Our Fixer Upper - Kitchen/Dining/Entry Part 1

I really love doing these blog updates on the house. Mainly because it's all the progress photos from one room altogether. You should know that I am ADD when it comes to demo and working on the house. I get a part functional, then skip to another room and start another project. These posts make it look so organized and summed up. Ha! Anyways...on to the kitchen/dining/entry room!

This was the biggest transformation room in the house. It will also be the most extensive and most expensive when we are completely finished. 

These are the before pictures:

 (looking from the living room into the entry and dining room)

 There were a couple of things that had to be done before we could move in and buy new appliances. This range was original to the house (1985). It was skinnier than any range they make today and it was built in. So we removed the range, the bottom built in piece and the side piece to make room for the range and fridge to fit there side by side. 

When we did that we realized that it was hard wired and so was the vent above it. My new range was electric and my new microwave had a built in vent so we were going to install it above the range. So my amazing uncle came over and converted both of those to outlets for us! Yay!

Mom had to do some finagling for our dishwasher hookup as well. Then we had to cut down the cabinets above the range to make room for the new microwave. Because we didn't want to domino us into a whole kitchen renovation right then, we popped off the trim pieces, cut it down to size, removed the vent, installed a new shelf and then finally reinstalled those original trim pieces. We haven't cut down those cabinet doors yet because, let's be honest, it's functional now and I've moved on to tearing up the next thing...

 ...the fur down and the upper cabinets blocking our view from the kitchen to the dining room! Jonathan's brother and his family came out the weekend after we moved in (after they came to help us move in!). One of the things that I wanted gone the day we signed on the dotted line was this upper cabinet. With some extra man power there Jonathan agreed. The cabinet space in the kitchen has been a little challenging now, but I do not care. It has really opened all of this up so much! 

We also removed the wooden trim pieces over the windows because no. 

Next was ripping down the blue wallpaper and removing the spindles in the random cut outs of the wall between the entry and the dining room. My dad's side of the family came out for a work weekend and they were a huge help!

The wallpaper was all down and I had scraped the popcorn off of the ceiling. And then I was just staring at this random wall that divided the entry and the dining room. I wanted it gone. But to convince Jonathan... 

We really weren't sure what we find behind this drywall. A header we assumed, but would it be a header that was necessary to holding up our house?! Wouldn't know until we ripped into it. I was all too happy to get started on that. 

We asked a friend, who knows a thing or two about houses, and he said it's fine to come down without having to move a header up into the attic! Hallelujah! Our first miracle in the #ladydianereno! 

We found this out the Friday that Jonathan and the boys were going to leave for their annual Mitchell boys camp out trip. One of the last things Jonathan said to me before he left me alone for the weekend was, "I do not want you tearing down walls while you're pregnant and home alone." Dang it! After getting that great news!? He did approve of removing the drywall. So I did that and I wanted more... 

I did get permission before I knocked out those bottom 2x4s while I was home by myself... The other side of the wall had a random low light switch for the dining room. All that did was encourage Parker to make the dining room light into a strobe light. I was ready for that to be gone. My nephew was coming over that Saturday and I thought it might be best to keep the wires covered while he was there! :) But that afternoon after family left I got back to work. 

You'll notice throughout these posts that some of my pictures are at weird angles. That's because I'm pregnant and exhausted by the end of the demo. I never claimed to be a photographer. Just a girl who loves making a mess. 

When Jonathan got back from his boys weekend, he helped me take down the rest! He's such a goofball, but he keeps me laughing through all of this! 

Then we removed the header in between the dining room and the living room. And made jut-outs into flush corners and walls. 

Before:

 After we removed the header:

Moving the 2x4s back into the wall to make the walls flush: 

So a little recap on where we started: 

And where we are now: 

Still very much in construction zone and lots more to do. But so much openness!! And I'm loving it. 

Entering my third trimester this week has forced me to focus purely on the nursery until I'm completely done. With holidays in there it's going to go by quick and February will be here before I know it!