Our contractor is almost done!

The fireplace in our living/dining room, uncovered.  The floor under the bricks was tiled.  We are going to cover the bricks with decorative tiles and a nice mantle....eventually.  This will be a DIY project!

We replaced the flooring in the "blue" room with new wood flooring where there had been a hole due to the covered up fireplace.  Justin is going to stain this himself to match the rest of the floors.

I am so indecisive!  I cannot decide what colors to paint the rooms.  I think the blue room will be green and the living/dining room will be a muted yellow.  It has been very difficult for me to pick colors that both "go" with our existing furniture and transition well with our kitchen/family room brightness but not be so bold.

See the high ceilings???  We will also have wider trim around the doors, windows, and floorboards.  We have decided to go with the built-in cabinets in the blue room too, which will look very nice but are not cheap!

Wow, high ceilings in the living/dining room!

I think that by the end of the day today or tomorrow the contractor Collin will be pretty much done.  We may have to have him come back to help with a few small, specific projects, but our days of paying someone $30/hour to be at our house all day are soon to be over, thank goodness!  Since the project went over budget we are trying to do quite a few things ourselves.  I am using the word "we" here very liberally.  It is more like Justin and I talk about what should be done and he does it while I take care of the baby.