Answering the Why

So why was Jeff making a hole in the wall late last night? Good question!

For those who don't know me in real life and have never been to my home, let me explain a little bit about the layout of our kitchen and living room. There is a wall between the two rooms, with wide openings at both ends, making a nice oval through the rooms. But Jeff and I wanted it to be even more open. In fact, before we realized that we would be living in this house (the house my parents built in the early 70s, the only house I had lived in as a child) when we moved back from Israel, we had thought about buying some land and possibly having a log home built on it. I can't say enough how much I admire log homes, and one of the features that stands out to me is the way the floor plan is usually quite open. When we knew we would be moving back to this house, we began to think about how we could achieve an open floor plan here. We even considered knocking out the dividing wall between the kitchen and living room entirely, but there was the "minor" issue of whether or not it was a load-bearing wall to think about. ;) We discussed knocking out most of it and just leaving two pillars. We also talked about making it a half-wall with two pillars on the ends. We thought maybe we would make one big hole in the center of the wall. But finally, we came to the conclusion that we would leave most of the wall, but make two holes, fairly close to each end.

Why choose this option and not something more drastic that would remove more of the wall? Mostly because we wanted the wall space for some paintings that Jeff's dad did (he was a professional artist, for those of you who don't know). We actually don't have much wall space at all in our living room; and without leaving a good-sized chunk of that wall, we wouldn't have room to display the Daniel painting in particular. The second reason is because of furniture placement. An open floor plan requires some creative furniture placement, and we weren't creative enough to figure out how to do that. :)

We had talked about all of this, but always in sort of a vague way. "At some point in the future, we will..." But not now. Not until we get some money saved up and are able to ask a professional to do it (because how in the world does someone make a hole in their wall - and have it look nice?!). :) That was my thinking.

Unbeknownst to me, our potluck last Friday evening was the straw that broke the camel's back in Jeff's mind. He looked around at the 43 people trying to cram into our living room and decided that the situation would be helped by having some open space between the kitchen and living room. In the future, if need be, some people could be in the kitchen but still be able to see and hear more clearly and feel more connected to what was going on in the living room.

With all that in mind, Jeff set to work last evening. I found out later that he had searched and found a video that gave instructions for this do-it-yourself project, and he got some handy tips from that. I am so grateful for his I-can-do-this attitude...AND for his uncomplaining willingness to enlarge the hole when I saw his original one this morning and decided that I really would rather have it bigger. That's true love. :)

And that's the reason we now have two lovely holes in our wall. It is not, as my parents suggested, so that I could keep a closer eye on the boys when they're in the living room. ;) Instead, it's so that we can have a feeling of openness and light and space and freedom - in both rooms. I like it so much.

The process isn't done yet. Jeff finished putting up the plaster (or whatever it's called) tonight, then had to wait for it to dry before he can sand it. But here are some pictures from this afternoon to give you an idea of how the wall will look.

Jeff was amazingly patient with little "helpers" who wanted to watch.

The living room side...

The kitchen side...

Another view of the kitchen side...it was quickly obvious how much more natural light the kitchen gets now...

The downside of this project: dust EVERYWHERE. It's a very fine dust and is very difficult to clean thoroughly. So for now, we have footprints on the floor. Special, isn't it? :)