stairs? we don’t need no stinkin’ stairs.

I know you’re all on the edge of your seats, wondering if we’re ever going to get around to doing something with our giant plastic-covered hole.  Well, thank you for asking!  Eric’s first order of business the next morning before leaving for work was to put the doors in place (although they weren’t exactly secured to the frame yet).

new doors! with convenient access to the deck via stepladder!

If you want to see what they look like closed, you’ll have to check facebook.  Apparently that picture got taken with my phone, not my camera, and I’m not a good enough blogger to figure out how to get it on here, too.  Oh well!

The new doors make a HUGE difference in the feel of the kitchen, even without any hardware and a steep drop-off of 4 feet to the ground below… details, right?  😉

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We enjoyed our new doors for the rest of the week (and rest our aching bones) until the next weekend, when Eric decided it was time to tear out the basement stairs while I was at a wedding all day. Yep, you heard that right… what better way to access the basement than via ladder?  My favorite thing in the whole wide world! *again, sarcasm.*

the disgusting basement... come on down!

I knew Eric was probably going to tackle the stairs that day, but I don’t think anything ever really prepares you for the appearance of a giant hole in the floor…

"honey, you're home early! no, this is completely safe..."

isn't this fun? kind of like spelunking or something.

But seriously, people… Eric did a fantastic job adding new floor joists to the opening left by the stairs and tearing out parts of the current support beams that had been reduced to toothpicks by our friendly neighborhood termites… *shudder*

Then it was time for sub-floor!

new floor! new floor!

I was a little leery of stepping on the newly-laid floor at first–I think my mind was still getting used to the idea that there had been a gaping hole with an 8-foot drop not 15 minutes before.  Eric decided to show me how safe it was by proceeding to jump up and down on it… hitting his head on an old cabinet in the process.  I laughed, he yelled angry things and hit the cabinet with his hammer a few times to get revenge.  We obviously take our safety very seriously.

the shop dog is not amused.

That was about as much as we could handle for one weekend… stay tuned!