Last day of work today. I felt a little nostalgic leaving. I spend six years in that office. But it is time to move forward. Sure I'm spending the summer working on house projects and taking some rest time, but I'm also trying to consider my future. I've got three months to figure out what the next phase of my life is going to look like.

Kong and I ripped out drywall in the mudroom today. I pulled down the dropped ceiling and pulled up more flooring. My worry in getting to the flooring is that once I uncover it, the fir is susceptible to a lot of damage. It's somewhat protected under two layers of ugly linoleum. Hmm.

So one wall was built on a 2x2 sole plate with 2x4 studs turned sideways. Why? The other two walls are normal 4" thick.


This wall was only 2-inches thick


Demo Mudroom Ceiling


Demo Mudroom Wall


Note the old external siding from when this used to be a porch

I cleared out the mudroom and pulled off the molding. On a whim i decided to pry up a bit of the flooring as I have optimistic hopes that there is good looking fir flooring underneath. What do i find?

More ugly linoleum.



But under that is indeed some beautiful wood. Why would you ever cover this?

Then I knocked an exploratory hole in the drywall to see what I'm up against. The mudroom was (as far as I can tell) the old back porch which was walled in. The rear wall (where I want to put my french doors) is supported by a 4x6 beam which is only 74" above the floor. This is going to be a short set of doors! Julie wants to raise that beam but i don't want to deal with re-framing the roof line. Ugh.

So the client (my sweetheart, Julie) got home an hour before she said she would. Surprise! So rather than have all of my mess cleaned up, the house was a bit of a sty. She got upset, but we got through it. It isn't fair to come home early and expect that I'll be ready for her. We talked and set some better ground rules. Part of me is looking forward to sealing off the kitchen and just going to town with no outside observers. But until then, I'm trying hard to build while keeping the house as usable as I can.

Intro and plan

So I quit my job and I'm taking the summer off. But fear not, I won't be lazy all summer long. I intend to gut and remodel my kitchen/mud room and build a deck/french doors. I'll be logging my progress here.

No, I don't know how to do all the projects that I'll be attempting, but I hope to learn as I go. It's all a matter of confidence; if I think that I can do it, then I probably can.

The house is a 1916 craftsman in South Seattle. Two bedroom, 900 sq ft. It's tiny and cute and we love the floorplan, except for the kitchen which we've always hated.

Kitchen Problems:
Not enough counter space for multiple prep cooks
UGLY linoleum flooring
UGLY cabinets and countertop
Single pane windows which do not open and lose winter heat
Poor lighting (single fixture in the middle with some undercabinet lighting we added)
When we have dinner guests, the only place for them to stand is directly in front of the fridge or the silverware drawer. Both of which are extremely inconvenient when trying to prepare food.
A mudroom which is just a place to fill up with junk
A rear door which opens directly into our hot tub - very difficult to get through with a basket of laundry
No pantry, not enough cabinet space for dishes, pots, pans, food, appliances

If you're really interested, you can subscribe to my google calendar of construction schedule here:


Kitchen from the Dining Room




Old Mudroom