What it looks like before








Kids helping









Day 1








End Goal

amazing transformation! love that ceiling in the main photo. much brighter and conversational space now. did you accomplish this over the weekend? :)

Wow, check out that old wiring in the third picture. Haven't seen that since I cut one of those wires putting in a window in the "at the time girlfriends house" now the wife.

The end goal is what I am aiming for Mocha. I am currently still on the day 1 picture as I did that yesterday. And Linden my whole house is riddled with that knob and tube stuff.

Love that trim and the ceiling. Hope you're not painting over that!

Full disclosure, I'm stripping and trying to restore mine right now and it isn't the most fun I've ever had.

fadersup: "Love that trim and the ceiling. Hope you're not painting over that!


Full disclosure, I'm stripping and trying to restore mine right now and it isn't the most fun I've ever had. "

I'm not touching the ceiling. I love working on the house though. It is one of my favorite things to do. Get to learn new stuff.

To clarify the end goal picture is just the cut out in the wall and the double countertop

Night and day.

x2jmorris: Linden my whole house is riddled with that knob and tube stuff."

Is some of that wiring still operational, or is it dead and simply still in the wall?
My wifes house was a mix of old operational wiring and newer stuff.
Took a look at your ceiling, very cool.

LindenTree: "

x2jmorris: Linden my whole house is riddled with that knob and tube stuff."

Is some of that wiring still operational, or is it dead and simply still in the wall?
My wifes house was a mix of old operational wiring and newer stuff.
Took a look at your ceiling, very cool."

Oh it is all operational. At some point someone spliced the main floor and basement but everything upstairs is that crap.

Looks like it will be a really nice change to the flow of your house. We couldn't go full open floor plan during our remodel but just widened the opening between the living room and kitchen and it made a lot of difference.

Before our remodel (full back to the studs) we had all knob and tube wiring. I'm happy that is all gone now, especially because it is all now three-wire and properly grounded.

And I'm really glad you aren't touching those ceilings. Those are gorgeous.

andym: "Looks like it will be a really nice change to the flow of your house. We couldn't go full open floor plan during our remodel but just widened the opening between the living room and kitchen and it made a lot of difference.


Before our remodel (full back to the studs) we had all knob and tube wiring. I'm happy that is all gone now, especially because it is all now three-wire and properly grounded.


And I'm really glad you aren't touching those ceilings. Those are gorgeous."

Yeah Andy I am moving the junction box way up and when I get around to remodeling the upstairs I can further remove the knob and tube.... hard to get to especially when it was all done wrong and I have no idea where it runs through the house.

Wow, you are hard at it. Is the stove staying put or moving somewhere else in the kitchen?

You're doing more than me. I managed to install a new toilet seat today. Well, it is one of those fancy ones that washes your butt. So, it did take an hour or so. And then another hour to read the user manual. And trust me, when you combine water, electronics, and your butt.... knob and tube wiring is not involved.

andym: "Wow, you are hard at it. Is the stove staying put or moving somewhere else in the kitchen?


You're doing more than me. I managed to install a new toilet seat today. Well, it is one of those fancy ones that washes your butt. So, it did take an hour or so. And then another hour to read the user manual. And trust me, when you combine water, electronics, and your butt.... knob and tube wiring is not involved."

Stove is staying put but I need one that is flat. I am putting a new counter in that will run to the stove and replace that cutting board. Then I will have a 6-8 inch wall behind the stove/counter and then another narrow counter top.

Kind of like this picture Just add a flat range in there like this

Day 3 and 4






And the pipe turned out to be rotted so I replaced it on that floor which.... caused it to loosen in the floor below









The good news is that the pipe turns to pvc rather quickly so it is actually a good thing this happened now.

That doesn't look good.

podgeo: "That doesn't look good. "

You don't like the cabinet/shelf with counter?

Sorry I was talking about the picture with the insulation on the floor

podgeo: "Sorry I was talking about the picture with the insulation on the floor "

Ah yeah but I was going to do something similar anyways to make sure that pipe was good all the way down. So yeah sucks how it happened but it would have been a similar action done later anyways.

Bummer about the pipe and extra work. That sort of thing seems to happen a lot with projects.

I like the way the kitchen is looking. Nice and open for conversation but the counters aren’t exposed. I like that because you can sit down for dinner and not see any mess left over from cooking.

We still have a stove with a rise at the back for controls. But we ran the backsplash behind it in case we switch to a counter level one.

andym: "Bummer about the pipe and extra work. That sort of thing seems to happen a lot with projects.


I like the way the kitchen is looking. Nice and open for conversation but the counters aren’t exposed. I like that because you can sit down for dinner and not see any mess left over from cooking.


We still have a stove with a rise at the back for controls. But we ran the backsplash behind it in case we switch to a counter level one."

Oh you did something similar? Yeah we also decided to keep the stove for now. Doesn't look too bad and I like the idea of just putting the backsplash in just in case. Never even thought of the hiding the dishes during dinner but I can see that. The plan is to leave it as is for now and see what we think in a couple weeks as far as colors and materials go.

We think maybe have a wood bar countertop and a quartz kitchen.. but that might look weird so maybe both quartz or granite. Cabinets might stain a darker color but maybe the color of the floor? Lots of ideas but waiting until we are certain.

We didn’t go open floor plan like yours. Our stove is still against the wall under a microwave/hood. We just planned the backsplash for future compatibility with any stove. We didn’t want to be caught in 10 or more years wondering where the rest of the backsplash material got stored.

I guess the question with the bar top is whether it matches more with the kitchen or the dining room. But boy, colors are the thing you can just get really complex.

Actually we are sort of open floor plan in that our kitchen got big enough to include a large nook with our old dining room table. We gave up on a table in our living/dining room. Our piano is going where the table used to be. So it will be more music/living room.