Tag Archive for: fixer upper house

Wilson Remodel: Demolition of Kitchen/Living Room

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Living Room / Kitchen: Demolition & New Electrical and Plumbing

Demolition is the fun part right?! We (when I say “we” I mostly mean my husband Chris) removed two walls – one separating the old kitchen from the hallway and the other along the side of the stairs and entryway. Our plan is to install a metal or iron railing in place of the old wall so that you can see through the entire first floor when you enter the front door. Even right after tearing the walls down, the room already feels bigger! 

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Given our decision to swap the kitchen and living area (which allows us to have a larger kitchen), quite a bit of work was required to install new plumbing to the new kitchen sink. There was just enough room to run the new drain pipe below the sub-floor and through some existing joists to get it back to the north end of the house and the rest of the existing plumbing/drain lines. We also had to reconfigure and/or re-do much of the electrical set up in the room. All the old kitchen outlets had to be moved down closer to the floor and all the old living room outlets had to be moved up to kitchen counter height. When we purchased the house there was only 1 ceiling light, located above the old dining area. We installed 8 can lights in the new kitchen, including two above the bar area that will have pendent lighting. We also installed a ceiling light in the entry way (hoping to find a neat antique chandelier) and installed an extra light in the new dining area (which was the old kitchen). Finally, we installed all new light switches, with 2 and 3 ways, on different walls throughout the rooms. Chris can do quite a lot on his own, but we called in the pros to complete much of the difficult electrical work (we highly recommend Kyle Singleton!). 

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While we were tearing down parts of the drywall, we took the opportunity to replace the small old window that used to be above the sink in the old kitchen. The newer window gives us much better views into the backyard from the future new dining area. 

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Wondering what we are doing while our kitchen is torn apart? 

We are living out of the old art studio in the addition over the garage. We have a two burner camp stove set up on the dryer and Chris temporarily installed the dishwasher in the bathroom! It’s actually not that bad, but we are excited to move into our new kitchen! 

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UP NEXT: Putting everything back together – drywall, paint, cabinets, flooring, etc. Check out previous remodel pictures, including “before” pics HERE