April 16 came and we were ready for our Peabody house (midtown, Memphis, Tennessee) renovations to begin.  The happy news is that the demo crew did show up on April 16 and they went to town!  The bad news is that the dumpster did not show up until three days later.  Hubby and I look at each other and say, “Only in Memphis.”

We had emptied out the entire first floor of our home, including the kitchen, laundry room, pantry, full bathroom, dining room, sitting room, and most of the pool table and living rooms.  The pool table will remain until it is time to refinish the hardwood floors near the very end of the project, and we set up a temporary kitchen in the part of the main floor that will remain largely untouched.

The fridge is relocated to the pool table room (would be the formal dining room for almost anyone else) and its top serves as our pantry. Our 5-foot square table has been moved to the front of the living room and will serve as our temporary kitchen.The couch and TV remain in the living room, though scrunched toward the front of the house. We will spend most of our time out on our side porch, under fans.  In June we added an outside TV to enhance our enjoyment of this outside space.

Our son-in-law is wagering how long it will last before someone steals it.

Here is a look at demo week one.  The kitchen is emptied.  The pantry is demolished.  The bathroom is quick to follow.  Hubby is standing in the bathroom just below.  Note the yellow tile floor in the picture below.  It was under two hardwood floors in the old kitchen area.  By the time we remove all the floors, we will gain several inches of ceiling height!  Eventually, this is how the sitting room and the part of the living room that will be absorbed into the family room look.

Meantime, we have a hot mess.

There is definitely no turning back now.