January 16, 2015

Remodel Initiated

After about four months on the road, Ava and I finally landed in Missoula, MT in early January.  Since then, we've been busy starting a complete kitchen remodel project along with a few other "adjustments".  The existing kitchen is sub-beautiful and has three small, ugly doors through which access can be obtained.  We are changing this to one ugly door and one 6-ft wide opening (technically through the dining room).  The before pictures are below.

1978 vintage kitchen sans range

Closet/pantry on the right is getting obliterated

At least the doors match the cabinets

My biggest project to date has been taking out a wall and the aforementioned closet to create a 6-ft wide opening from the living room to the dining room, complete with robust 2x8 header.


After a fair bit of work and steady acquisition of tools, I decided I needed a workbench.  Using mostly 2x4's donated by the previous wall and closet, I constructed one in the basement.  Future projects should prove much less awkward, and tools much easier to find.


We've got about a month left before I leave on a 3-month NOLS course, so we'll see how much progress we can make before then.  I'll try to post periodic updates as milestones are reached during the process.

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