It's Fun to Break Things

This weekend we started serious demolition.  We ripped out the kitchen and the master bath.  I'm not gonna lie- it was fun but it was really tough.  I've never been a person who likes to break things. For instance, I never understand why rockstars trash fancy hotel rooms (drugs) or why some people can get mad enough to punch through a wall (drugs) or how an otherwise calm giant lizard could wreak havoc on an Asian nation (rhymes with pugs) but I do understand the pleasure of completely demolishing a disgusting, outdated house.  It's pretty awesome. 

The work itself is easy, lots of bashing with a sledgehammer, but a 10 pound sledgehammer gets unbelievably heavy after swinging it over your head a few dozen times.  I started out all fired up, full of Redbull and moxy, but after an hour of kitchen demo I was ready for a nap. I passed the buck in a big way this weekend.  I started out strong but was reduced to pointing and mumbling by the end. I got through a good portion of the kitchen before tapping out.

I removed all the doors and bashed out the upper cabinets and some of the lowers.  Then Louis took over and knocked out the rest! 

The only thing left is the sink because no matter how hard we tried, we could not find the second water shut off valve.  Part of the minty overhang is still there because it's housing a few electrical wires that we didn't want hanging over the sink.  Other than that, we killed it. RIP mint kitchen. You had a good run. 

My favorite part was watching the glass wall go.  It was like watching the end of an era.  

It put up a fight- wouldn't budge, spitting glass shards at us, being super heavy and generally awkward, the list goes on.

Wicked little glass shards just daring me to drop my guard! There was glass everywhere by the time we were done.  We loosened the top and kicked it over.  Then we had to cut the gel sealant lines between rows of blocks and heave them all into the dumpster. 

In the midst of all of this, our lovely neighbor from next door came by and brought us brownies. Brownies! I swear I heard a harp playing when she walked in.  We gave her a tour of the place, MINUS showing her all the mice mummies we found behind the dishwasher, said our thank you's and goodbyes to her and then ate brownies in silence before resuming the destruction.  

Then as I was running out to grab a big trash can from Home Depot, a place I'm so familiar with now that I can tell you where to find just about anything, a little dog came walking up to us out of nowhere! 

It was obvious that the little thing was exhausted from its adventure so we got it some water and then read its collar. Sophie had gone on quite the journey from a few properties behind us and her mom was very relieved that we called, there's a somewhat busy street in front of our house and everyone was happy that she hadn't made it that far! 

I'm really pleased that our neighbors are turning out to be lovely people! You never know when you're out in the country- we find shell casings all over the place from where the previous owners of our house shot randomly all over the property.  It seems like every neighbor we meet is happy they're gone. I wonder if they'll feel the same when we have massive bonfires, slip n' slides and outdoor movie nights where Anchorman may or may not be playing on loop.  I think if I give away enough produce in the summer we can get away with it! 

Demo-ing the bathroom was a perfect project for day two.  Those tiles hopped off the wall like they'd been waiting to be put out of their misery for decades!  I barely had to tap the walls with my hammer.  Because that bathroom went out in such a classy way, I'd like to pay tribute- 

"In Remembrance" 

Master Bath

1965-2010

("It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday" is playing softly)

You didn't care that your tiles clashed with the flooring, you had gumption, I'll give you that. 

The blue-ish carpet around the bottom of your sink really pulled the room together.

Your medicine cabinet was disgusting and the light above it had an inch of dust on top BUT...

that didn't stop you from offering to hold a toothbrush- polite to the end AND furthermore...

you were ready for any dixie cups that needed to be stored. Classy. 

 

If only you had a shard of soap for me...PERFECT! That looks like Irish Spring, my fave! 

  

Lastly, you had a scented toilet paper roll. It's the little things. 

Perhaps the best overlooked convenience was the compact design.  Only 1-2 inches separated your bathroom needs.  Shower/toilet/sink- all within 3 feet. Perfection. 

  PS: That's actually a really nice and brand new Kholer toilet that I'll be selling on craigslist this week.  We're getting dual flush toilets or I'd keep it.

After a moment of silence, I started bashing away.  

Elapsed time for the picture above was about 3 minutes! Best of all- I figured out why there's a water damage spot on the ceiling downstairs-

 When I got to the area around the soapdish, my hammer broke through the wall. Apparently there had been a leak between tiles for quite some time and the wall was completely rotten. I guess no one ever re-grouted or sealed after 1965.

While I was saying good bye to big blue, the kitchen got worked to the studs.  We discovered that the back kitchen wall is only separated from the bedroom behind it by 2inches of air between drywall. No sound insulation, nothing! That drywall was so old we could have punched right through it.  

Then it was time for the partition walls in the master bedroom. BEFORE:

AFTER:

 It really opened the room up to take both down.  An interesting thing happened when the second one was being demolished...

When you're a kid you get excited to find a toy inside a box of cereal, when you'd an adult you get to find things like an old staple gun inside a partition wall frame!! 

 This is the construction equivalent to a doctor leaving scissors inside a patient.  We almost couldn't believe it. That wall was a fake wood paneling time capsule of sorts. Best thing is- we needed a staple gun!

Next came tackling doors.  There are a LOT of awful doors in that house along with narrow door frames. This is what we do to narrow door frames where we come from. 

 

Yup, we busted them all out/I planted some seeds in seedling starter cases while they got busted out. I'd reached the pointing and mumbling stage by then. 

It was 60 degrees and sunny today- the time for planting is upon me!  I don't think I'll be able to plant enough to sell at local farmer's markets this summer but I'm going to try.  I ordered a shocking amount of seeds and have started my seedlings.  I'm looking to buy a smaller greenhouse this week just to use to start seeds and for personal use/growing flowers after.  I'll buy big ones to put on that concrete slab out back for year-round produce before next winter. 

I'm also looking to fence in a good portion of land behind the house for a big garden -something really basic like posts and wire fencing just to deter deer and rabbits.  We're going to take a stab at putting the fence up ourselves so that'll be an interesting task.  I'm going to work on some aerial plans before we do anything.  I need to leave room for moving the mobile chicken coop around. 

I'm pretty excited to build that chicken coop.  It's going to be structured after Tara.  I think the eggs will taste better because of it! Chicken coops and chickens will be a whole other entry but here are a few pictures of designer coops so you know I'm not the only person who wants one. www.backyardchickens.com is a cool site if you ever thought about raising some of your own! 

A lighthouse looking chicken coop.

A chicken McMansion.

A greenroofed coop! People are so creative.