Last weekend, very graciously, Debbie’s dad (Keith) came and we worked hard to take out the interior wall of our kitchen for more kitchen space and to open it up to the rest of our upstairs.

First pictures, then explanations.

Before

After

A. This is where the wall used to meet the ceiling. There’s still about two 2X4s of thickness sticking out.

B. Note the light fixture switches. We’re thinking about keeping them up there but fear that having light switches eight feet high might hurt the resale value of our home.

C. Debbie has never been fond of this wallpaper trim and was happy to see half of it be taken out of the home. The remainder will be gone at some point. She’s thinking about steaming it off.

D. This is an outlet that used to be in the wall. It’s handy to have it moveable, but, again, we fear that inspectors might not find this to be up to code.

E. These are the cabinets and counter that used to be in the kitchen.

F. One bad thing about the great room feel is we lose space for hanging photos. This is about all we have in the entire kitchen dining area.

G. Yea! We can see out to the south from our living room!

H. Yes, that is subflooring where the cabinet used to be.

I. We cut off most of this wall, but left some in case we want to put an outlet or light switch there later. PhilTheCarl, any ideas?

J. Yes, that is cut up plastic bags keeping attic insulation from falling into our kitchen.

K This is our temporary island – we’re hoping to use it to help us figure out where to put the real thing.

L. Who wouldn’t want halogen lights in the kitchen? It gives a cool glow reminiscent of lighting used by astronauts while they were on the moon.

M. The microwave. It hasn’t worked since about a month after we moved into the house.

So yes, we have much work to do on pretty much every aspect of the project (any suggestions or tips?). But phase one is done.

We are grateful to Keith for all his help and to God for safety.

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