Brennan and I purchased our first home a little over three years ago. It was built in 1954, has plenty of space (1,800 sq. ft spread out on three floors), and lots of charm.

  
It was bank-owned when we bought it and needed a great deal of cosmetic work.

Thanks to family and friends with construction experience we have managed to complete most of the necessary work in our home without having to hire contractors (we did hire one for our two full bathrooms).

One of the projects we always had in mind was to remove the unnecessary wall between the living room and kitchen. It was always in the back of our mind as a “something nice to do someday if we can afford it” project. 

But, what started as a want has truly become a need as Tori’s reliance on her (massive) medical and adaptive equipment has increased.

Here is what it looks like now (real life photo, not staged, as evidenced by the stuff everywhere 😉):

  

Some of the difficulties this wall has presented in our daily lives and care of Tori are these: 

1. Tori’s equipment cannot fit through the narrow doorway so she is confined to the small living room.
2. If I am trying to cook, prepare her bottles, or do anything in the kitchen, it is very difficult to get to her quickly when she needs immediate care.
3. I cannot see her when I am in the kitchen at all, so I rarely go in there when I am by myself with Tori (i.e. meals don’t always happen).
4. We cannot eat meals as a family at our dining room table because Tori’s stander (or stroller) cannot easily fit through the doorways.

   

Recently a friend of ours with construction experience asked if we had any side jobs we needed to have done and we presented him with a list of everything we could think of that has remained unfinished because of Tori’s illness. 

We only have a small amount of money saved up for house projects so we told him he could do whatever would fit in that budget (not much).

I began thinking about the wall coming down on Friday morning and talked it over with Brennan and our friend. We decided it needed to be our greatest priority, even if it became the only project on our list.

Since we are going to California this month we asked our friend if he could possibly do it while we are gone (to keep Tori out of the dust), and he said yes.

Brennan and I took a leap of faith and set up a GoFundMe page to hopefully raise the $1,500 estimated cost to remove the wall, move the duct work and electrical components, build a support column, and figure out a solution for the floor that would now be exposed where the wall used to be.

We had never before asked for donations for anything so we weren’t sure how well our campaign would do.

Within three hours over $1,500 had been raised! Praise the Lord! 

So, we talked about it and raised the goal to $2,500 which would allow us to also completely replace the kitchen flooring so that it will match the living room floor in height and color (currently it is higher than the living room which also presents issues for her equipment on wheels).

Last we checked over $2,000 had been generously donated! 

We still can’t believe that we are going to come home from California to an open living room and kitchen…a space that will be so much better for Tori in so many ways!

We can’t wait to eat dinner at our dining room table as a family, to cook with Tori by my side, and to overall provide a better space to care for her needs.

Thank you all for your support and contributions – we will keep you posted on the progress! ❤️