It's DEMO Time!

Nothing ever happens quickly when it comes to building / remodeling a home.  Cory and I HOPED we would be under construction by now, but the reality is that we are just getting ready to start.  We closed on our house on November 22 and nearly four months later we still haven't built a single thing.

Why is it taking so long?  Bank processes.  Ugh. Who would have known it was so darn difficult to cut through all the red tape?  We had to wait until the house was appraised again.  This time, we needed to have it appraised as though all the work was done.  Long story short, this process took for.ev.er.

Anyway, after the appraisal was complete we started tearing the house apart.  Cory and I are doing all the demolition ourselves in order to save money.  We knew it would be a big, difficult, and time-consuming job and we were so right.  We've spent every free evening and weekend we've had for the past couple of months knocking down walls, removing wallpaper, tearing out floors, and so on.

The first area we tackled was the butler's pantry.  If you recall, this is the area that connects the smaller family room to the larger family room.  

Day One of Demo: Cheers to destroying our house!

I didn't really hammer those cabinets, but I did get some frustration out knocking down shelves and other junk.

Our kids got in on the action when they got tired of playing in the basement.  Sasha was good at taking off the cabinet doors and hardware.  As the doors and drawers were removed we found some random bags and even some birthday gift bags and tissue paper hiding behind them in the cracks.  I'm sure lots and lots of birthdays have been celebrated in this house!

Cory had the pleasure of doing the hard work, including knocking down beams.  But I think the most labor-intensive part of this project was removing the small closet beside the cabinetry.  The house was built in 1959 and all the walls are plaster.  Plaster is heavy, dirty, and super hard to remove.  It took a few days and lots of grunting and sweating before Cory got that area clear.

Here is a view of the now clear butler's pantry area from the family room.  (Sorry about the iPhone quality photos.) The fridge was moved to the side and is blocking part of the wall but you can get an idea of how much space we gained by removing all the old cabinets and the closet.

And here is the space from opposite end of the hallway.  The dining room is on the other side of the now exposed wall.  Cory would love to open up the wall for a more open layout, but I think it is staying as is for now.  My imagination is running wild with decorating options, though!

 Removing the butler's pantry was like a gateway demo drug for us.  Once we saw how the space opened up and felt how good it was to get rid of old crap we wanted to do more.  And more we did!  But that's for another post on another day.