The Knockdown Part Two

Knocking down walls, part two.

It’s become apparent that Brett and I love taking down walls. Maybe it’s because it gives you almost instant gratification. Or maybe it’s because it doesn’t require any money. Or maybe we like opening up space to see what we have to work with. Regardless of the reasoning behind this love affair, one thing is certain; there is no day like demo day.

Which brings me to our latest update – we’ve removed a few more walls.

Several weeks ago, on a random night, we were having one of our never-ending chats about what to do with the house and tossed around the idea of re-configuring the mudroom and guest bedrooms. After talking it over, mapping it out on paper and doing some rough measurements, we thought this new layout might work pretty well. The added bonus to this new plan? It required us tearing down a few more walls.

It’s challenging to tell you about what we are doing to the house without an overview of the floor plan. So before I dive into the new ideas we have, I’d like to take a step back and show you a rough outline of the original layout.

Please be warned it is not to scale and is only intended to give you a general idea of the house.

Okay, back to the new plan. Here’s what we are changing:

• Make the office three feet wider
• Move the mudroom to the east side of the house, where the guest bedroom used to be
• Move the guest bedroom so it shares a wall with the office
• Remove the guest closet and linen closet
• Close off the guest bedroom doorway to the guest bathroom

So last Saturday, bright and early, we started swinging the hammers and tearing down walls. Shout out to Jenny for helping us with the knockdown!

Now that the dust has settled and the sheet rock taken away, we can finally see the open space and have a better understanding of what we have to work with.

As of today, the plan is still the same. However, this brings a new set of challenges. The space in the above picture between the bookcase to your left and the door to your right has been a head-scratcher since we moved in. It’s ‘dead space.’ It doesn’t really serve a purpose or have any use. It’s too wide for a hallway, doesn’t have any windows or pretty scenery to showcase and is actually a little awkward.

We’ve talked about making a bookcase and having a reading nook. Or adding a fireplace and having it be more of a relaxing area.

The other idea is to somehow incorporate the stairs, because right now they are on the opposite side of the house’s two main entrances.

As I am writing all this out, it finally dawns on me. When one project is finished, five more seem to creep right up. Funny how that works, huh?

Well, regardless of the ‘dead space,’ we’re moving forward with the office, guest bedroom and mudroom layout and we’re hoping to get the walls up by the end of April. Until then, we’re focusing on finishing up the other little projects around the house and getting ready for spring!

All our best,