Pops with his parents in July 1978, the day Pops & K moved in.
The rock garden in the back yard.
The bee-infested playhouse in the other corner of the back yard.
A rear view of the home pre-addition. Note the stairwell that leads to the basement door.
Aug. 13, 1985 -- when Matt & Kim came home from the hospital.
The old kitchen, circa 1986 (note the stack of bottles on the window sill).
The other side of the kitchen, with a sleeping 6-year-old. Best. Wallpaper. Ever.
The garage that was here when the folks bought the house. This party was for Matt and Kim's baptism.
After the playhouse came down, a swingset went up (eventually). Note the hedgerow and the pine tree in the center.
The day before the trees came down.
With two less trees.
It could look like this when it's done. Or not.
This is the east profile (the driveway side). The stuff on the right is the porch, added in 2002-2003.
The fence went up when the front of the house got ripped off.
Looking out the front window before the basement was poured.
No more porch. Or sidewalk. Or lawn.
The new roof line.
Taken from the driveway (technically the neighbors' front yard). I'm pretty sure there will be real front steps some day.
The landscape recovery project will be a big effort come March.
Standing by the current front door and -- doot, doot, doot -- lookin' out the new front door. That's a closet to the right of the door.
This is taken with my back to the new front window, looking at the old front window.
This is what you see if you stand right at the current front window, which used to provide a panoramic view of the entire block.
The dining room is a little messed up right now. The table got repositioned and the piano moved in from the living room, which displaced Maggie's crate. Note the Holland staples -- open laptop and half-finished crossword puzzle. And crap on the windowseat.
Looking out the new front window south on Drake Street.
The twin peaks.
This is my Doug Larson photo, which means nothing to anyone who doesn't work with me at The Times. But I like it, and I had to go prone on the driveway to get it.
The outside of the house on Oct. 28.
Standing at the new front door and looking in towards the kitchen (that big ball of light is the "chandelier").
Standing about where the corner of the window seat used to be, and looking towards the hanging plant and fireplace in the living room.
Standing at the old front door, looking out the new living room window.
Upstairs, looking from the door into Pops & K's closet out through the new space. A new furnace for the upstairs (the old one died) is going in behind that short wall you see.
This one is taken from over in the corner where I usually sit at the table.
Taken from the little area between the kitchen peninsula and the wall with the cabinet in it, looking toward the new front door.
Taken from in front in front of the window on the driveway side of the house.
The view from the new front door into the dining room.
There's a whole mess of stuff shoved in the living room, and it all has to come out so the new floor can go in. Also, the ceiling needs to be replaced.
A view from the fireplace looking out toward the driveway.
An up-close profile of the new front entry. Columns to be added later.
A view of the wall that used to have the white bookshelves on it. The small floor area in front of that wall once housed a full bathroom and a coat closet.
The view from the east wall of the new entryway looking across to the fireplace with the north wall, the floor and the ceiling removed.
Taken from in front of the new east wall looking toward the fireplace.
Standing at the far north end of the dining room and looking towards the new front of the house.
Looking from the fireplace towards the new coat closet.
Having Pops' birthday cake on the porch, which is a little extra crowded.
The dining room just before the floor guy started installing the new hardwood in the new room.
This is the room over the new part of the main floor, as seen from Pops & K's closet. The part of the wall that juts out holds the new furnace, and on the other side there's a little nook right by the window.
The kitchen as presently constituted, with an extra TV, dresser and piano that aren't usually there. The high chair goes away when we do.
The view of the dining room (and kitchen) from the front door.
From the front door looking at the fireplace. (That's the new front door leaning up against the fireplace; the white doors will be installed upstairs.)
Again, standing by the front door with a look up the stairs.
I cannot believe the siding contractors are working in conditions like this (single-digit temperatures, negative wind chill...)
Yup. The contractors know which way is up.
I should have taken this picture when the grass was green, but here's the new fire pit area. The pit itself is impressively deep.
I stood under the willow tree to take this picture. Lots of ladders still in the back yard.
The parking pad along the driveway is covered with the contractors' materials and waste, including the old front door, which is kind of sad to see as you stand at the kitchen sink.
We love the new front door. I'm also a big fan of the new mailbox location, although I've been told it's not permanent.
Standing near the neighbor's yard. Note the lovely ice sheet in the driveway, the result of heavy rain before the gutters were installed and a sump pump that ran about three straight days.
I took this shot from the from the side to show the west side of the house. Still strikingly exposed since the pine tree went away, and it's jarring to see the windowbox planter gone.
This growth chart in my old bedroom has its first line in April 1983, which was before I turned 4. I don't think we've done this with jack yet, which makes me sad.
Standing in the guest room doorway, looking at where the window to the back yard used to be.
The guest room, sans carpet, but with the iconic wallpaper.
Carpet off the stairs, new banister/railing installed. The wood guy said the towel should protect the wood until it can be stained.
There's more woodwork to go here, but the granite is in place.
The contents of the guest room and office got shifted to the living room so the floor guy could refinish the original hardwood. Note the new TV in the corner, where the built-in shelf unit will go.
Oh, some of the office got moved into the dining room, too.
Did I mention all the stuff that's on the porch, too? At least the gourds are pretty.
The office, sans desk. It's so weird to remember when there were two cribs in here for Matt & Kim.
The guy did a fantastic job on the floors. And you would not believe how full that closet is.
The new oak stairs look really, really nice. They feel surprisingly sturdy as well. The risers are as yet untreated.
Looks a lot better since the snow melted.
Minus the yard work, and the old front door leaning on the side of the house, the exterior is pretty much done.
This was the first look for the built-in cabinet that now houses the new TV.
A look at some of the crown molding in the new entry room.
This is the built-in shelving unit/cabinet to the right of the fireplace.
The new spindles at the top of the staircase.
That jagged piece hanging from the ceiling is a remnant from the old upstairs railing. I didn't take any "before" pictures upstairs because I didn't know how much would be happening up there.
The upstairs landing as seen from Kim's bedroom door looking into my parents' room (which now has a new chair rail and wainscoting).
Looking down the upstairs hall into Matt's room, which is where we have a portable crib for Max.
This is mostly how the living room is supposed to look. Obviously more fireplace work is needed, and the TV setup has been improved. The drawing atop the fireplace is where a custom mirror will be installed.
The custom mirror in question.
The living room walls are green, and some stuff has been put away.
Stripes in the dining room!
My parents' bedroom now has white wainscoting and purple paint above the chair rail.
The new driveway gets poured.
Note the concrete is flush to the house. The brick parking pad will be leveled eventually.
No driving on the new driveway for two weeks, no parking for a month!
The stenciled sheep that graced the kitchen for nearly two decades.
A wide shot of said sheep.
The front walkway and steps on the day the landscape crew really began its work.
Looking at the front yard from the street.
Standing to the west of the yard, looking toward the house.
Standing basically on the front steps, looking west across the front of the house.
Again from the steps, looking out over the "landscaping."
Got this shot by standing on a pile of Holland pavers the workers left in the neighbors' yard (technically part of my parents' lot).
This is the west wall. The bump out is around the window well behind my "desk" in the basement.
The new brick walkway to the front door looks very nice.
A close up of the front steps and the elusive bullnose pavers.
The landscaping, mostly completed.
The view from the driveway/sidewalk with the landscape project completed.
This parking pad was installed in 2006 or 2007, but had to be reworked after the driveway was rebuilt.
A row of pavers on the west edge marks the unofficial property line.
Standing at the back edge of the formal landscaping looking south toward McKinley Avenue.
In the middle of the stone path.
