Well ladies (and gentleman, if there are any that read this), the verdict is in. Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time to comment and let me know your opinions. I value them and appreciate each and every one of you for taking the time to read and comment.

You will be happy to know that you will (hopefully) not have to slap me or rip my hands off.

The beams are staying. And they are being painted white. So no need to freak out. I didn't rip them down with a pry bar.

They are not structural beams. Nor are they made of fake wood. But they do add a cool element to the space that I'm just not quite ready to give up yet. And I think if they are painted white they will be able to maintain their charm and yet blend in enough to make the husband happy.

Now do you want to see why you should never give a girl a pry bar (or 2 girls 2 pry bars)?

You will go from a dry bar in your Family Room....

To the future home of a built in bookcase.

And to think this all started because I decided to get out my drill to remove the shelf brackets. Oops.

You will also go from a space too small for any modern day refrigerator...

To a wall open with possibilities.

We are thinking that a built-in microwave and pull out drawers with tucked in garbage and recycling cans would work great in this space. Oh, and it may have taken more than 2 girls with 2 pry bars here. It took a husband and a mom, too. And this project was initiated by said husband.

Don't the cabinets and drawers look really nice in our Dining Room?

And this is what happens when you have a leaky toilet that has caused your linoleum to bubble and warp.

We were so happy when we tore up the carpet (yes, carpet in a bathroom) to unearth that little nugget of goldish-brown linoleum that was under the already beautiful brown carpet. Sadly, the remainder of that linoleum has now been removed. And we are still without a toilet in there. Details, details. We'll get there soon enough.

And I should probably mention that ripping up the carpet was the only thing I helped with in here. The toilet was gone and top layer of linoleum was removed before I made my way up to rip out the carpeting.

Oh, and this awesome wallpaper was hiding behind the toilet:

Apparently when you remove wallpaper and re-paint it is completely unnecessary to remove it from behind the toilet. I was unaware of such things!

I have learned through this home purchase that demolition is amazing. It is an adrenaline rush. It is also very empowering to be a woman that can rip out a dry bar with her bare hands. And her cousin Melissa's bare hands. Well, we did wear work gloves so saying 'bare hands' may be stretching the truth slightly. But we did rip that bad boy out. And it only took the 2 of us. There was literally no man power involved. The man was upstairs scraping off a wallpaper border.

And now to share with you a little bit of 1970s nostalgia from our home...

Do you remember this little treasure from our Dining Room?

Here is a close-up of what I can only imagine complemented this chandelier perfectly. I only wish the remnant was bigger so that we could put it in the basement and revel in its lime-green glory for years to come.

I'm sure the carpet looked really nice when it abutted the foyer tile.

The foyer tile that will probably stay for a while yet because it didn't make our 'short list' of home improvement projects. The foyer tile that is screaming for me to get to it with a little sledgehammer action. The ugly, puke brown tile that is in such good condition it makes me want to be sick... twice.

So that's it folks. That is what is happening with the Brandstaetter clan these days. We've got a pretty long project list of things to do before we move into the house in (hopefully) a few weeks.

Can you see why I talked my husband into making this amazing home purchase? Not only do we have enough projects to keep us busy inside for the next 15 years, but we also have a 3.4 acre lawn that I haven't even had the energy to take pictures of yet.

Let's just say we will be having lots and lots of bonfires over the coming years. So make sure you buy some marshmallows. And bring a lawn chair. And possibly your work gloves. No, seriously, we have a lot of rocks to move before we can get the fire started.