Pardon our construction dust....

  For the last several years I have lived in a kitchen that was desperately in need of ceiling repair, new paint, new counters, new sink, and a new floor. A leaking second floor porch put several holes in the breakfast nook area and a combination of leaks and bathroom renovation added some impressively large holes to the main kitchen ceiling area. Adult son who lives at home works in the flooring industry but previously worked for a home builder. He is completely capable of tearing out and replacing said ceiling (with a little help since it is not a one man job) but as is usually the case when there is the money there is no time and when there is the time there is no money.
Here is a picture of the main kitchen ceiling (and the plaster wall which sustained damage from the now repaired leaking) to show you what I mean:

 

But it seems as if the cosmos has come around in our favor. I came home a couple of weekends ago from GF's house to a lovely surprise. Adult son and a buddy of his had torn down the ceiling in the breakfast nook area and totally replaced it as well as repairing part of a plaster wall in that area that had been damaged:

 

A new ceiling light fixture is already purchased and ready to go once son is done with the sanding and painting. The main kitchen area will be next! The new dry wall is currently living in front of the dining room window seat and son already has a new ceiling fan to replace the really ugly fluorescent fixture that has been there for years. The bow window that you can partially see in the above picture does not open and our stove does not have a fan hood so a ceiling fan will be a real joy once it is in place. On the list of things I plan to do over the summer (or spring break depending on how the ceiling comes along) will be to totally paint this kitchen. The sponge painting and stenciled border are old and dated and need to go. We are also talking about sanding down the cupboards and painting them white (son would like to replace them entirely but sadly there is no money for that) and possibly replacing the countertops. A new double stainless steel sink (gifted to son by ex builder boss) is in a box down cellar waiting to be put in place as well. Our current sink is porcelain and badly chipped. And finally son is hot to replace the floor which can be done very inexpensively since he can purchase the materials at a floorer's discount.

Seems as if this old house (85 years young this year) always has a need. It feels good to see work finally getting done on this.