Before the ink was even dry on the contract, the half-bath demolition commenced.  Our house only had one full bathroom on the main floor, but more storage than we knew what to do with, so the plan   was to combine two coat closets off the foyer into a half-bath for all of our guests to use.  Fortunately, for sake of the house, we weren’t the ones doing the work.  That’s why we hired wonderful contractors!

That wasn’t the only project that started on day 1!  The foyer and dining room floors had been covered over with the ugliest vinyl tile flooring east of the Mississippi!  And probably west of the Mississippi too, for that matter.  We knew that we wanted to rip it up, but we had questioned what the situation was like underneath the tile.  Was it beautiful hardwood or was it hardwood that had been destroyed?  or God knows what else.  We had a chunk of it removed and tested for asbestos.  It truly wasn’t as scary as it sounds, but we wanted to make sure we weren’t going to be part of a class action lawsuit with mesothelioma.  Fortunately, it was negative…. so up it came.  Beneath a sea of a thousand nails and staples, the floor was actually in great condition.  It just needed to be refinished.

before:

after:

After the vinyl tiles were ripped up!

view into foyer from front door

photos via shaunring.com