And The Hammer Comes Down

We began demolition on Friday. I was able to pop in and out to help, but most of the work was started by the general contractor, Jack AKA my dad. I did get to sledge hammer out a bunch of dry wall that was surrounding some beautiful brick. It was the old fireplace, but it is no longer safely usable. Currently the gas lines are all plumbed through it. We started in the living room. Its the heart of this house. It had a terrible drop ceiling that reminded me of elementary school and throwing pencils in the ceiling when the teacher wasn't looking. We tore it completely out including all of the lighting. The room was also wall to wall fake wood paneling. That came out as well. Underneath we found plaster walls and original wall paper from 1900. We plan to patch all the plaster because there is extensive water damage You'll see in some of the photos the lath and plaster construction. This is a traditional way of building up walls and ceilings in older homes. We plan to keep as much of it as possible. There were two built ins that we removed and are saving to reuse later on.

Saturday we really dug in. Merritt and Jack started early. They tore out a wall that closed off the entrance to the coat closet. It was a recent addition, done when the owner started renting out the upstairs. The bathroom needs to be completely reconfigured so everything came out, almost down to the framing (toilet, tub, sink, cupboards). In the afternoon some friends (saints really) Tyler and Sierra came to help. This is when the kitchen demo began. The kitchen required the most work in ripping it apart! We began by removing the washer and dryer and a wash sink at least 30 years old. We ripped out the wall separating the laundry room from the pantry, all of the shelving inside the pantry the drop ceiling came out, the many, many layers of wall coverings (paint, wall paper, paneling...) It was a productive day and honestly the house looks better now than before we tore it apart! The crap has been stripped away and the character can now shine through!

The left doorway is the kitchen the right is the den

so much better right?!

the wood paneling in this room was the same as in living room.

 Olivia was a great motivator!

The bathroom... gutted!

the view into the bathroom from the kitchen once we removed the wall.

Laundry room gutted..

pantry

1900s original flour dispenser.

Can the see the awesome brick wall paper below the wood paneling?

pantry gutted. 

This room was an add on so that window is an outdoor window although it is separating the laundry room from kitchen. The plan is to cut that out and create a breakfast bar here.

Tyler was avoiding being knocked in the head by debris

Our planning office