Bustin' Walls

The final inspection is complete. The appraiser is satisfied with our wall repairs. Now it's time. Time for the real deal. The whole nine yards...or some amount of inches. 

We took out part of the wall in the kitchen! Eventually, it will be a bar area to open up the living/dining room. This way, we can be in two separate rooms and still hang out. Oh, and it would be good for guests.

But that's not all. There's more walls to be busted here.

I came into the house on Monday, knowing that I would be ready to take out the wall between two bedrooms. I had never done that before. But, I have always seen pretty little ladies on HGTV with safety glasses and sledge hammers pretending to take down a section of a house; and they would giggle so cutely the entire time. Then, other people would probably come to clean up the debris. That looked easy enough. 

Obviously, I was not qualified.

I held my hammer, looking at the wall. I had no idea where to start. Cody told me where the studs were, and that I shouldn't hit them. (I also know what studs are. Go me!)

"Just hit it anywhere between those two spots," he told me. Still, how do you just take a weapon to a clean wall? 

I stood there with my arm ready to swing, hammer in hand. I must have second guessed myself too many times, because Cody took the shot. 

"You just have to go for it," he said.

"Okay," I replied, probably timidly, "I can do that." No big deal, right?

So. I spent the next few hours getting over my nervousness and we took out the entire wall. Just in case you need proof, here's the before and after:

Before

After

 

Impressive, right? AND, the results still look like some kind of HGTV project. 

Despite the hesitation, I loved it. Here are the things I learned about knocking out walls:

• Hitting a wall with a hammer can be pretty relaxing.
• The relief of hitting things lasts for a short while. After 15 minutes, it's just work.
• But, ripping out a really huge piece of the drywall all at once is very satisfying.
• Drywall clings to nails around the studs. Those pieces that stay behind are really annoying.
• Anticipating cleanup after taking out walls will give a person anxiety.

And most important...

• After all of that work, knowing what was there before, and seeing the entire open room will give you the best feeling.