Rivermont Kitchen Renovation Part 1: Tear Down That Wall

I instagrammed a picture over the weekend of day 1 of the Rivermont kitchen renovation. Since I’ve had several people ask about it since, I thought I’d share some more pictures.

Rivermont Kitchen Renovation Phase 1: Demo | Hannah & Husband

Last Friday, a huge dumpster was delivered to our house. And in all our infinite wisdom, we thought, “Surely the kitchen alone won’t fill this up.”

We were wrong.

I snapped the pic above after day 1 of demolition. Saturday, I left Husband and his #squad* (if Taylor has one, we all should) at the house for 3 hours and went to teach a sketchbook workshop at our local art supply store. When I got back, they’d gotten everything out–cabinets, countertops, appliances–and were proceeding to knock down walls.

*It is definitely worth mentioning that if we didn’t have the amazing circle of friends that we do, we would not have been able to take on a project of this magnitude. Our kitchen is way too big to demolish alone–especially when I am no help! 

Anyway, one Saturday with the boys and several late nights since, the dumpster is now so full we’re wondering if we’ll go over the allotted 5 tons. What I’m trying to tell you is this: My husband is really good at tearing things down, and there is A LOT to tear out of a kitchen. 

Rivermont Kitchen Renovation Phase 1: Demo | Hannah & Husband

If you look closely, you can see a piece of the 1950s pink border with little diamonds that used to line the first ceiling.

Did I mention that there were two ceilings?

The ceiling you would recognize from previous pictures was actually two feet lower than the ceilings in the rest of the house.

Rivermont Kitchen Renovation Phase 1: Demo | Hannah & Husband

Once Husband got all the plaster down, the room was just covered in this wood lathe. You see that couple of bright spots near the floor? That would be OUTSIDE.

“Where in the world is that draft coming from?” The holes in the wall.

One cool detail: You can see how the plaster grabbed on to the wood in the picture below.

Rivermont Kitchen Renovation Phase 1: Demo | Hannah & Husband

Rivermont Kitchen Renovation Phase 1: Demo | Hannah & Husband

And this is what it looks like now. Most of the lathe is down, and it’s time to move on to getting rid of that old insulation. I am so excited about these next steps because the kitchen will really start to take the shape we have in mind. I’ll update you when it does. In the meantime, here are a couple links that may be of interest…

Rivermont when we first saw her.

The kitchen remodel in our 1st home.

TGIF!

rivermont-hill-hannahandhusband

Hello and Happy Friday from the old house on the hill! (She looks pretty up there, doesn’t she?) Before we kick this weekend off, I thought I’d show you a little bit of what went down last Saturday. Ladies and Gentlemen, project #1 is officially underway.

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What is that weird pattern-y thing, you ask?

Oh, that?

That’s the ceiling!

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Rivermont When We Bought It | Hannah & Husband

If you recall, there are several little sheds out behind our house. This one, the one on the far left, was the *perfect* 1950s clubhouse–or so I’ve been told. In my head, the Kerr boys were basically the Little Rascals. (I wonder if there was a Darla?)

little-rascals-clubhouse

rivermont-shed-demo-sink-hannahandhusband

Years before that, it was the home of Lewdy, the groundskeeper. I was told you could smell him coming a mile away. (Perhaps he’d been in to the jello shots? See yesterday’s post.) I also heard he had a thing going on with the maid.

rivermont-shed-demo-window-weights-hannahandhusband

window weights

Well, for its next incarnation, it will be… */drumroll please/* my studio! Last Saturday, as I was working upstairs in the house, Husband and our faithful apprentice, who is currently occupying the guest room, were deconstructing parts of the shed.

rivermont-shed-demo-hannahandhusband

 

We are not tearing the building down, but parts are beyond repair. So we are going to save the parts we can and rebuild the others to suit our purposes. Windows were taken out (carefully) and saved for future use. While we are tearing out the ceiling, the roof was replaced recently so we shouldn’t have to touch it. I’m thrilled with how much they got done last weekend, and I’m excited to get my hands dirty tomorrow. Stay tuned!

My old studio space was one of several crafty spaces featured on DIYNetwork.com. Click here to see it!

Click here to get my tips for dressing up your cubicle!