Spontaneous Renovations!

A refresher for those of you who don't recall: the living room was formerly my studio. This cabinet in the corner (yes... MY little cabinet of horrors!) was blocking the "front" door. The door had been graciously nailed shut by our house's previous owner. We will also fondly recall some of the other "improvements" that he made such as attractive ceiling holes, visible in the above picture. Or here in vivid close up:

But wait! I'm getting side tracked as is easy to do while contemplating household projects! That's for another day...
Where was I? Okay, so I painted the "front" door green and that sparked a slew of projects and the shifting of multiple tectonic plates. Like Bob has been saying for ages, "I'd love to get that front door opened up" and I know that the painting of the door roused us to action because on Monday, we moved the cabinet, Bob prised the door open and Hey Presto! The living room became a new space.

In all fairness to (mostly) Bob and myself, there was a lot of work between here and there. Not only had the door been nailed shut, the door frame itself had been partially removed and there were odd gaps and openings to fill. Poor Bob had to secure a new 2 x 8 for framing and then discovered that the door itself had warped. He set about shimming and planing and generally refitting the whole mess together. But now it opens! And closes!
He also replaced the knob- for which we had no key- with a nifty handle. Much easier to use and better looking. (Ahem: please ignore that weird exposed cluster of taped up wires. Future project!)

So we've been happily spackling and painting and enjoying going in and out of our new front door. Bob even dragged the lawn furniture over to that side of the house for us to take in the new view:

Now I have to find a home for all the studio stuff that was stacked up beside the cabinet. (Hahaha! Not an easy job as my studio annex is still packed with Mommy's furniture! Yet another project! Onwards and upwards!!)

Fun (Controlled Destruction)

The view from the other side. This is in our (now) living room looking back at the wall that will be the DOOR to my studio from inside the house.. Notice how I carefully and thoughtfully labelled it? The window will be removed and then sealed over with sheet rock, but instead of going all the way to the corner with the door and putting it where the window is, we opted to move more to the center, in part because the electricity that exists as plugs and outlets in under and near the window. This will make re-wiring easier.
Here we are several hours later:

Boy that was fun! All I could think about all day at work was going home and smashing the sheet rock out of the way and exposing whatever was underneath. I discovered we really do have studs! And insulation! (That was reassuring. You can assume you have these things, but never really know.) It was like an at-home of archaeological dig, uncovering the layers and history of our house. And it was fun to whale away at the wall and watch it collapse- quite easily. (I guess that's why people are able to put their fists through their walls when upset or angry. Although that would have to hurt.) I also revealed the fact that our walls are 24" on center, not 16". We'll only have to remove one stud and reinforce the outer studs. There's this interesting temporary reinforcing that we'll have to do to support the wall when installing the new header and side uprights (which have a name that escapes me right now...)
At least we can see what we're doing with the wall board removed. The living room is less a living room with all the furniture stuffed into the other side and the sofa crammed up against the book case. Remember that Sheldon and Louise slept here only a few days ago and now it's a construction site. Progress!

Behind Door Number One...

For those of you who weren't here for dinner the other night, here's a picture of my (small) side studio door. It's actually installed and framed and working!

Here it is from the inside, looking out. (The plastic opening to the left of the door will be my only vertical window). I'm so thrilled; every completion, no matter how big or small, gets me closer to having a studio... and a studio that I designed with windows and doors where I wanted them.
Here's a wider overall studio interior shot:

Our friend Roberta remarked the other night that the vertical striping of studs and the black tar paper made a pleasant pattern. she also observed how good the new lumber smell is! Next stage is the other, double French door- and then real windows.