Post 5: Down to the Studs

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Filled to the brim

The demo bin showed up on Jan 10th at 8am, day one of the renovation. When it arrived, I thought there is no way we are going to fill that. Boy was I wrong! Luckily, the bin was only needed for three days, which was great as no one could use the driveway. One unexpected bonus of the bin was, I was able to get rid of an old red sofa in my office upstairs that I had been wanting to dispose of. The bin looked huge when it arrived, but we filled it to the brim. A few months ago, I got a new front door, so the only thing I was a bit worried about during demo was that my door might get damaged, however it was wrapped up like a present on both sides and happy to report no damage occurred.

It’s all got to go

The crew (3 guys in their 20’s or early 30’s) came shortly after the bin arrived and made quick work of demoing the kitchen. Within an hour all cabinets were removed and the floor in the kitchen, and the baseboards were starting to come up. They also removed a bulkhead to extend the height of my cabinets. I wasn’t removing any walls, so demo was fairly light compared to some jobs. By the end of day one, the kitchen was down to the studs, there was no turning back now! As you can see in the picture below, it was a bit of a mess, but luckily I was covering up my old floors, so they didn’t have to be too careful…yet. The guys were really great to work with. They brought a little radio with them, and I could hear them singing from time to time. I also caught myself singing along to some of their tunes 🙂 They worked hard, but it was cool to see they also had some fun.

Dipping into contingency funds on day 2

On day two of the planned three-week demo period, I was faced with the decision of what to do with my popcorn ceilings. They had been a maybe in my budget and I really wanted to remove them. There wasn’t a good stopping point in my open concept space floor plan, so the ceiling scraping would have to be all o nothing. My budget was already stretched thin, but it was the perfect time to do the work as all my belongings were safely stored away in the basement, and my couch and front door were covered. It was a tough decision as I was eating into my contingency very early on, but I gave the ok and the ceiling scraping began the next day. The whole downstairs was sectioned off with a plastic curtain, it looked like a scene from ET. It was a pain for two-weeks when I needed to leave my house, which didn’t happen too often as the bin was blocking my driveway. It was a messy process, but they protected all my furniture and appliances. I could feel the floors buzzing below my feet when I was in my room. I am so happy I had the popcorn removed and painted the ceilings. It made the entire lower level of my house brighter and it even looks bigger!

More scope creep

I am a Project Manager, so I know all about “scope creep”, but that didn’t stop me from adding a few items I had been wanting to do since I moved into my house five years ago. I had the crew there, and it was too easy to add additional work. The second addition to my scope and budget was moving the thermostat and electrical from the TV wall, so I could remove the eye sore of the three fixtures that were currently there, and finally mount my TV. We discussed adding built-ins, but this was sadly not in my budget. When the electricians came to rough in the electrical, they moved my Nest thermostat to an adjacent wall in the living room and moved the switch that previously controlled my kitchen lights to the adjacent kitchen wall. I am very happy with this decision! Sneak peek of my new flooring below 🙂

Rookie Tip: It is easy to start adding extra work when your crew is on site. Keep your own budget spreadsheet and track all additions or changes throughout your project. Also be sure to get estimates for the additional work, so you don’t get a surprise when your final bill comes in.

Patch, repatch, repeat

One challenge I had was the electrical was already in the wall that the TV was to be mounted on. The plug was going to be repurposed for the TV power, but it was a bit too high to mount the TV on the wall, so I had them lower the plug a bit. This became extra work for the demo crew as it had to be patched two times, I am sure they were ready to kill me over the TV placement. 🙂 I bought a fixed wall mount, which even though is super close to the wall, so close I can’t get my hand behind the TV anymore, I love the slim profile. I had planned to mount my Apple TV box behind the TV, but in the end, we found a way for it to just sit on top of the mount and I can remove it if needed.

Mind the gap

When I bought my couch 4 years ago, I wanted a sectional, so this combined with the TV stand I was using, gave me a really narrow path from my front door to my living room and kitchen. I investigated my crew making me some built-ins, which would have given me a lot more space, but I could not make that work with my budget. Instead, I shopped on my favourite store Wayfair. I found a TV stand with a slimmer profile than my current stand, which would complement my new floors. The new TV stand gives me an extra 7” of walking space. After much searching, I went with this stand. Sand & Stable Florian TV Stand for TVs up to 65″ & Reviews | Wayfair.ca. When the stand was installed, it wasn’t as white as I thought it would be, but I think it looks ok with my ivory carpet and blue couch. I added some décor items from Bouclair to accessorize and I love the look of the wider stand with the TV mounted above.

Rookie TIP: I arranged through my Wayfair order to have someone from Handy come to my place to build the TV stand. Did you know you can do this? It is a reasonable cost. I knew it would be a headache to assemble, and I could not maneuver it myself as it was heavy, so I was very grateful for this service!