One of the things I have missed most throughout our House transition was the ability to host dinner parties. It is such a wonderful way to spend time with friends and I have looked forward to restarting that. The plastic house just wasn’t ours and I never felt comfortable with people there. The condo just embarrassed me. Fortunately the House now has a dining room that makes me eager to dine, drink and simply socialize.

This was honestly a room that wasn’t terribly off. The moldings were interesting and the floor was in decent shape. We could have simply replaced the light fixture and painted and called it a day. But that would have been too simple for us.

This room already opened into the kitchen which was fabulous. It was also the space on the other side of the living room wall that we were eager to remove. Once that wall came down, our work could truly begin. OH – and let’s not forget about the stupidness of the human that covered the fireplace with trashy tile and a green gas stove. Yeah, that was just not going to be OK.

So the demolition began. The walls came down, the lights came out, the brick exposed and the walls repainted. Once the dust settled, the work really wasn’t so terrible. It also helped considerably when the holes were all patched and the House could actually hold a stable temperature.

Michael still has to finish the mantle and the trim around the fireplace (yes dear, that is on your list). We felt good enough though to finally invite people we like over and actually have that dinner party I’ve been craving. There was something so deeply satisfying about sitting with good friends around the dining room table and eating and laughing like the rest of the world on a Saturday night. It was so, so, so worth the hangover the next morning.