From the moment we first looked at our house (we hadn’t even made an offer yet), the remodeling began. 
This will make sense to you if you know Melinda, who is constantly designing and seeing things the way they could be. That first day, when we “looked,” I stayed in the car with the girls, both in car seats and at least one crying (wait, that might have been me). From the outside of the house I could just tell it wasn’t going to work for us. But Melinda couldn’t resist. “Just a quick look,” she said, not waiting for any kind of a response from me.
She returned to the car with her eyes on fire and a two syllable exclamation, “It’s us!”
That was in 1998 and that fall Melinda and her dad moved two staircases (more accurately – built two new staircases and destroyed two old ones). In the fall of 1999 the kitchen expansion began. Today’s photo comes from January, 2000 and inside said kitchen. Does Melinda look exhausted?
Today’s Prompt: What’s your remodeling story?
Andy Smallman 
We bought an old house in New England (1820’s) and spent the first ten years either remodeling a room at a time or replacing rotten decks and porches. Like Melinda’s remark the house was US even though there was light coming through the attic roof. We lived in that house for 33 wonderful years, but our biggest mistake was to wait until three years before we moved away from Massachusetts to redo the kitchen! I hated the ORANGE formica counter tops when we first moved in, but… it was too big a job to tackle until life settled down — ie kids gone and I retired. I admire the energy that Melinda possess.
I remember that day vividly as I was with Melinda in the house. Her vision is amazing! And what Melinda and her dad did has made your home a wonderful place to be.
I have a feeling there is another story to be told about your house and that is the story of Melinda’s helper, her Dad. We were blessed in our house remodeling to have Tom’s father who was a builder by trade. Whatever we wanted to do, he could not only tell us how to do it but often drove over from Indiana with a truck load of yellow pine which he had had specially milled for us to make a dining room and kitchen floor which was approriate for our old house. I sense that Melinda had the courage of her convictions (moving two stairways) because her Dad was in some way a major contibutor to the projects!