Let's take down some walls! (And build one)

There is a hole in my wall, dear Liza, dear Liza, there is a hole in my wall, dear Liza, a hole.

We took out the drywall and left the framing so that the structural engineer can get a good look at the space. This also included plenty of trips in the attic and under the crawl space. He has a plan that he will get drafted up and we can start the permitting process for this!

The most exciting part of this is the incredible view of the lake you get from the front door. 

Still has the wonderful formal feature of a proper foyer, but then gets to be dramatically open concept. When your view is this nice it's amazing to get to be able to appreciate it from so many rooms. 

Here it is fully opened up and waiting on permitting for the beam to be installed. 

And what's that? It's the new wall creating a formal dining room. It has double pocket doors which allows for the room to maintain it's open feel while providing a formal eating space for special occasions. 

At this point all of the carpet, linoleum, and laminate flooring has been removed and we are down to the wood subfloor. 

The wood paneling on the walls has all been removed and dry wall is being hung in it's place. 

Demolition!

The saying goes "it's going to get worse before it gets better." That's the sort of attitude I am having to take with demolition. Because it's a mess and it looks scary to see everything ripped up. 

Carpet? It has to come up. Wall inbetween formal dining and living room? It needs to go (more on this later, it's requiring a structural engineer and a very big beam). 

Kitchen cabinets? Those definitely have to go. 

And once this all starts to get pulled out? It's very easy to get cold feet about the whole process. It's just so much. And all of a sudden my perfectly liveable house is a disaster zone. 

There is certainly no turning back now. 

The Before:

I found it.

The house on the perfect lot in the right neighborhood. 

Plenty of room, great views, and it needs work. Like straight from 1971 needs work. 

To point out some of the key 1970s features:

Velvet Wallpaper in the foyer

Color Coordinating Pastel Bathrooms

Lovely stained linoleum floors in laundry room

And then comes the best: 

The wood paneling. An entire room of wood paneling. Which matched the old beaten up kitchen cabinets!

Such color coordination! 

This is the type of house that you know was so stylish when it was built. The owners were the "Jones'" you tried to keep up with. Unfortunately this was 40 years ago. 

So off I go into the unknown world of major home improvement.