And The Walls Come Tumbling Down

Renovations began this week! Our initial plan is to create a “wow” kitchen, refinish all the hard wood floors, and install a claw foot bathtub and new flooring in the master bathroom. Scott Noble will be overseeing this work for us, but we’ll be helping by doing some demolition and painting. Working without Scott, we’d also like to paint as many ceilings in the house as possible, maximize the storage capability in all of the bedroom closets, change out some of the light fixtures, and repurpose a closet under the stairs into a “butler’s pantry”. Since we want to get all this work done before the fall, we figure we have about 8 weekends to do it. We're confident Scott’s team will make their goals, but we’re not sure we can meet ours.



The Back Porch Becomes a
Mud Room and  Part of the Kitchen

While we were back in Northern VA doing our “day jobs”, Tommy Winslow and his crew removed the wall between the enclosed back porch and the kitchen. This area will become part of our kitchen, but will be used more like a mud room. Seeing this was once an outside load-bearing wall, the removal took more than a few swipes with the sledge hammer like we see on HGTV.  Since the wall also included what had once been the home's external back door and a window, both were removed carefully and placed in the carport in case they could be used elsewhere. While there is still some more work to do, it is already clear how much more space this change is going give us.



Timbers Covered with Bark and
Square Head Nails Revealed

 While looking at what remains of the original exterior wall, I was surprised to see it had been framed with rough cut 4X4 timbers—some of which were still covered in bark and square head nails. While Tommy tried to leave as much of the old clapboard on the walls of the old porch as was possible, sadly most of boards split and fell apart as they were being cut.

A dumpster is arriving tomorrow to collect all the refuse. Truth be told, I spent more than an hour going through the pile making sure nothing of historical value was being sent to the landfill.  



Everyone who knows me, knows I love to soak in the bathtub. That’s why it was so important that we find a space in our master bathroom to have one installed. While I hated to eliminate the only closet in the room, it was the most logical location for my new tub. I already know I am going to love soaking here.


Fantasizing About My New Bathtub

 

This is one brick that won’t be going into the dumpster. When the former owners repaved the driveway, they laid an engraved brick in honor of each of the homes’ previous owners. Not to be left out, they presented us with a brick of our own at settlement. How come Larry gets top billing when this is my dream house?



We Become an Official Part of the
Big Yellow House's History