Project #3- Why walls are like snowflakes

I have realized that no two walls are alike, no matter how similar they may appear on the outside.  In my grand remodel, my plan was to open a doorway between the kitchen and living room and to remove the wall between the kitchen and dining room.  The progress on the doorway between the kitchen and living room has been great!  There were two outlets that needed moved, but that was not a big deal. 

I recently began work on removing the wall between the kitchen and dining room.  I used a similar method for removing the drywall, but instead of a hatchet I used fists and feet this time.  Unfortunately, the results were not as good.  After several holes had been punched/kicked in the drywall, the following was revealed...

That is correct.  That is a giant metal pipe behind the drywall.  Some detective skills revealed that it is attached to the hot water heater in the basement, and that it runs completely through our house and out the roof!  My favorite search engine informs me that this is used to vent harmful carbon monoxide gas out of the house.  It also tells me to never attempt moving it unless I want to die in my sleep from carbon monoxide poisoning.  Do they really have to be so dramatic?  I say yes, because until I read that, I was still considering moving it. 

For now, my plan to eliminate the wall between the kitchen and dining room has been altered.  Removing a wall sounds simple enough, but you never know what will be inside!  Could be nothing...or it could be certain death!  And that, my friends, is why walls are like snowflakes.

Project #2- I think this wall would be better as a door

As is common in older houses, my house has a separate kitchen, dining room, and living room.  Unfortunately, that is not my style.  A more modern look is the great room, open floor plan concept.  While I may not be able to fully achieve this without my second story becoming one with my first story, there are definitely some things I can do to open up the space. 

This picture is taken in the kitchen, looking out into the breakfast nook.  As you can imagine, this area was not used for dining, as evidenced by the elliptical.  On the other side of that wall, is my living room.  I thought it would be so much better if that wall was a doorway instead.  So...

...I got to work.  Yes, that is a hatchet.  I am sure there are other, more appropriate tools for this job, but this one seemed to work well.  Until...





...I thought for sure I smashed through to the other side.  Eventually, I will need to smash through to the other side, but now is not the time.  Luckily, I did well and ended up with an opening about 7-feet tall. 

I promise, this will be awesome when it is completely done, and you will want to do the same thing in your kitchen.  Now, what to do about that wiring.  

 

Project #1-Get rid of the popcorn

Since my house was built about 30 years ago, it is a given that it has popcorn-style ceilings.  I have no idea why anyone ever thought popcorn ceilings were a good idea, but whoever invented them is most certainly my worst enemy right now. 

Luckily, I am not the one actually doing the work on this one.  We hired someone to do this for us, and believe me, it is worth it.  The method they are using is to scrape off all of the popcorn, prime the exposed drywall, texturize the ceiling, and then paint it.  It seems relatively easy.  What's the worst thing about this project?  The fact that the entire first floor is covered in a quarter inch layer of white dust.  While the contractors did put up sheets of plastic to keep the dust to its designated room, it doesn't appear to have helped.  The coffee maker had to be moved to the upstairs bathroom, the stove cannot be used, and I am pretty sure that is not flour in my blender!

The contractors assured me that they would clean everything up once they were finished, but I am skeptical.  I anticipate the ceilings on the first floor should be complete within another week, and then on to the next project!

Construction: According to Pandora

My husband and I have lived in our current house for a little over a year.  We have a history of remodeling every house we live in, and this one will be no exception.  After putting up with the green "faux-marble" laminate counter tops, abnormally shaped pantry, and awkward flow of traffic through the first floor for the past year, we have finally given in. 

Historically, we begin with one small project which quickly snowballs into a full-on remodel.  In our first house, replacing one interior door turned into replacing all of the interior doors; painting the bedrooms; re-carpeting the stairs; painting the stairway, dining room, and living room; installing new flooring in the living room and dining room; and installing new light fixtures.  Let's just say, our motto has become "Go big or go home!" 

Our renovation on our current house has begun, and I will be occasionally posting on the progress.  Please keep in mind that I know very little about construction so the way that we do something might NOT be the "right" way. But it will most likely be entertaining!

One Enemy Defeated

Based on where I live, I was convinced that deer were going to be the biggest enemies to my garden.  There is a walking path behind my house where I have literally seen a herd of deer going for a late night stroll, straight down the paved walkway.  I have seen them step over our neighbor's fence and also pick every single apple off of my apple trees that was within 10 feet of the ground. 





Caught!



Even though I decided to put in a four-foot fence around the yard, I figured this would do little more than irritate them.  To my surprise, I have not seen them in the yard since the fence was installed.  This might be in part to my dogs Ajax and Dante who patrol the yard and bark at anyone or anything that might so much as even look in the general direction of the yard.  Needless to say, the neighbors adore them. 

Dante and Ajax

I have read about numerous methods to deter deer, such as putting out human hair, rubbing soap on trees, and even urinating around the perimeter of the yard.  But it seems as though the best deterrent is having two big, loud dogs.  Glad I dodged the bullet on peeing around my yard, and I'm sure the neighbors would rather put up with the dogs.

Sneaky zucchini

Zucchini has always struck me as some kind of mystical vegetable.  It has a way of magically appearing in the break room at work, hanging in bags on strangers front doors, and even finagling its way into birthday gift bags.  A check of the garden in the morning yields nothing, but by the time the evening sets in, a zucchini the size of a VW Beetle has miraculously appeared.  The guiles of the zucchini are limitless.

The inexperienced gardener, such as myself, is often tricked into planting several zucchini plants.  The instructions on the packet of seeds directs you to plant two to three seeds per hill.  What the seed packet does not state is that every seed you plant WILL grow into a plant.  In my situation, I planted four hills with three seeds in each hill.  That is a total of twelve zucchini plants.  And, I have learned that every plant will produce approximately (this is a rough estimate) one million pounds of zucchini. 

The problem then becomes what, exactly, to do with 12 million pounds of zucchini.  So far, we have grilled it, sauteed it, baked it into muffins, and fried it.  Soon we will be experimenting with options such as stuffing it and baking it, making "hash browns" (squash browns?), and using it as lasanga noodles.  Perhaps I could use it to build a log cabin. The possibilities are endless!