Two Down, One To Go!

*For all the "Before" pictures in one place, go here.


After the first wall came down, it was time for the second wall to come down. In this remodel/addition, we are taking down a total of three walls. The second wall was a previous exterior wall in the kitchen and dining room, with a sliding glass door and a minuscule kitchen window. We also decided to lop off a corner, taking a bit of space from the old pantry out in the garage, to form a 45 degree angled wall for better flow from the living space into the new dining room.


First, all the kitchen cabinets had to be removed. We had the contractor salvage the flooring that had been attached to the underside of the bar, that will come in handy for patching some of the holes in the flooring where the wall, cabinets and woodstove slate will be taken out.

Underneath the beautiful wood was not-so-beautiful paneling. Man, am I glad that was covered up! We also asked the contractor to salvage the cabinets. We will use the bar section in our new pantry, countertop and all for an extra workspace. I'm thinking the pantry would be the perfect place for Number One's meat slicer, the bread machine (if I ever use it again), those kind of appliances. As for the rest, you just never know when somebody will need a kitchen cabinet for one of the mountain cabins or what-have-you, and we have lots of storage space for things like that, so why not?


Because I wanted the contractor to salvage those cabinets, and I got the feeling he was just a couple seconds away from grabbing a sledgehammer to demolish them when I walked in, I feel like whatever I said made him a bit hesitant about tearing off the paneling. At any rate, I decided to help him.

I was fairly certain the cabinet under the sink, which extended out to the bar area, had just been covered with this crappy paneling. I tried to get under the sink and kick it out with my foot (the fun method), but it didn't budge. I tried to hit it from under the sink with a crowbar, but that also didn't work. It was just too far back there. I came around to the front of the bar and started prying off the paneling from the upper left corner, and what do you know, it WAS open under there! Paneling was the only thing covering that section, so we tore it off. It was fun!


It didn't take long before the three cabinets that had comprised the bar were completely gone.


Then we left for a long weekend, and when we came the entire kitchen (except for the range and the refrigerator) was out! So was all the drywall, the sliding glass door, the tiny kitchen window, just leaving the exposed log walls.

And before we knew it, the exposed log walls were gone too!

It is all happening so fast, it's incredible. Look at all that space!

I can't wait to show you my brand new kitchen. I'm already making lists (I'm a list maker) of all the parties we will have and guests we will entertain...

P.S. I created a new label, "log house interior," below, on which you can click and see all the progress that has been and will be made in Phase II of the remodel.