This Olde House - Part 1

Labor Day is supposed to be celebrated mainly as a day of rest and marks the symbolic end of summer for many. At Chateau McDougal, it marked the beginning of This Olde House. A project to overhaul our living and dining rooms, and to re-do the floors in the dining room and kitchen.

The first Before Pic shows an example of 1) the red paint in the living room, 2) the wood panel lurking under the red paint, 3) the Little House On The Prairie molding that trimmed and cased everything and cleverly accentuated the freakshow red wood panels. IT ALL HAS TO GO!

The second Before Pic shows the white wooden panels in the dining room and the thick wood trim. That ceiling fan is out of there, too. And it doesn't show, but the floor is almost three inches lower in this area. I'll probably have to get it filled with cement and finished to be level with the kitchen and living room. Maybe I can convince Cindy I have cement finishing skills? Well, maybe not.

The third Before Pic is looking from the dining room into the living room. Notice the red wood panel walls? Won't be with us much longer. The trim around the everything? Next on the list. Once the walls are pretty and there is new molding, I'll send those two old school ceiling fans packing. First, though, I'm going to demo the left side archway in the picture and expand it to at least ten feet, maybe twelve. Right now it is only six feet of opening, and it constricts the space. I'm gonna open it up. Let some more light shine through.

* * *

Several hours later. The first After Pic. We've removed all of the trim (Liam was a huge help. He hauled all the pieces outside after I ripped them up.) And we tore down the wood panels on the entryway. That's my Dad on the left. He's measuring to see how wide we can safely make the gap. Thankfully, it is not a load-bearing wall.

That's my Mom on the right. Not sure what she's up to at the moment. But most of her day was spent cleaning up our multitude of messes and bringing us Powerade.

And the second After Pic is looking from the living room toward the dining room. Meg wanted to contribute, so I use here she is. Shortly there after, the wooden studs on the right were removed and the 2 x 10s overhead with them went with them.

It is hard to see, but my father re-wired all of the light switches. For example, the switches to the left of Meg used to to be on only one side of the wall and controlled the ceiling fan in the dining room. Now, there's one switch in each room and each switch has a really cool LED that faintly shines in the dark, so it is easier to find them at night.

And we more doubled the number of electric outlets in both rooms. There used to be only 3 outlets in the living room. Now there are eight. There used to be only two in the dining room. But now there are four. Now we don't have to hunt for power and string extension cords across the floor.

So much for my long, relaxing weekend!