After signing a monster remodeling deal with Home Depot on Saturday — but before contractors show up — we began to tear away the carpet, carpet pad, and the millions of little nails and staples in the subfloor. We have a carpenter coming soon to repair some falling joists and flatten out some hills and valleys in our floors. And we found removing carpet fairly easy — so we may do more of it and save on labor down the road.

Renovations will include a completely new kitchen, with new Maple cabinets, granite countertops, a stone/steel/glass backsplash and even a door to the garage being moved to create a mudroom off the kitchen. New electrical and lighting is in there too, and all new appliances including a state-of-the-art induction cooking stove, a hyper-efficient refrigerator, and a powerful dishwasher. Once the kitchen is built, then the flooring goes in throughout the entire house (except baths). Flooring will be a gorgeous solid Hickory wood, which sports a very strong grain and a lot of natural color variation.

More photos as we go along, of course. Whisky Meadows will be all-new well before the snow flies.