You should see our back room. It was our den, and we’ve decided to turn it into a kitchen because the current kitchen/living room/dining space is to cramped — especially considering that there is a huge room in back that was just a really big, poorly decorated, poorly structured add-on living space.

It started when I looked under the carpets which was either a big mistake, or something I should have done ages ago. That led to ripping up all the carpet. Then I noticed how much stuff was coming down from behind the paneling. So, my husband and I removed that, revealing that it was packed over a foot high with roach dooky (fortunately we got pest control when we moved in, so there was no sign of living roaches). Then we removed the ceiling. Not pretty. However, it then got beyond what we could afford because the roof needs to be replaced — the roof that’s supposedly under warranty, but who knows who even did the roofing or where the previous owner is. Plus, the structure of the roof itself is not sufficient. I could go into everything else wrong with the room, but I’m afraid somebody might condemn it.

Anyhow, somewhere along the line we decided that we might as well make the room a kitchen, or at least not make it not a kitchen. We’ve also been kicking around the idea of adding a second story on the back (with professional help of course), because we really love the neighborhood and wouldn’t want to move just to upgrade, but the bedrooms and bathrooms are just too small for us, especially since we often find ourselves renting to a friend.

Of course, all that is on hold right now, but at least we’re not breathing so much roach dooky in. Plus, closing the back room off like we have has dramatically cut our electricity bill because there was NO insulation back there at all. And, it gives us the perfect place to store all our yard sale items — which I hope to get rid of this coming weekend and maybe the weekend after.