Bob: This will be our pantry. Previously, it was an entryway to both floors. Before that, this and the utility room were the side porch. The door at the back left is to be removed, paneling to be painted white, shelves to be built. The stove and microwave are awaiting installation in the kitchen. You can barely see the steps at the bottom left of the picture, going to the hallway and upstairs. They are to be removed as well.
Nan: You'd think I'd be hankering after a new pantry, but I'd rather have my new
(to me) stove and microwave installed in the kitchen.
Bob: This picture faces northeast. This paneling is cheap and thin, and badly nailed over old siding, but we shall make do with painting it for now. We can't do everything this winter.
Nan: Soon, this will have a storage cabinet and a nice brass-looking coat rack.
Bob: With the entry door removed, this picture shows the pantry through the door-hole, from the living room. The old removed door frame is in background. I thought this looked neat. The stairs lead to the second floor.
Nan: Bye-bye, ugly door.
Bob: You see, the decisions of previous owners definitely affect ours. This close-up shows a cross section of the wall between the pantry and the stairwell. On the pantry side (right), cheap paneling has been layered over the original exterior clapboard siding. On the stairwell side (left), cheap paneling has been layered over the original lath and plaster. Both the siding and the plaster really should be taken out, but the ensuing reconstruction would be complete by, like, July? Of 2010? Heck, the upstairs bedroom has the same treatment on its walls. Anyway, we have elected to leave it as is for now. (This picture was shot after the doorway studs were installed).
Nan: If walls could talk, this one would have a "wall" of a tale to tell. Just think that
some of what you're looking at hasn't seen the light of day in a hundred years. Well, maybe
an exaggeration, but not by much.
Bob: The door removed from hallway will make a dandy work table.
Nan: What's to say about a door? They open, they close, and sometimes they get removed.
This one is good for a work bench, as you will see later.
Bob: These are the steps with the laminate floor coverings removed (some leaning against wall at left). These 2x4's turned out to be held in by about 6,287 cement-coated nails. The top step is an extension of the hall riser, and will have to be cut off flush.
Nan: These steps were clunky, ugly and so in the way.
Really, Bob, 6,287 cement-coated nails?
Bob: Welllll, ya hadda be there... ::whines:: ;-}~
Bob: The steps are now removed, and the floor needs two levels of patches. The
floorboards underneath are probably the original porch.
Bob: The subfloor is now filled in with OSB scrap; The original clapboard siding peeks out from behind photograin plywood.
Nan: Step by step, (or should I say less one step by step?), it will become a pantry.
Bob: The wall, framed in, will be sheetrocked Real Soon Now.
Nan: Looking better and better.
Bob: The laminate flooring pieces from the steps turned out to do a good job of filling in the missing floor. Six layers of construction plastic were substituted for the elastic padding.
Nan: This is my favorite laminate flooring. I like the darker better than the lighter.
This is really hard to tell that it was patched, even when you're looking at it in real life.
Bob: I filled the missing paneling in with quick masonite filler squares, as this area will be behind the freezer and painted white.
Nan: Someday, we'll take the walls out and replace them properly, but for now, it works.
Bob: I've primered the pantry walls, making this room look twice as bright already. Looks twice as big, too.
Nan: Sure is a cleaner looking room now.
Bob: I've placed sheetrock in the breach, pantry side, stitched with 1-5/8-inch sheetrock screws.
Nan: Hey, I'm the expert here! Well, OK, I concede, I didn't do any of this.
Bob: The stairway gets sheetrock in the breach, too.
Nan: This may not look like much now, but wait till you see what I do with this.
Bob: I made new quarter-round mouldings for the corners.
Nan: Yeah, Bob spent a lot of time on his knees "molding" his character to do this job.
Now, you tell me where those patches are...
Bob: These custom mouldings fill in the level shift between one layer of sheetrock, and the multiple layers of other wall coverings, about 3/4 of an inch. They were engineered and cut from 48 inch two-by-fours using four passes on the ole table saw.
Nan: You don't get molding like this at Lowe's.
Bob: The stairway side mouldings go up.
Nan: First Step. Looks insignificant, doesn't it? But it is the beginning of a temporary
solution to a problem we don't have the time or money to deal with right now.
Bob: All the mouldings for the pantry got primered first.
Nan: I got to prime all these. Made me feel like I was contributing something to this adventure.
Bob: Don't let her fool you; Nan contributed a LOT towards these projects. <3 XOX <3
Bob: After primering the stairway side mouldings, a few gaps are filled with foaming filler. This looks so extreme!
Nan: This was most fun, somewhat like canned string only better. :)
Bob: The Pantry side mouldings go up.
Nan: Looking Good. I couldn't have done it better myself.
Bob: And now, on to stage two...