the river house #3: demo day...

If you love the HGTV show Fixer Upper like we do, you know exactly what "demo day" is.  Except that "demo day" is a 2 minute video clip on TV, but here in the real world, it's a day here, a day there, another day here, another week there....

Thankfully, there's not very much IN the River House to demo- no cabinetry, no plumbing or fixtures, no electricity- just a ton of old plaster and lathe boards off the walls and ceilings of the original house.  (the addition in the back of the house is obviously new construction and ready for drywall)

I feel like Joanna Gaines as I tell you this wall from the kitchen will be gone and open up into the large 24'x24' great room that looks out onto the James River. (eek!  I'm so excited!)  It's dark in there now because we'll get to design and put in all new windows, drywall, flooring, you name it.  

(Oh, and I am now the proud owner of around 18 antique radiators of all sizes and shapes if anyone's in the market for them... they weigh a TON, so if you're willing to take them off our hands, you can have them!)  

If you look closely, you may be able to see two steel support beams in the middle of the great room.  Those beams are what has slowed us down as we've had to hire a structural engineer to figure out how to move those supports out to the edges of the room.  Hopefully they'll be outta there next week!

My husband is a stud.  Literally.

It is no small job, but an incredibly FUN one to demo!  Even the ceilings have to be torn out.  We are attempting to keep and restore the original historic trim in the process, so that adds to the time element.  I should say that if any of you are interested in working out some of your aggressions with a sledge hammer, have we got the job for you...

I was so curious to see what it would look like under the plaster on the chimney.  That's where the stove will be in my new kitchen design.  Would there be old brick we could restore and leave exposed?

YES, there is!  Hooray!  This design just got even cooler.

The old temporary electric pole is now gone and no longer needed.   We've got power!  

Our neighbors purchased a portion of the adjacent lot from us, and they're excitedly working on a cute fence in between our houses now.  Our kids are friends with their kids, and they're putting in a gate so the kids can go back and forth between the yards freely.

Until next time!