Adventures In Header Replacement

So as we got closer to having all the drywall hung we realized that it was time to do something about the sag in the header over the opening between the dining room and living room.

Not so easy to see above but here you can below.

At nine feet long and about and inch of sag in the middle we had to fix it.
Hmm the trim was level... because of the nice stack of shims...

So we were offered some help by friend Scott Craig (who by the way if you were at our wedding... made the incredible chocolate coffee beet cup wedding cakes).
We built temporary walls on either side to... er hold up the... uh ceiling.

Yes. This is me saying 'Now you are sure this will work?'

The answer is yes, with a BIG new beam .

The next few bits of this project we were not able to take pictures...
mostly because our hands were rather full.

The gist of it was cutting the old beam out. (for a good laugh everyone 'hid' behind the kitchen wall and gave me a 'very insuring thumbs up' while a cut through the old beam). My dad and I built the new beam and put it up with the help of a rather large sledge hammer.


New beam up, but still waiting to take down the temp walls
Dad pulling apart the temp wall.
Rather ominous at night...

But in the morning...

A new (and quite straight) header. Good Stuff.









Have I mentioned how much fun we are having?!

Dry wall is coming along in the kitchen

the view up at the wires in the ceiling of the kitchen
getting covered up

Bob Villa would be proud.


Getting the seams and holes all taped and covered with joint compound (mud really does sounds better huh?)
This will be our mini nook/ bar/ kitchen book shelf/ liquor cabinet area at the end of the stove wall.
A little more work and we will have it painted and ready for cabinets to go up!

Speaking of cabinets...
We got to see ours this week! They look incredible. We chose the stain and finish colors for both the cabinets and the floor. It is a heck of a mouth full but this is what we are getting: Flush mount, inset face, French White Oak shaker style cabinets with euro hinges....
As soon as they are up we then have the task of picking hardware.

All we have to say is if you need a recommendation on cabinets or other wooden furniture, we have THE guy!
Doug Vincent Furniture. Go no further. Their work in top notch and Doug is a fantastic guy.

Been a while...

We have been hanging drywall...


In the dining room.
Inspector Al has been keeping us honest.
(seems like just the other day it looked like this... oh wait... it did)