Our Pantry Grew Some Walls!

In our last post about the main level kitchen/open floor plan it looked like this:

You can barely see that the pantry bottom frame was laid.  Since then, our pantry has started to grow some walls, haha!  Things are definitely coming to life with this space, and it's exciting to be able to walk around it and get a feel for how it will truly be once it's finished. 

Here are a few pictures of the initial exterior pantry walls going up...

View from standing in side mudroom looking straight on towards pantry.

View from standing in living room, towards the front of the house looking back.

Now, the pantry looks more like this:

We've added the stud walls inside the pantry that will support the backs of out cabinetry, as well as house plugs, water lines, etc. that will be needed for the appliances.  We've also finished up the electrical work that will be in, on, and around the pantry (for the most part).  We'll need to update switches and do finishing touches like that when we get more into the "putting things back together" final stages. Another thing we finished up was ripping up the old hardwood and other flooring and prepping the sub floor for new flooring.

So for now, that's where things stand in the kitchen/pantry!

Bar update...

Not much of an update with the bar really, but a few things have happened. 

1. We ripped up the old tile floor - what a mess that was!
2. We demolished the old counter top - also a big mess!
3. We had the new stainless steel back splash installed around the cook-top - YAY!
4. We ordered the new tile & will be order the new counter very soon... so hopefully we'll be back in working order before we know it!

Here are a few pictures of the changes...

We've since taken down those boards holding up the stainless while it set.  I'll save the full view for the mid-way reveal once the flooring and counter top are in!  So for now, you'll just have to wait. :)

Man Cave Update!

The Man Cave is still coming right along... Since the last post, we've insulated the room, and also put up the studs for the wall framing.  Here's a look:

We also have the closets framed up.  So now I can go and plan out the closet organizers! FUN!!

We plan to order new closet doors that will be like french doors - so we'll add those after we drywall.  Speaking of drywall, that's soon on the list.  We need to finish up a few things that go through the man cave ceiling up through the kitchen floor still.  Once those things are done, we'll be able to close the walls up in the man cave!  We are also planning to put a rug in here as flooring.  Still have to pick that out as well. 

More updates to come soon hopefully!

Now that's what you call an "Open Floor Plan!"

This past week was a great one for renovation progress at the house! One big thing that we were able to accomplish was cutting in the mudroom for our side entry.  The mudroom will be sunken below the rest of the main level by a few inches, and will be a tiled space.  We'll have some cubbies and hooks to hang coats, and places for shoes and mail too.  Since the side door is the main way that Frank and I enter, this will be where we put our things mainly as we enter and leave.  Since the mudroom is sunken, we had to do some work down in the man cave as well -- so framing started down there.  Here are a few pictures of how this all went down...

Mudroom cut-in, view from upper level - living room looking back.

 

Mudroom cut-in, view from lower level/man cave.

Sub-floor put into mudroom sunken floor.

Supports and sub-floor installed (from man cave).

Sub-floor installed, another view from top.

Mapping out where things will go with tape, haha!

That's it for now.. check back again soon!

Man Cave Progress

Not too much that you can see happened since my last post in our temporary master/second master in the future/Man Cave, but I figured I'd post a few pics anyway.  The carpet is now up, and all the tack strips are out.  Electrical work has begun, but is not yet finished.  We're also working on wiring a few walls so they're cable ready.  It's coming along though...

View standing towards front of the house, looking out towards the back.

Opposite view, standing at the back of the house looking towards the front.

Of course Tyson wanted to get in the mix too!  Apparently all this demo and renovating makes him hungry (he's licking his chops in the second picture, haha).

We'll be adding in some insulation and re-framing all of the walls next. Electrical work and wiring also continues.  So, things are moving along here too!

Walls down!!!

Earlier this week I went to my girlfriend's house for a wine & Bachelor ladies night.  We had a great time and a delicious spread of wine snacks to go with our beverages and trashy TV! I got home around 9pm or so, and was so happy to see all the work that had been accomplished while I was gone... Lots of walls came down!!!! The soffits were taken down in the kitchen, more flooring was taken out and the open floor plan is starting to really come to life! The space looks so open and bright, even at night with those walls down.  It's glorious!  We can't wait to see it come together as we start putting things back together (hopefully soon!!!).

Here are some pictures from a few different angles of the demo party that was had while I was out...

View from the side sliding glass door that we come through from the garage.

View from standing just right of the sliding door, towards the new living room looking towards the back of the house.

View standing left of the slider, at the back of the house looking towards the front door (with all the Christmas cards still hanging on it!).

Same spot, but looking along the back wall towards the new dining room space.

Standing in the new dining room, looking towards the side sliding glass door and future kitchen area.

Looking straight on at the side sliding door from the railing next to our staircase that leads downstairs.

The breezeway has really come in handy during our renovations as well! It's a great place to keep supplies clean and out of the way, but also safe from the outdoor elements.  Here's how the "shop" looked yesterday...

So that's it for now... hopefully they get a lot more done today while I'm at work and school! It's a great feeling to come home to so much progress.  The more they get done the closer we are to that finish line!

Temporary Pantry Installed!

Since we'll be using our bar area as our "kitchen" while we work on renovating the real kitchen upstairs on the main level, we decided that we'd need some extra room to store things.  So, my handy husband and I installed our temporary pantry!  Eventually we'd like to install more permanent shelving in there, change out the floor tile when we change the rest of the bar floor tile so it matches, and paint the walls a fun color.  For now, this is perfect though!  Here's a photo, minus the food and dishes...

We've since stocked it full with food and our dishes, but I forgot to grab a picture of that.  We're very happy with the extra, hidden storage though and all is working out great so far here!