Happy Wednesday! As you know, it’s Kitchen Renovation Week on Plaster & Disaster, where every morning I’m popping in to share a quick update on the progress in our kitchen as we have the wall between the kitchen and sunroom removed. Yesterday was Day 2 (check out Day 1 if you’re behind), and we started the day with the demo mostly done.
And at the end of Day 2, here’s how it’s looking:
Woohoo!
The task for Day 2 was to rough frame the new header and posts that will support this wall, enabling the old framing to be removed. The goal was to finish that up so that the building inspector can come this morning and hopefully sign off on everything before it gets finished and sheetrocked over.
We purchased our engineered hardwood from Barker Lumber in Woburn, MA, and had it delivered to the house on Day 1 so we were ready to go. I’ll do a final update on costs once all is said and done, but the lumber cost about $450 for the header and posts. Engineered hardwood is more expensive than what we could have gotten, but not tremendously more so and it’s what the engineer called for so that’s what we needed to go with for inspection purposes.
Unfortunately I had to head off to the office before the reno work started for the day, but Sam stayed home and I made him promise to take lots of photos. Here’s what he captured.
A big part of the day was getting the posts and beams into place, which required supporting the roof/second floor temporarily while they removed the old headers and posts to make room for the new. The light wood in the photo below is totally temporary to support the roof in conjunction with the jack posts (the tall black things).
Here you can see the first beam in place (the piece of wood that stops 1/4 of the way from the left of the photo):
And here’s the first center post in place:
And now both center posts and beams in place. You can see what I was talking about yesterday in terms of using two beams, one shallower than the other to allow for higher clearance where the pass through will be.
They also fixed the plumbing issue I mentioned yesterday.
So now the plumbing snakes back into the cabinet and around the new post:
The electrical is all set now too, taking advantage of the center posts (which will look like a single column when they put the sheetrock over it).
Since we are getting new counters, we may add a little length so that the counter comes exactly to the edge of the column, and build a little extra cabinet compartment on the end or something. Extra counter space is always valuable!
Here it is from the sunroom side:
The difference yesterday was huge, but now it’s so much easier to visualize how it’s going to look — and it’s amazing. It totally changes the light and feel of the space. I love the view from the sink into the “other” room. I’ll be adding a counter to this so that we can put stools on the other side and have a breakfast bar.
And the cats are hanging in there, though each evening Murphy is way too curious for his own good. Here he is trying to crawl into a hole in the basement:
And playing with power tools:
Here’s hoping the inspection later this morning goes okay! And I’ll be back tomorrow morning to share an update on today’s progress.
Wow!! It’s educational and exciting to see this progress!!! I love the view into the sun room!
I know, I wish I could be around for more of it to learn even more, but I’ve learned a lot just based on what I’ve been able to see!
Oh, great progress!! Now I can really appreciate how it will work!!
Yes, it’s really coming along!
Ha ha, glad my cats are not the only ones that like to find every tiny gap. Our black and white one kept turning up totally black, we couldn’t work it out until we saw him scale the timber frame of the new stud wall and disappear through a hole in the ceiling into the attic! Little tinker.
Love how it is coming along, the demolition part and rebuilding is so so exciting because you can properly see the space for the first time. Can’t wait to see what happens next.
Too funny, that sounds like something Murphy would do while Owen hid under the bed 🙂
looks like you add 50 feet to the room woo hoo xx
I know it really opens it up!
Great fix on using the two beams so one can be higher. Smart contractor with what they did with the plumbing and electrical. I’m sure you are very excited. May an open shelf type of “cabinet” facing the end there where you now have extra space for countertop? Lookin’ good.
Exactly what I was thinking, Carla! Since we’re getting new countertops, we can get one that extends to the end and I was thinking an open shelf for cookbooks or something could be handy.
Or you could build a narrow cabinet with cubbies to hold a few bottles of wine 🙂
Yes, I was thinking of this for a second gap that I need to fill!
Enjoying the daily updates! I’m glad you opted for this format rather than a longer post later — it’s fun to follow along in real time without having to experience the noise and dust!
Thanks for the feedback Karen, so glad you’re enjoying this format! It’s always so helpful to hear what readers like!
That really does change the look and feel of the space. How exciting!
Thanks Ananda!
Just an idea for the area near the column where you are considering expanding your countertop to make use of the extra space. I don’t know the dimensions and that will greatly affect this idea but if there is enough space you could make a simple shelving unit in that space. A place to put cookbooks, etc.