Wall Progress: The Opening of all Openings

Here was the plan:

On day one while I was sitting at jury duty, this happened:

Here they are building out the header.. when it was all framed out I started to understand the plan even more.

All framed up:

The next day they got it all drywalled and one coat of mud put up. I just can't get over how open this has made the house already. The header is going to house the two pendant lights that came in from Ballard Designs. And the butcher block countertop is going to rest on the cabinets that are going into the nook that has been created by the little half wall that was built. 

Here you can also see the switch that was put in for the pendant lights. Jeff also installed an outlet over on the side: perfect for crockpots, smoothie making, and juicing. 

Looking down you can see the notch on the right where the butcher block is going to go. 

Here's a shot of the heating vent that is going to get routed through the toe kick of the wall cabinets that are going to get installed.

All that is left is a round of sanding, mudding, sanding, painting, toe kick platform building, heater vent running, cabinet install, pendant light install, and then countertop install.

We are also taking the opportunity to install can lights in the living room and kitchen. Which means that the light box in the kitchen is finally getting removed.

So, I've got a math riddle for you (cough, cough, Ashley, cough): we need 64 linear inches of cabinets. We originally assumed that we would get two 32 inch cabinets, but wouldn't you know it.... Lowe's and HD and everyone else only carry 30s or 33s. So, math people, what combination of cabinets could we get to have 64 linear inches of cabinet love using these widths:

• 9 
• 12 
• 15 
• 18 
• 21 
• 23.5
• 24 
• 27 
• 30 
• 33 
• 36 

Oh, and I already know we could a 33 and a 21, but I think that would look lopsided and silly. I'd like some combo of two smaller flanking a larger one. May the math gods be with you!

We Hung Upper Cabinets!

By ourselves! Yesterday, I showed y'all how we stenciled this bumpy little laundry room wall. I love how it looks, but we needed to add some storage back into this space.

Once we got to this point on Saturday, we brainstormed weather to go with shelves or cabinets. LB kept coming back to the thought that having a hanging bar would be great, but that he wanted to minimize visible clutter.  The only way I really saw us going with these requirements was to install cabinets. The decision was made and the following shopping list was assembled.

We headed out into the snow torrent, and found these cabinets at Home Depot for $79 each and decided to just do it (like Nike).

We also picked up these anchors. The HD guys told us that each one of these screws holds 100 pounds each so that even if we couldn't find a stud (we couldn't) these would keep our cabinets super secure.

To get them in the right spots, LB held up the cabinets on the wall and I pre-drilled the holes using a really small bit.  The holes needed to go through the cabinets  and into the wall so that we would know where the anchors needed to go in the wall.

LB got the screws pre-prepped for me after we had marked our holes. 

And LB drilled the wall holes a little larger so he could hammer in the anchors (the green things). 

He held the cabinet back up, I placed the level inside and along the side of the cabinet, and we screwed it right on in. 

We did it to the other cabinet on the other side and re-attached the doors! BADABOOM! 

The tension bar was then put up between the cabinets. We then reattached the dryer vent and realized that we had a problem: the vent prohibited us from opening the right cupboard even a little bit. So our new solution for a next step (to be done a month or so from now) is to feed the vent up through the cabinet and out that way. We were over this project and all of the arm overhead extending happening currently, so we just left it for now and are using the left cabinet. When we have recovered, we will drill three giant holes: 2 through the bottom and top of the cabinet and one into the ceiling to feed the vent up and out of the way.

Oh! And I switched out the art work and put the laundry LOVE print outside of the laundry room instead of covering even more stencil on the back wall. I am bummed that the cabinets are hiding so much of the stencil, but I still love the way that it looks.

Even after a whole weekend spent doing this project we've got things left to do:

• Paint the floor
• Change the light fixture
• A butcher block counter top for the top of the washer and dryer
• Re-route the dryer vent through the cabinet

The good news is that we got the light fixture and some other storage up yesterday, so we're not done in here yet!