So, the house is finally under construction. At least that's what Adam tells me. He was over there on Monday for the ceremonial first drywall-pulling-down with Aaron, who showed up bright and early with scaffolding in tow. Apparently Aaron (or maybe Aaron and Adam, though I'm sure mainly Aaron) removed all of the drywall on the garage ceiling and says that the beams above (holding up the garage roof) are not as bad as we'd expected - there are a few places that need repair, but it's mainly the spots we already knew about. I was worried that once we saw all of the beams there'd be rot and distress all over the place, and at least this time my fears were unfounded. (I'm sure my next set of fears will be right on target.) It's a bit disconcerting that we're not living in the house and therefore I'm not over there to see any progress. I tried to get there last night but got home too late, and tonight will be the same - so tomorrow evening will be my first glimpse at Aaron's work to date. I think he's broken out the wall between the closets in the master bedroom and back bedroom, which will create a master closet and entrance to the master bath. We have to really work on the plans for that quickly, because it wasn't on my original list of Phase I projects, but Aaron convinced me that we should do all the deconstruction/construction in the house now. Even if we can't afford to furnish the new bathroom yet, at least we'll have all of the major dust and damage out of the way when we move in. I think Aaron is also working on kitchen deconstruction this week; we need to get that planned out too, so we can order cabinets (or start building Ikea ones). Actually, that's our next big decision, mainly driven by budget. Do we buy good (not superb, but good) stock cabinets, like KraftMaid from our local Kitchen and Bath designer, or Ikea cabinets? There seems to be around a $5,000-7,000 difference between the two options, which totally makes the difference between granite countertops and great faucets/sinks or laminate countertops and cheap fixtures. I think when it comes down to it I'd rather have the granite counter and great fixtures and live with the Ikea cabinets for the moment, but I'm worried about the resale value of a kitchen built from Ikea - even if it's otherwise stylish and beautiful. But we just can't afford both great cabinets and great counters/fixtures, it's going to have to be one or the other. Adam would now add, "unless we win the lottery."