Closet demo: Part 1

8.11.2009

What a project weekend! It was great, and i must say, i am really enjoying these DIY home projects. I guess that is what happens when you are forced to figure it out on your own, rather than pay someone to come and do it! I have learned a ton though and they start to become a labor of love, much like my print design work.

Some of you might remember my post about wanting to open up the closet in the nursery because of the lack of space in that room. Well, we started this weekend, and it is looking good. As usual, we underestimated how long it would take and the mess involved. Thank goodness it was cool in good ol' NY. It took about 4 hours just to demolish and pull apart the wood work without ruining it. Our house is just shy of 100 years old and has the most beautiful original woodwork. We wanted to keep that and reuse as much as we could when pulling apart the closet.


This is what we started with:




It was fun to pull it apart, but like i said tedious because not only were we trying to save as much trim as possible, but the house is so old, that it is made of plaster and lathe. (good times i tell you)! The walls were so fragile, and yes, i accidentally went through a few times and had to patch.






Clemens wanted to see what was going on and kept trying to get close, but decided he would chill in the hallway before the vacuum got him!



Yay! We have the new closet opening!



The one thing we have to deal with though is filling in the hardwood where the frame was. This is the one part where we just might have to hire someone.



After spending about 1.5 hours in Lowe's, we got pieces of trim that are so close to what was there. Years ago, trim was built in large sections. Since so much is pre-fab now, and we need to match as close as possible to what was there, we have to re-create ours. Here is the start:





So all we have left to do is finish up the trim making the corner pieces and paint white. Then... the fun begins of putting some color on this bland wall!


We have finally selected our paint.
| source: Benjamin Moore - Robin's Nest #618 |






Hope everyone is having a superb day!

9 comments:

Stephanie said...

Totally impressed! Your nursery is going to be envied by many! :) We are picking colors this weekend for ours. Yay!

The818 said...

Looks great! I love the color you chose.

nikinikinine said...

John Bergan is our contractor. He shows up on time, his prices are fair (labor is $50 an hour plus materials) all work is discussed up front. He's clean cut, loves pets and can be trusted alone in your house. He's done every house project we've had (including our hardwoods). Tell him we sent you :)

518-369-9298

Rebecca said...

@ stephanie - thanks so much! I can't wait to see yours too.

@818 - thanks so much! It is going to have some hints of the lime green, similar to yours.

@ niki - THANK YOU! It is always so hard to find someone you can trust to do a good job. Although small, i think it could be tricky.

Wendy said...

I am very impressed!! That closet is going to be so nice.

I like the color you picked - very nice!

Hoity Toity Baby said...

You're so handy you two! And skinny! What's your secret? Swingin' sledge hammers around?

Jess LC said...

I love that color! I can't wait to see what it looks like in the finished space :).

Anonymous said...

Your house is plaster like ours was huh? We gutted ours out and replaced it with sheetrock and insulated the walls - can you believe...no insulation?
- Kay

Rebecca said...

@ anon..yes, plaster and lathe= BIG mess and hard to renovate, but we did it, and it looks great! Look for updates soon!

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