DIY at home

Big moves over here on Broad Street...and by big moves I mean the husband and I really are becoming DIY masters of sorts.  A few weekends back my parents came to town to help us take down a random, ugly wall that the previous owners had put up in our home.  Their visit was a very successful one- with the wall coming down in less than a day and some other minor projects around the house getting done too.  Its always nice to hint that you want something done, go out shopping with your mother, and come home to find the project completed. Major props to my Dad and to the husband, who was his gopher all weekend (go-pher this, go-pher that).  Enough of the small talk though, lets get right to the magic of this wall coming down and how it did wonders to the inside of our home:

Lets look back at what the entryway used to look like (this little nugget seems to get right into all my pics)

And here we go with during and after photos:

 The husband getting to work nice and early on Friday morning after a long week in Ca and an even longer red eye flight home.

 Oh snap Patty found some old wallpaper behind the layers of paint. 

 The wall, almost gone- note their poses, and how they are all working so hard.

 Oh you fancy huh?  check out that beam in all her glory. 

 Down comes the wall, but the electric hanging from the ceiling stays for now

 nothing better than the the action-packed pup and his grandparents- all amazed by how much this opens up our house

After a few cocktails...we realized we have new seating for additional bodies.  And you can see the tv from the dining room!

Just another day of work for my dad...and another day in the rice fields for my mom (wtf is with that hat?)

 TA DA finished product.  Looks awesome- minus the discolored flooring.  That will be taken care of next weekend though by the husband.  All in a days work!

this is the after scene from the dining room.  you can just disregard the xbox 360 hookup that makes the mantle look like a mess.  Oh and my new cowhide rug makes its debut here!! check it!

So after all the hard work- we took the parents out to dinner at Maggianos to celebrate my Dad's birthday- do you think they had a fun time?