The Kitchen is Open!

When we first purchased our #VirginiaHome the main living areas were very choppy and closed off. The original kitchen was small and closed off from the rest of the house and it was directly next to a small, closed off, dining room. There was also a large coat closet, pantry and a built-in wall oven closing off the kitchen. Our goal was to open up all of these spaces to one another to allow for better flow between the rooms. But before we could open up those rooms to one another, we needed to make sure there were no major mechanicals running in the dividing walls.

On one of the first nights of owning the house, Chase and I removed all the plaster from the all of the kitchen walls. Much to our delight there were no major mechanicals running in the wall preventing us from removing them!

The coat closet wall was a load bearing wall, so we needed to find a way to carry the load in order to remove the wall. Rather than recessing a beam into the attic (which would have been more labor intensive), we opted for a cased opening between the kitchen and living room. I liked the idea of the rooms being open to one another, but still visually divided by the cased opening wall.

My Dad has worked in construction for 30+ years, so we relied on his expertise heavily for the next step. He helped direct us in installing two temporary walls to carry the load while we framed the new wall and cased opening. We placed the 2x4s at and angle so we did not have to cut them down down and could reuse them in other areas needing framing throughout the house.

Once the temporary wall was up, we were able to completely demo the kitchen cabinets and linoleum floors. As much as I would have liked to salvage the original cabinets, they were cheaply built on-site and the kitchen and house itself were so poorly maintained. Some of the cabinets and the subfloor had water damage as well. The appliances were even worse. So we ripped everything out and planned to start new.

We made our own beam by gluing together (2) 2"x 12"x 12' boards with a section of 1/2" OSB plywood sandwiched between. We glued and screwed them together to secure the beam as one piece. Once the new walls were framed in, the guys were able to install the new load carrying beam.

**Disclaimer: If you are doing this yourself, I'd highly advise consulting a licensed contractor, or a structural engineer to determine how large of a beam you need to carry the load. When our house was inspected by the city, they also ensured the load was carried through from the main level to the basement structural posts below the main level load carry points.

Once the beam was in, we were able to take down and disassemble the temporary walls. We then began removing some of the dining room flooring to help with patching in the wood flooring.

Full disclosure - I didn't order enough flooring overage, so we were tight on wood flooring. To preserve the flooring we had, we left a small rectangle where the island was going to be placed, and a section near the sink drain. This also made an access panel to house the wires for the island outlets.

Once we finished installing the wood floors we were able to finish sanding the whole house. We had already stripped the floors throughout the house. We then began finishing the floors because we did not want to leave them unfinished. We went with a mixture of 50% Minwax Early American & 50% Special Walnut. This combination helped to cancel out some of the pink tones in the red oak, while staying a nice warm brown.

After inspection, we hung all of the drywall on the newly framed walls. We also patched with drywall in the areas missing plaster. Due to the difference in the thickness between the plaster and the drywall, we knew it would be difficult to achieve a smooth finish when mudding and taping. We decided to have a professional come in to complete the mudding and taping. After drywall was complete, we primed all of the walls with Killz, as the house had extensive pet and smoke stains on the walls and floors. Refinishing the wood floors made a big difference in the smell, but the drywall and Killz were the last step to completely eliminate the smell.

We then completed our kitchen in a few phases. You can see a breakdown of our process in the posts to come!

A big part in tying these rooms together and making the home feel welcoming was furniture. Making sure the rooms felt full, yet open to each other. We played around with a few different furniture layouts but landed on having a couch and love seat with an open end towards the kitchen, and a chair in the corner near the fireplace. This was a great compromise between comfortable TV viewing and optimal layout for conversation.

From closed off and neglected, to the welcoming center of the home. This kitchen transformation is one I am truly proud of. While it was a long time coming, the pictures make it clear - this was worth wait.