Extreme Home Makeover needed

Where is Extreme Home Makeover when you need them??? Yesterday we planned to start demo on our living room ceiling. The lathe and plaster was sagging fairly badly (was like that when we bought the house) and was getting worse. The bright owners who lived there prior to us (and who by the way loved wall paper) put wall paper on the ceiling to help hold the plaster in place. So we could see it sagging; you may remember it as well if you've been to our home.

Well, yesterday we decided we were going to take down the plaster and put up the dry wall. I honestly had no idea how messy this was about to become. My father in law cut the wall paper a few inches and a 6 foot by 6 foot portion of my living room ceiling just collapsed onto the floor!! I was in the kitchen and it sounded like a bomb went off... the dust that invaded the kitchen through the plastic tarp made it look that way too. Thank God no one was hurt! All day long, Dave, his dad, and a few friends (who we owe much more than beer) spent the day tearing down the ceiling and then putting up new drywall.

I think the pictures say it all - no, they aren't blurry - that is all the dust in the air! Unfortunately, the couch may be ruined from the dust (even though it was in the other room) if I can't steam clean it somehow. We still have a ton of work left to do - mud the ceiling, sand it, repeat 3x, prime it, paint it... and that is just the ceiling! We still have to patch the walls, prime them and paint them as well. And refinish the hardwood floors via sanding and staining. I think it is going to be a very busy summer.....

On a happier note - happy birthday to my beloved husband today!!!