Deconstruction Part I

We had no idea what was hidden above the dropped ceiling in our old house but feared the worst.  We were thrilled when we discovered original beams that were relatively unscathed.  That happy find began the rest of the "great reveal".  

Our original plan was to renovate the outdated kitchen using the floorpan that existed with some minor "tweaks".  With the beams being in such good shape we found that there was adequate support to remove an assortment of partial walls in the kitchen.  Basically we took down every wall that had chopped up the space creating an 18x20 foot kitchen that was originally 6x12!  

Looking west--future location of breakfast nook with powder room at left and future laundry closet at right.

Looking north at future stove wall.  Look at the silhouette of an old staircase in the corner--one of many interesting historical markers unveiled in the process!

Looking east.  We moved the door to the right to  lengthen counter space and create better "flow" in the new space.  This area was formally a old pass-through pantry that had been converted to a laundry area--not a great way to get to the dining room!  That rectangle of light colored flooring was the formally walled-in entrance to the basement.  We decided to create a "hatch" instead to open up the kitchen area since we don't visit the unfinished basement often.