Day Five: Cookin' up something good!

Today I began the process of removing the existing kitchen to make way for the new bedroom. And what more do you need than a toaster oven and coffee maker? (Krups, notice the prominent Krups product placement.) If I'd realized that a few months ago, I could have saved myself a lot of work and money.

Today actually began with my second trip to the dump. 620 pounds later, I was on my way to Home Depot (still waiting for those royalty checks for every time I mention the name...) to get some lumber and drywall. Nothing makes you feel like you're really building something like buying some 2x4s and drywall. You look at the guy behind you whose getting one of them Garden Weasels or the couple across the aisle who needed six brass hooks and a 2 foot piece of ornamental trim (obviously up to something crafty or whimsical, or both).

But back to serious construction work. To set the stage, here are some before shots of what was the current kitchen. Note that when we moved into the house, there was no kitchen, so when we put this in place we figured it was a 2 year temporary kitchen and then we'll see. It's been just shy of two years, and we realized it wasn't working. Anyway, here's what it was like last night...

(above: the north wall of the kitchen)


(above: the west wall of the kitchen)


(above: the north and east walls of the kitchen)

But now...

(above: the north wall of the kitchen)


(above: the west wall of the kitchen)

Tomorrow I start building the walls to frame in this room to be a bedroom, and hook the electrical back up so I can have some light in there. But I'm keeping the sink and dishwasher in place until the absolute last minute.

One other thing I didn't take pics of was removing a door between one of the bedrooms and the bathroom on the main floor. We weren't using this door at all (the door was painted shut), plus it opens in the right direction for the new bedroom, so being resourceful and thrifty people, we salvaged it to use again. Tomorrow will also be putting some framing in where the doorway was, and hanging some drywall on it.

See you tomorrow.

Day Four: Sponsorships now available!

In order to help out some of the companies whose products I use/will be using in the new kitchen, I am now offering sponsorship opportunities to a select group of brands. Home Depot, I'd be happy to wear the orange apron for a few power tools. And I'll gladly pimp recommend this Bosch dishwasher to all my blog readers if I'm sent one to install. So leave me a comment with your information and I'll let you know where to deliver all the merchandise for product placement.

Day Four was a good renovation day. I not only took 540 pounds of garbage to the dump, but I filled the truck back up again, AND opened up the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. Yep, see for yourself (photo below).

The blue area shows where the opening will be once the header, cabinets and countertop are put in. You can faintly make out my hermetically sealed screen on the far side of the wall to keep the dust from invading the dining room, living room, and kids' toys. It has worked great so far. I'll even mention the brand of dropcloth for a few bucks. You will also see a sheet of drywall on its side... that's to keep the cats from coming into the work area. They're just not that strong with power tools.

The photo above shows the new opening from another angle. There was a little collateral damage to the lath and plaster on the dining room side, but not too bad, at least nothing I wouldn't expect. I also opened up the doorway that leads to the basement stairwell (photo below). Again, more drywall to keep the cats out.

And now we head into the weekend. Two full days of renovation madness. I'll be taking another trip to the dump, and then I may actually start constructing something. We shall see...

Day Three: Renovate or blog?

Okay, first things first. I've had several of my readers ask, "hey, if you've got time to have a blog for your renovation project, wouldn't that time be better spent actually working on the renovation project?" If my feeble muscles would work for an infinite number of hours, then I wouldn't have time for the blog. But hey, I'm not as buff as you all must think I am (not to say these guns can't do some damage, I just have limited ammunition). There's only so much that can be done in a day, which brings us to Day Three.


The demolition process continues. Opened up the south wall (photo above) and came across one of those surprises that makes you stop and think, "hmmm, this will make for a funny story on the ol' renovation blog, if I have time for it, of course, with all the renovating I'm doing." If you look closely at the 2x4s on the wall with the door, you might think they look a bit wide. Well, that's because when this wall was constructed, they put the 2x4s sideways. Why? I have no idea. For those of you who aren't that knowledgable about construction, the 2x4 is usually positioned so the wall is 4 inches thick, so we should be seeing the "thin" side from this angle shot. With a 4 inch wall, you can put in your junction boxes for outlets, run plumbing between the studs... any number of reasons. You can get a better view from the angle shot below.

So now I have to figure out if they make junction boxes that are really shallow (a 2x4 is actually 1 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches. I don't know why that is, but I'll bet one of you smart people who aren't responsible for a home renovation project AND a home renovation blog can probably find out online). And if they don't make junction boxes that depth, I'll need to put an additional 2x4 up against the existing ones so the wall is deep enough for all the counter-height outlet boxes that will go along this wall.

