McBerkoBlog

Ruth walked into these rooms when we got home today and said, "Wow! Pretty walls." So true, Ruth! Here's the current state of the kitchen. The old wall is gone, and new wall blocks off laundry room (french doors not yet installed). Fridge will go on the left where the sink used to be, and new sink will be located under the window on the right. Ceiling will have beadboard instead of drywall. Pre-insulation, same area: Looking the other direction. Stove will be in the center of this wall. City building inspector said, "Yup, that's insulation." By the end of the week, the drywallers will be 100% done. We can then start priming, hooking up lights and outlets, and moving on to floor tile. Cabinets get installed on 9/19!

Dining room with walls, looking toward living room: Looking toward kitchen and new back door:

I really, REALLY love having walls!

Did your husband rip a hole in your house today? No? Pretty crazy stuff. It was time to get rid of the two old windows in this spot, so the siding came down, windows came out. Fortunately, the new framing went in, topped with plywood and then plastic, minutes before it started to rain. Note that we have floors again!! While it was nice and bright in the room with a gigantic hole in the wall, I will definitely appreciate having the extra upper cabinet space.

The bath's taking shape, and just in time - plumbers start tomorrow. They'll be replacing all the pipes that supply water to our house from the street. The rusty cast iron pipes that bring water from the meter to the back of the house are also being replaced. They'll move the laundry to the first floor, move the kitchen sink and fridge water supply, and rough-in the new bathroom. Bill finished the framing work upstairs in preparation. New water closet is on back left - this side of the wall is also where the showerhead will be. The near left in this picture shows the bench at the back of the shower. The vanity will be placed where the chair and box fan are located: Another view of shower & toilet area: Facing the new tub from our closet: View walking into the room from our bedroom: Many thanks to Patty and Steve for helping us flip this 350 lb tub. When it arrived Wednesday, we had movers get it upstairs and flip it so we could install the feet. I'm pretty sure Bill...

White inset maple cabinets with chrome hardware, carrera marble tile on the floor with gray limestone accents, light gray walls, pale yellow ceiling, darker yellow on the pantry cabinet and accents.

I don't think you can really appreciate floors until you don't have them. Bill finished installing the subfloor in the upstairs bath this week. This weekend, it's out with the final layer of kitchen floor so we could level the former porch joists. We'd hoped to get the subfloor down too, but alas, no such luck. Many thanks to Steve for keeping Ruth occupied for a few hours today while we worked! On the plus side, not having a floor means that from our dining room, I can literally see if the laundry is done in the basement. That's not teenage vernacular "literally", as in, "I will literally die of embarrassment if Britney shows that picture to Jaden!". When there's no floor, I can stand upstairs and see the washing machine. You have to find positives where you can when remodeling. :)

Our kitchen ceiling was 8 ft, unlike the rest of the first floor (minus drop acoustic panels). When we took it down, we discovered why. The entire room had a false ceiling built below the real one. Not supporting anything, not needed for any reason, just a lower ceiling. ??? Here's a pic looking up from the kitchen, at the fake ceiling, real joists, and bottom of the 2nd floor: Here's what it looks like now. Removing the 2nd floor really brightens up the 1st! Can't say I recommend it though. I will feel much more comfortable navigating from our bedroom to our closet once the subfloor is complete and actually attached. Creeping gingerly over the few pieces of plywood resting on joists, carefully avoiding the big holes in the floor - not an adventure I need each morning.

Bill, Dad, and Eric finished framing the wider openings today. The wall is gone between the main kitchen and where the fridge used to be, so it's now just one large (~10.5' x ~18') space. Before and after pics of that wall: Side note: The reason the new header looks slanted above is because it is. This entire room was originally a porch, so both the floor and ceiling are sloped as would be appropriate for a porch. Sadly, that is not appropriate for a kitchen, so the next project is leveling. Between the kitchen and dining room, we widened the small doorway to just over 5', to match the opening between the living and dining rooms. Before and after of that wall, looking into the kitchen: Props to Eric, who ripped one of these studs out with his bare hands (no joke!).

When we removed the wall in the pantry behind the row of cabinets, we found siding. Dirty, filthy siding covered with bird poop. Gross, perhaps, but I like to think of it as free architectural interest. It took a lot of bleach and several hours of scrubbing, but it finally looks OK. Here's a mid-cleaning pic: The walls around the fridge were also covered with siding, but we removed everything except this wall in the new laundry room.