April 29th was a BIG day for me and this dear sweet home of mine. The demolition began in earnest. Walls down, bathrooms gone, kitchen disappeared. Yes, a little anxiety but it went away quickly.

Over the past 3 months, I've worked with Carolyn Corogin, an amazing architect and designer, on using the footprint of the existing house but making it really vibrant on this fantastic site.

Many hundreds of hours have been put into this new design as she is working on a shoe-string budget to build-out the entire house.

When I first walked into the house I was so disappointed that the original plan had the guest bath positioned to block a major share of the view from the living area. There was another obstacle in the living room which made the view minimal. Well, as you might imagine from my thoughts, that is no longer the case!

My parents are smailing but I think it is forced some of the time. Their inspection over Mother's Day weekend was mixed. They have been through countless remodeling projects when we lived on Lake Erie, with Carolyn's design built-out an amazing lake-front condo at SawMill Creek in Huron, Ohio and again with Carolyn's talents, remodeled an older home on a quaint lagoon in Vermilion, Ohio. They've enjoyed the process and could see the promise with my project - - but were still a bit apprehensive at the scope of my undertaking.

Stay tuned as today begins the next phase. The lines are being drawn for the new design on the bare concrete floor. O boy!