This is what we do on a random Sunday…..

I’ve always wanted to open up our stairway wall in the foyer. It just seemed a little too dark.

Convincing my husband to do it was another story.

(Enter the new golf clubs…..)

This is how it looked when standing in the dining room, looking through the foyer to what will be my sitting room (and next project).

Brian had already removed the trim by the time I thought to grab my camera.

This was the view from the sitting room. The sitting room used to be the dining room and the dining room used to be the formal living room. The sitting room is smaller and since I usually have 10 to 15 for dinner when entertaining and we get more use out of an actual dining room, we switched the rooms soon after buying the house.



The sitting room (old dining room) has just been an extra room, a pass through, if you will.



I want to redo the room and put in my grams old couch and make it a room for me to curl up with a good book and be left alone (wishful thinking) but before I could do that, I wanted the wall down.



There was electric in the wall, which would prove to be a bit more challenging than we had anticipated, since the wires were run both up AND down and ran right through the header.



Brian and I took the wall down in less than an hour. That was the easy part. And it was fun too – I love me some demolition.







And now he’s trying to figure out how to deal with the electric. After throwing several breakers, and thinking we had the current turned off to the light switches and thermostat, Brian realized the hard way that one light switch was still hot.

I realized it when I heard a loud

“OUCH! M&^%(&*^% F(&%$^)(!!!”

The breaker boxes weren’t marked clearly. So we shut down the power in the whole house.

I should note that it was 20 degrees outside and our heat was off.

By 3 o’clock it was COLD.

While he tried to figured out what to do with the electric
(which entailed a lot of moaning and cursing about how the HE!! he was supposed to get those F*&^%#&% wires through the holes in the header and out and run back down and install a F*&^%#&% Junction Box and DAMMIT SHIT HELL!) I calmly suggested calling my dad.

Dad suggested the if it was his house he would run the wires and junction box himself.

But he wouldn’t feel comfortable doing it in someone else’s house.

More cursing ensued.

I calmly suggested calling an electrician.

Brian quickly agreed.

Sometimes you just have know when to call in a professional.

And when it comes to electric and plumbing, I’m willing to pay.



The wall is down! We were able to save all the trim and several perfectly good 2x4’s, which will come in handy when we decide what to do with the stairs.

Notice the wires hanging through a 2x4 which is suspended in mid-air.



Brian was able to get the wires through that 2x4. It’s the header in the ceiling which caused the major issue.



Monday morning at 8:30 the electrician showed up. The company is one of Brian's customers at work, so they came right out (this is one of those “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” times).

After SIX hours, a junction box was installed in my bedroom and the switches were moved.



Here’s what it looks like now from the sitting room into the foyer and dining room.



Dining room to sitting room.



I’m amazed at how much BIGGER it makes everything look.



It’s so open and bright….

So, just recap, we went from this:

To this….

And from this:

To this:

Next up?
Figuring out what to do with the stairs. I’ll explain next time.

I have drywall dust to clean up.