I wish we could camp out at the house so we don’t miss anything, but we do stop by every day. Today was an exciting one, as they started sandblasting. Everything, really, but
a sandblaster is a very noisy thing 
bags of sand stacked everywhere 
it’s starting to look like a beach inside the house 
George the master sandblaster
In the picture above, another hidden cupboard was revealed when the plaster was removed. This one is in a perfect spot as it’s right where we were planning to put a TV. This is the same room with the arched doorway.
the beams look better already 
the oak can breathe again 
some are in better shape than others 
this one had been filled with cement
Upstairs (on what we are trying to remember is considered the 1st floor in Europe, not the 2nd floor – this makes for confusing conversations), in the room that had previously been separated into two spaces, the drywall was removed and a bookcase/cupboard was uncovered. Then the bookcase was removed, and a beautiful arched doorway was revealed. Since this is on the 2nd (oops, 1st) floor, the guys put bars across the opening so the curious Americans don’t fall through the opening to the floor below.
the divided room before 
without the dividing wall, it’s a nice big room 
bookcase uncovered 
bookcase is gone, and now we have a gorgeous old arched doorway!
The space beyond the doorway is the upper level of the two-story “cave” that runs along the back of the house. On the ground floor, we will finish off the cave, which currently is quite rustic with dirt floors and cobwebby stone walls. It will become a multi-function space, with a dividing wall separating a small bathroom and laundry room on one end, and a pantry on the other end.
the doorway here is from the living room, ground floor 
looking from the living room end of the cave toward the kitchen end -there is a door to the outside there now but it will be closed off 
the upper level of the cave, before the floor was removed 
this is the cave side of the doorway that has now been opened up 
the cave now – the ceiling/floor has been temporarily removed
The next step is excavating the floor of the cave. Our builder hopes to lower the floor level by at least 12″/30cm. As it is now, there are three steps up into the cave from the house. He’s hoping to lower the floor so there are only two steps. This will also make a little more headroom in there, as it’s a pretty low ceiling now.
steps from the living room to cave – the red dot is the planned floor level
And some news from the nest, we have a brand new baby bird.
So, on we go. Will be back soon with more from the construction zone.