The first thing we did was take the piece of sheet rock that had been placed on the end of the stove side soffit. This was the result of the wall that we took out 10 years prior. We'd never gotten around to doing more than tacking up the square of sheetrock, so it was easy to take down.
Thankfully there was nothing inside and we were free to proceed with that side.
Removing the framework was the most challenging, but with some patience, a handy sawzall, and my trusty wiggle tool, we were able to get it taken apart in no time.
We then took some scrap sheet rock and filled in the openings. We weren't worried about the ceiling too much, but we did need to make the wall look nice. We placed a 2x4 across the top to help hold the board in while we were attaching it.
Now that we knew it would work, it was time to tackle the other side!
We did discover that it was easiest to go up to the attic and scoop out as much of the insulation as possible, keeping it from dumping all over the kitchen! We took the shop vac hose up and sucked it up, then emptied it into a yard bag, so we could redistribute it after the openings were closed up.
The only issue we had removing this side was that the thermostat wire was about 5 inches short and extended into the soffit. That was an easy fix by rewiring it with a longer line.
Once we got this far, we had to bring in the wall that was next to the refrigerator, as it was keeping me from being able to open the door all the way. Once we did that, I realized how much it was cutting off the rest of the kitchen, so I asked my wonderful "assistant" if we could bring the top of the wall down to the height of the cabinets.
I was happy with how it opened things up a bit. Then, when we were cleaning up for the evening, I stuck the step ladder in between the two sheets of sheetrock that make the wall, and realized how much space the wall was taking up! I then asked my "assistant" if we could just take the wall out. He agreed and so we got to do more demo, including taking all the shelves out that were over the washing machines.
Then we took out the rest of the sheet rock (we took down most of it with care and used it to patch the new wall area). Amazing!
Next we'll redo the ceiling!!
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