Weeks 1 & 2 of Renovation
So while the greenhouse was being dismantled and the outside wall was a-tumbling down, things were happening inside, too. Here's how our house looked before:
Living room sofa nestled neatly against an interior wall. The wall is not load bearing, but it is loaded with wires, vents, vacuum pipes, light switches. We are planning to keep the tan carpet in this area, as it cushions creaky knees during family prayer.
Here is a view of the dining room, with the laminate floor my dad and I installed years ago (Thank you, Dad! Thank you Costco!)
This room has a funky textured block wall which was designed to let in all that heat from the greenhouse in the winter, and a massive fireplace which, as Abraham Lincoln said about the early Latter-day Saints, is too big to move and not suitable for burning, so we'll plow around it.
But I did borrow a Dremel to try and smooth off a little of its character.
On the other side of the non-load bearing wall was this beautiful bank of cabinets suitable--and dangerous-- for a pack-rat like yours truly.
?
_ ('') _
\/ | \/
/ \
_ | |_
Here is the kitchen view facing east. I will miss the cooktop with the built in griddle. I will not miss the white tile countertop with hard-to-clean brown grout. Nor will I miss the dark linoleum, even though it hid dirt very well. Gratefully, the linoleum has come off the subfloor without too much trouble.
Here's a look at the kitchen facing west the day before all the fun started. The fridge had already been moved to the dining room by the time I got the kitchen clean enough for a photo.
At this point we were emptying out the last of the cupboards and moving stuff downstairs or into the pantry, which will be our mini kitchen for the next ??? weeks.
Day 1: Today, Frank started whacking down the brick wall outside.
Emily's favorite part? "We drew on the walls." Kids, don't EVER do this at home. Unless your parents are crazy enough to knock down the wall afterwards. Some of Emily's friends helped, and there was a lively high jump contest.
It was like when the doctor drew on my right leg with sharpie before a vein procedure, just to make sure he did the right one. (Are you sure this is the correct wall? Yep, I see the sharpie. Get the sledgehammer.)
Day 2: Our contractor Randy Hickman and son took the cupboards down, and we started hitting the wall. Randy's son is going to reuse most of our cabinets in exchange for grunt labor. Yay for recycling!
The sledgehammer was almost too heavy for anyone but Frank. The rest of us preferred a regular hammer for beating on the walls. Quote of the day: "It's not good to hit on studs."
Day 3: Here's what the womenfolk did while Frank was leveling the dirt for the patio. We eventually got smart and took off large pieces of drywall, which means easier cleanup.
Meanwhile on the other side of the wall, Randy's crew was prying up the tile encrusted counters.
Day 4: On Saturday,
Amanda, Emily, and Emily's friend Katy were pulverizing the drywall with hammers, fists, and feet! Chalky bits were everywhere! They also helped sweep afterwards. Yay!
Soon we could see daylight between the studs, and all the cabinets had been detached from the walls. It immediately looked brighter.
Day 5 was Sunday. We ate crockpot lasagna. I started wondering if we could microwave hard boiled eggs for Easter in 2 weeks. Answer: yes, covered with lots of water, and only a few at a time.
Day 6: Amanda and Daisy helped with the high parts of the drywall. We started poking around in the soffits. Pink chunks= good, stays somewhat in place. Gray fluff= bad: avalanche!
Day 7: Frank took a sledgehammer to the studs. Yay!
The south side of this soffit was all drywall=good.
The north part was a layer of drywall over plywood=bad! Seems like Gordon Greene who built the house was trying to make sure his soffits would survive the end of the world.
Day 7: The last soffit was a fortress! We hammered, we pried, we used some nice words and then some strong words... and got as far as we could before nightfall. Frank has a new scar for all his efforts.
The lesson? Build your family as strong as this soffit, on a firm foundation of faith, so when the hammers beat against it and the prybars try to divide it, they shall have no power over you to drag you down! And seal all the holes with glue while you're at it, so not even a wire nut can slip through.
By Day 8, With a little help, the soffits are down, and we swept up the indoor insulation avalanche for maybe the last time. Just a few flurries from now on, I hope. This is also the day the cement was poured in the patio.
Day 9 A carpenter came and did some framing where the pocket doors had been, also prepped for the new exhaust vent. The old exhaust port under porch seemed to have collapsed.
Day 10: Wiring for can lights and outlets in kitchen and office area.
Day 11: I drove to West Valley to choose granite for counter top and island: Giallo Santo Classic, 2 cm, from Arizona Tile, quarried in Brazil. We choose granite mainly because it's heat proof. That was the one redeeming feature of our old tile counter.
Also on Day 11, the vacuum guy came to move the central vac port over a few feet so it will be in the island. They found some random fans under the floor boards, part of Gordon Greene's innovative plans to use the space between floor and ceiling to recirculate air. We still have an open ceiling in storage room 2 below, so this was a good opportunity to tidy there and vacuum the flurries of sawdust.
Day 12: Sunday. We made our traditional scrambled eggs and fried potatoes in an electric skillet. I kind of like having the fridge in the dining room--so convenient! Flurries outside today, none inside, yay!
