Corey’s Green Home Project: The Demolition

by Corey

The FUN has begun.

The pulling-back-the-layers on this ‘ol onion (aka our newly purchased home) to reveal her inner beauty (or inner bees as the case may be), is kind of fun.

We bought the house, put vision to paper, and now we’re tearing down walls, ripping up carpet and listing up a storm on Craigslist.

(Anyone one want three toilets, a gray drop-in jacuzzi tub and a Lopi wood burning fireplace insert? Sorry, the carpet has already been taken.)

Here’s some of our progress to date:

Before: Staircase with carpet

Aside from the entry, kitchen and two bathrooms, the house was covered in wall-to-wall carpet (including the master bath!). Due to health issues, we don’t “do” carpet (more on that in an upcoming post), so it all needed to come out. But we didn’t want to toss it into a landfill so we posted the carpet and padding on Craigslist’s free pages. Within a few minutes of posting, we had a taker.

After: Sans carpet

We are currently in the process of deciding what type of flooring will go in. We’re looking for floors that are safe, sustainable and durable. Icing on the (organic) cake if they’re beautiful, too. Stay tuned!

Before: Dining room/living room divided by a large wall

Previously, if you were in the living room, you couldn’t see out the french doors onto the (fabulous) porch. And if you were in the dining room you couldn’t fully enjoy the fireplace and bay window.

Solution? Bye-bye wall.

After: Wall removed, drop ceiling in dining room raised

The dining room and living room are now one. It’s absolutely amazing how open the space feels. What a difference!

Before: Wood-burning fireplace insert

Fireplace inserts are much more efficient than conventional wood burning fireplaces. They’re great in our neck-of-the-woods, too, as the power goes out all too often. But they burn extremely hot and are therefore a safety issue around the kids and dog, so this Lopi fireplace insert is moving onto another home. (At least it will be! Interested parties, contact me,) We’re looking into the option of going with gas.

After: Marble surround without insert

Oh boy. We were a little disappointed (although not terribly surprised), by the condition of the while marble that sat underneath and behind the stove. We’ll need to give it a good scrub (and say a few prayers). if there’s any hope in saving it.

Have any ideas for us? Do tell! We need all the help we can get.