply take down the wall between them and open it right up without a beam and make them one big room. It would be ideal for the front door to be able to open all of the way into the wood shed/mud room so people walking in don’t feel like they’re walking into the dining room quite so badly. You may notice that the ceiling is vaulted and pretty low at its lowest point. It is actually very low, just barely tall enough to get a full height door in (about 82 inches). Right now the room has a drop ceiling in it (oh, of course) and I will be tearing all of that out and keeping the ceiling vaulted, very excited about that!

Cool table huh? It might not surprise you that it is also a product of my grandparents. It is actually my mom’s second table right now, she had the base at some point in her life (when she was my age) and my grandparents made a top for it. Years ago she said that I could have it and I’m just itching to start work on it. It has two leaves and will easily sit 6 if not 8 people. The top needs some work and needs to be refinished – as you might imagine I am ecstatic and so excited to work on it!