More Kitchen Remodel Pictures
I’ve been working like an obsessed fool every day on the house since Maria and the boys left. Monday was the craziest – I put in 8 hours straight after coming home from work, and almost as many hours yesterday. I’ve been doing electrical wiring inside the walls, and putting up drywall. Today a couple guys came to tape and apply joint compound to the drywall. That was the main reason for my working so frantically – I had already delayed them one day, and I couldn’t delay them any longer without having to reschedule for another week. My last minute decision to wire the kitchen for speakers in the ceiling didn’t help 
The most interesting part of the work was adding the entryway from the kitchen pantry into the living room. I did the initial cut on the living room side with my jigsaw. I wanted it to match the shape of the entryway on the opposite wall of the pantry, so I made a template of its curved top that I then used as an outline for my jigsaw. Then on the kitchen side I opened up the wall more, so I could add framing support around the new opening. I had to then chisel out the excess plaster on the inside of the wall cavity, so that I could fit in new 2x4s. In this case it’s a good thing modern 2x4s are actually 1 1/2 by 3 1/2. The original framing used actual full 2x4s – since the new ones are smaller, it made it possible for me to wiggle them between each side of the old lathe in the walls. I then attached every 5th piece of old lathe to the new 2x4s (with shims to make up for the slight size difference) to make sure the old plaster doesn’t come loose over time.
I wanted to do all this myself because a contractor would have started by just ripping down a big section of the wall, so as to avoid all the nuances. But the original plaster is in good shape, and I wanted to preserve its appearance as much as possible, especially in the living room.
Drywalling the inside of the curve along the top was a challenge, as drywall doesn’t bend much. I used slightly thinner drywall (3/8 inch instead of 1/2 inch) and then cut a series of slits along the back of it, about 1/2 inch apart. This allowed it to crack on the slits, but only on the back side, presenting a curve on the front side. The guys who came today messed up part of it though. When they added a corner bead they lost the curve on one side (it’d be more acceptable if it was at least symmetrically messed up!). They said that the right way to do this is with plaster, not drywall. They’re probably right, but paying a lot for someone to come do a small plaster job like this doesn’t make sense. I’m hoping I can work with them tomorrow to fix it (they did a decent job on one side, so it’s not impossible).
So here are some more pictures of the kitchen work, with detailed captions (click to see them). Pictures of the living room, sunroom, and landscaping are coming soon…
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