Hooray, we have a stairway!  This is a view of the entry way looking through the front door.  When we bought the house, the only way to get to the upstairs was by pulling down a drop down ladder.  The upstairs was nothing more than a storage area.  Rich removed the entire floor of the second story and has now rebuilt a much stronger version!  The walls under this floor are framed, which define the space for our entry way, living room, master bedroom and bath, two master closets, a coat closet and Cindy's office.  It is especially exciting to see the stairway.  We can now go up 4 steps to the first landing then 7 steps to the second landing where we can see our view of the great room from the landing! Up until we could only imagine how this would look.
	Here is the view from the landing.  In this view I am looking left, toward the front of the house.  These windows will be replaced with large doors (much like the doors the fire trucks used to pass through).  The dining room table will sit right in front of these doors.  The great room will serve other purposes as well.  The kitchen is right below the landing I'm standing on, with the stove top housed beneath the landing in a stone alcove.  Directly across from the landing on the far wall will be our fireplace and entertainment center area, surrounded by couches.
	Cindy and Mackenzie have been putting some sample paint colors on the windows and wood in the front of the house that will ultimately be removed and replaced with "firehouse doors". This is a good place to experiment since they will ultimately be gone! We are generally looking for a khaki-colored base color with off-white trim and a red or rust accent color on the window sashes. If you have any great paint colors you would like to share, e-mail Cindy at cbechtel@microsoft.com.