How's the house?!

I trying not to groan and roll my eyes every time someone asks me how our new house is. I'm not trying all that hard, to be honest.  Sorry well meaning friends and family. It's been a rough few weeks and I'm not hiding that too well...

But.

It is getting better. We are no longer sleeping on the floor.  The hideous carpets have been replaced by beautiful wood floors. There are no longer piles of boxes in every corner. Most of our belongings have been found and put away.  A bit haphazardly, but at least they are no longer in boxes.

So, more to cheer myself up than anything else, here are some "Before" and "After" photos from the last month (has it only been a MONTH!?)

The view of our living/dining rooms the day we moved in.

Is that a kitchen? It's hard to tell.

I wept every time I came downstairs to this sight. 

Ta Da! It IS a kitchen!

ahhhhhhhh..... So much better.

Next up: RENOVATIONS BEGIN. Our contractor is coming by tomorrow. He says we will be done with major jobs by Christmas. If so, that will be the 2nd best Christmas present I've gotten so far. (Our children were matched with us on December 14, 2010)  He says I will have NO kitchen for only 2 weeks. He says he thinks our costs won't balloon TOO much.  This is the list of things that he is going to be doing:

Demolishing the garage
Landscaping the backyard.
Installing a new backyard drain and concrete patio
Installing 24 new windows and 2 doors.
Installing new siding.
Installing a new roof.
Gutting the basement (which is currently a dank, dark illegal apartment)
Finishing the basement
Installing a new bathroom and laundry room in the basement
Repairing the stairs to the basement
Gutting and refinishing the kitchen
Re-tiling the smallest bathroom in the world under our staircase
Rewiring and updating our electrical system.
Replacing the boiler.

I'm going to go breathe into a paper bag for a few minutes while you laugh at the paragraph above.

Folks who have renovated while living in their home... Advice? :)