Besides this wall, I also tore out part of the ceiling, to allow for the sink vent pipe to get fed into an existing vent pipe.

I'm not sure I removed enough, but on the other hand I don't want to remove more than necessary. I'm already hesitant enough about how I'm going to hang drywall up on the ceiling... how about I do some cool plywood panel thing on the ceiling, and just tear down the rest while I'm at it? I'm sure I'll get some rousing support for this.

When all of this was said and done, the pile of debris now on the floor is pretty substantial. So tomorrow is a trip to the dump to empty the truck, and then loading the rest of this stuff into the truck. Then, the only demo left is the wall between the dining room and the kitchen, and the doorway from the kitchen to the basement. Unless of course I tear off the entire ceiling as well. Let me know by tomorrow night so I'll be prepared. After that, it's on to preparing the new bedroom (more on that tomorrow).

And finally, several of my loyal readers asked why I haven't set up the 2562 renovation xml feed. For those of you that asked, here you go: http://2562reno.blogspot.com/atom.xml

It's also available in the sidebar under "Links." Enjoy!

Day Two: This End U...

I just had the unfortunate mishap of typing up my summary of today's renovation activities, and they didn't save. Stupid computers. Where's that crowbar?

Anyway, "This End U..." was today's find.

Okay, to retell the story, today was spent clearing out all the stuff I tore off the walls yesterday, and then attacking the east wall. In the photo below, you'll see the doorway I opened between the kitchen and the pantry (which leads outside, which makes taking debris out much easier).


You'll also see the east wall stripped down to the studs, ready for all sorts of electrical (outlets, garbage disposal electrical, light switches, etc.), and plumbing for the ice maker and sink. And I forgot to mention previously that you can click on a photo to see a larger version (if you like that kind of thing).


Thursday night's project is demo-ing the south wall (the white one w/ the door in the photo above) and a third of the ceiling. I haven't decided which third yet.

The Smart Set

Just an update on The Smart Set... I've received several links from helpful readers to provide more information. Ain't technology grand.

About Louise Closser Hale
More about Louise Closser Hale
The Smart Set

Who knew home renovation would lead to a history lesson? It's like Al Capone's tomb, only less Geraldo-y.

Day One Plus

Well, today isn't actually the first day of the home renovation. We've been working on it for a few weeks... putting in exterior doors, shingling the outside of what will be the pantry, hanging some drywall in the future pantry... but today was the first day of demolition.

Yes, it's that point of no return, when you take the crowbar to the wall and pull off a huge chunk of lath and plaster. Which brings us to today's task: pulling down the west wall of the future kitchen.

But let's take a step back to set up the stage. We moved in to our current house in October 2003. To say it's a fixer is an understatement; the previous owner started a lot of major projects, but never finished any of them. He jacked up the house and put in a new foundation and 8 foot ceilings in the basement. He put in a new furnace and heat ducts. He put in new copper plumbing. But that's about it. He did not put in a kitchen. So when we moved in, we did. We put it in the back of the house, which we thought would be great because you could look out into the back yard. But it's at the complete other end of the house from the dining room and living room. And after 2 years of walking up and down the hall to get more water, or a napkin, or seconds, it's become too much.

So, since this is the official kickoff of the 2562 home renovation blog, I've taken some current photos, and will post new photos of work in progress, some of the floorplans to show the overall layout, and my commentary of the home renovation process.


(photo above) Here we see the east wall of the future kitchen. Not very exciting. Yet. In the future, there will be a door to the basement, a refrigerator, sink and cabinets.


(photo above) The north wall. Eventually these windows will be replaced, and a door to the right of the photos to open to a pantry.


(photo above) The south wall. This doorway will be closed up, and we'll have cabinets and a dishwasher here. Say hi to cat (at the bottom... hi Hunter!).


(photo above) Here's the west wall. This was tonight's project to prep it for the plumbers and for construction. There will be an opening between this wall and the dining room, and we'll have cabinets, a stove and microwave over here.

And now on to the good stuff... the demolition.


(photo above) The west wall with plaster, lath and drywall removed.


(photo above) The west wall from another angle.


This one was odd... this book (photo above) was inside the west wall. Must not have been that good. I believe the house was built in 1908 or 1911... can't remember. I also found a domino (photo below). I'll probably throw the book away, but the domnino is cool.


And finally, if you were ever wondering how cove ceilings were made back in the day, here you go. There were curves made, then the lath was attached to the curves, then the plaster put on. Looks like fun! (photo below)



Tomorrow's first project: open the doorway to the pantry, which then leads outside, so I can take out some of the trash.