A simple $5,000 kitchen remodel evolves into a jaw-dropping $70K makeover

This final post will bring you up to date on the latest house drama. Our kitchen and boys room have been last on the list for remodeling. We've tried to put off the kitchen because we know it's going to cost an arm and a leg, and another arm and a leg and maybe even a torso. Even though the kitchen was decorated with wood paneling and plywood cabinets and was pretty close to being non-functional, I've lived in worse (we're talking bathroom with a basketball sized hole in the floor and a kitchen floor so badly cracked that little slugs would join me for breakfast when it rained). I was content to let it go until we had saved up enough money to pay for it. Drama first occurred when the lights went out in the kitchen; when hubby went up to inspect the wiring he was the unfortunate recipient of a snap, crackle and pop. We knew kitchen renovation was no longer an option. Because our foster child was no longer living with us in our basement apartment we decided to move our upgraded family (6!) into the 600 sq ft abode. We were only 2 weeks into our renovation bliss (I say "bliss" because gutting took a mere 2 days and projected finish time was "only" 2 months) when it was realized that the adjoining room(children's room) was attached to the kitchen and must also be gutted and done over as well. As we were slowly coming to terms with the new price tag; we would soon become even more familiar with this term- "opening up a can of worms". While gutting the attached room it was found that the brick walls had started to crumble and the far wall of the room had completely separated about 8 inches from the main part of the house (hence all the unwanted visitors over the years). The foundation under that room was sunken as well, which meant our simple kitchen renovation had evolved into almost complete demolition of the backside of the house. Sad little house. But, fortunately happy little family. Life is good, believe me, I am grateful every day for the portion of house we do have left. We have pretty much everything too , well except for the est. $70, 000 it's going to take to put Humpty back together again. So, our goal with this blog is to plead, beg, offer our next born, whatever it takes to get the funds together to glue our little house back together.