So we are finally done enough to post before and after pictures, although truly after pics will include things like pictures on the walls and an area rug that is not made up of 5 small carpet remnants!
So this is what we did:
1-Expanded the kitchen into what used to be the dining area. Now it is has enough room for two people! Plus a great pull out trash can, regular sized drawers, tons of storage behind the peninsula, and no awkwardness. We can actually open the fridge & DW at the same time now!

2-Moved Matt’s office upstairs to our old guest room. Removed and reinstalled the built-ins that we had.

3-Shored up foundation in living room for construction of new “bonus room” (Becky’s office, family room, overflow for Kaitlin’s crafts/games/tv?, occasional guest room) above living room (where cathedral ceiling previously existed). The new room will eventually have furniture of course. The upstairs now feels separate and private, and so far we don’t miss the cathedral ceiling (in winter I’m sure we’ll be thrilled not to lose the heat).
living room pics

hallway upstairs (photo taken from master bedroom doorway)

additional pictures from inside the new room. It is bigger than either of the other second bedrooms, the same size as our living room and with a nicely peaked celing.

4-Altered “jack-n-jill” bathroom to have single access from hallway instead of an access way from each of the two second bedrooms (shot one is from inside K’s room and shot two is from the hallway…it is hard to tell from these two pics, but the vanity & sinks rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise). Goodbye 3 doors in a 5×5 area and goodbye carpet in the bathroom.

Front of the house:

It has been an interesting process! First they built a temporary plywood wall between the front & back of the downstairs so we could “live” in the front while they worked on the kitchen. They we moved into the kitchen and set up a temporary living room back there while the worked on the front of the house. While they worked on the front/addition, we also had a huge temporary plywood wall splitting the upstairs hallway lengthwise so that our bedrooms were separated (by a working door) from the mess. It was less chaotic then we thought, a couple weeks over schedule, and ON BUDGET! We think the new flow of the house will be much more useable, we only added 170 sq feet…but the elbow room created by moving stuff around within the existing walls accomplished a lot more than that! Plus, we had the opportunity while the walls were open to do things like lift all the pipe out of the concrete slab, wire the house for cable & ethernet, add some missing insulation, and generally update the aesthetics. We love the school district and now have some room to grow a bit as we see those teenage years coming! Indy is not too fond of the laminate floors, one he is slipping & sliding until he gets his legs acclimated, and two, he has always loathed sitting on any hard surface including the patio and the old kitchen tile.
We have some great “during construction” pictures…perhaps for another post another day!
On to cleaning and re-cleaning what is now a very dusty house…and decorating some (at least getting rid of the carpet remnants!)
Becky