-
Ernst Family, Tear Down Those Walls
Extreme Home Makeover: Ernstopia Edition Who hasn’t watched “Extreme Home Makeover” and wanted to just throw a sledge hammer through a wall? I know I have and although we didn’t have a sledge hammer the crowbar is equally gratifying!We saw no need to pay a bunch of construction workers to come over and tear out the kitchen when we had three willing and able kids who would do it for free! I might venture to say they would even pay us to rip out more walls! As you can guess, they loved every minute of it! Not wanting to be left out of the fun, I hopped up on the…
-
Good-Bye Old Stove
Demo day three and now it’s starting to get serious. I packed up my dishes, spices and vitamins from the upper cupboards and watched as the guys tore out the cabinets. There’s no turning back…we are officially ripping out major parts of our kitchen…like this old wall oven. I think this oven officially qualifies as vintage…and not the good kind of vintage. Besides the smaller interior, this oven boasts a sill operational flip-down clock. I’m certain that’s not the official name, but you know the kind I’m talking about. It’s not a clock with hands, it’s not digital, the numbers actually flip down as each minute or hour passes. It’s…
-
The Wall Comes Tumbling Down
And just like that the wall is gone! It’s hard to see in the picture, but the amount of light that we get in the kitchen now that the wall is gone…why didn’t we do this sooner?? Both rooms are significantly brighter. What looks like a total mess is actually a significant improvement. This was a huge step in confirming that our decision to open the space was the right choice. I don’t even mind the mess. Honestly, we are just amazed at what a huge difference this makes!
-
And So It Begins…
Somebody pinch me!!! We just started ripping the kitchen wall apart, a messy job for sure. With our initial design in hand, we knew how we wanted the kitchen to look visually, but we needed to answer some questions first before we could put our plan into action. In order to open up the wall permanently, we need to determine if the studs were weight bearing or not, so Dan decided to make an exploratory hole in the wall to locate the studs. Once it was determined they were weight bearing, we had two options: leave the studs where they were or move them to the outer edges to be…
-
Planning Stage: Addressing the Problem Areas
Anytime you invest in a remodel it is vital that you address the problem areas and come up with workable solutions. This was where we spent the bulk of our time in the first 6 months prior to demolition. We spent a long time up front developing a plan that addressed these issues and solved our problems. Okay, so I just need to get this out there before I go any further. I feel conflicted about what I’m about to say. On one hand, this is a perfectly great kitchen, it has a nice long counter, adequate storage and serves my family well. I should be perfectly happy, right?…but then…
