I knocked down the wall between the kitchen and living room to open the main floor into one space. Cut a structural opening, set a header, framed for double doors and pocket doors where I wanted to keep some separation, and re-drywalled the whole field with green board because of the lake humidity. A lot of the cottage trim was hand-painted plywood from the previous owner — I cut that out and reframed clean openings.
-
During Looking through the new opening into the kitchen with green board stacked for the patch-in.
-
During Miter saw set up on the new floor while I cut trim for the reframed openings.
-
During Table saw and ladder mid-room while I demo'd the old finishes near the window.
-
During Cutting up the previous owner's hand-painted plywood mural so I could haul it out clean.
-
During Drywall stacked, sawdust everywhere — the middle of the job is always the ugliest.
-
During Subfloor exposed near the stairwell after I pulled the old finish flooring up.
-
During Track saw set up on Flintstones-painted plywood I'd repurposed as sawhorse tops.
-
During Miter saw island in the middle of the room. Faster to bring the saw to the cuts than the cuts to the saw.
-
During Demo debris on one side, new flooring boxes on the other. That's the changeover point.
-
During Trim staged in the new opening between rooms. Green board surround already up.
-
During Looking from the kitchen through the new framed opening into the main living space.
-
During New closet wall framed and rocked, bypass doors hung.
-
During Walls stripped to the studs while I figured out which ones were carrying load.
-
During Header in. That used to be a load-bearing wall between living room and kitchen.
-
During Green board hung on the new framing with the opening to the next room cut clean.
-
During Header casing clamped while the glue set on a wide doorway trim.
-
During Double shaker doors hung in the new opening. Wanted the option to close it off when needed.
-
During Sliding barn doors set in the kitchen opening so the rooms could read together or split.
-
During Pocket door framing ready to receive the doors. Header had to handle both halves.
-
During Door casing clamped on while the adhesive caught.
-
During Tin snips and a tape — measuring out metal corner trim before bending it in.
-
During Door openings prepped, seams taped — almost done with the rough-finish stage.
-
During Buckets and a ladder by the new doorway while I worked the corners.
-
During Tools staged in the next room while this one finished out. Always working two rooms at once.
-
During Mudded out and waiting on sanding. Big jump from where this room started.
-
During Patching the drywall where I'd enlarged the doorway between rooms.
-
During Open kitchen and living working as one. Miter saw in the middle, everything mid-finish.
-
During Mudding around a cut-in for what would become a niche.
-
During Fresh mud around the new doorway. Buckets and trowels still out, waiting on the next coat.
-
During First ceiling paint going on with the stone fireplace room visible through the new opening.
-
After Patched ceiling above the doorway shows blend marks before the topcoat hides them.
-
During Looking through the new doorway with both rooms in active prep at the same time.
-
During Drywall, mud buckets, drop cloths — the finish stage for the whole main floor.
-
During New ceilings in, stone fireplace visible through the open plan I'd just cut.
-
During Staircase landing buried under tools and material — middle of the job for the whole house.
-
During New double-hung in the gable wall, mudded into the surrounding patch.
-
During Gable window framed in clean drywall, primer seams taped.
-
During Miter saw, table saw, dust collection — set up to run trim across the whole floor in one push.
-
During Built-in alcove framed, mudded, screws spotted. Going to be a niche when it's done.
-
During Floor protection covered in mud dust. Means the room is finally close.
-
During Patched ceiling above the window, fresh compound waiting on paint.
-
During About a dozen tubes of caulk staged for the trim run on the new built-in.
-
During Debris bags and salvaged lumber piled by the stone fireplace before the next haul-off.
-
During Repointing the stone fireplace. Shop vac on the mantel for cleanup as I went.
-
During Bedroom mudded out with the subfloor exposed and old baseboard heater still hooked up.
-
During New hydronic baseboard installed against fresh drywall before flooring went down.
-
During Shimmed the heater up on quartz scraps so the new floor would slide under without binding.
-
During Heater reinstalled along the patched wall. Subfloor's open until flooring delivery.
-
During PVC trim staged on the bench while I masked the green walls for cut-in paint.
-
During Skim-coated and painted ceiling above the kitchen cabinets. Patches blended in.
-
During Suited up in Tyvek and a respirator for sanding day. Drywall dust gets into everything.
-
During Covered head to toe in drywall dust after a long sanding session. Respirator earned its keep.
Want a Plan for Your Project?
Send photos and a few sentences. I'll send back a written diagnostic — what's broken, what it'll cost, and what to DIY vs. hire. $9.99, in your inbox in minutes.
Get a Diagnostic Report — $9.99 →