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how to remove a drop ceiling {drop it like it’s hot}

April 30, 2013

We’ve definitely transitioned from a few small pieces of molding on the floor to a full-scale demolition in our lining room (you know that room, the living / dining room combo room). Here’s the full house tour video {before} for a glimpse into where we started.

It was so fun to hear from those of you who watched the video … we’re excited to see the transformation, too!!

Knock on wood … because there is an abundance of it around here … but we’re pretty happy that we haven’t had to take any walls all the way down to the studs … yet. We’ve uncovered Dade County Pine on every surface (walls and ceilings) so far.

Luckily we love the wood slat look. 🙂

Now, we aren’t necessarily the ‘define a plan’ and ‘follow the plan in order’ kind of DIYers.

Especially when it comes to these older homes. We’ve learned to never get our heart set on one idea, because you just never know what you’re going to find when you start uncovering the changes the previous owners have made over the years.

Hello old front doorway hidden under paneling.
living room demolition

So when we first brainstormed ideas for this combo room transition I was in love with the idea of vaulted ceilings. We have high ceilings in most of the house, but this weird shorter ceiling in the very front, where you enter.

This front 5 feet of house was the original porch. And we love the added square footage the previous owners created by enclosing that porch and then adding a new porch to the front of that. But we don’t like this weird ceiling line it created.
living room demolition

And that it is so short right when you walk in we think it makes the whole room feel smaller, even though the rest of the ceilings are 9 feet tall and this room is pretty good-sized (for Key West).

So, the whole design of the front part of that room had me thinking if we vaulted the rest of the ceiling it would make such a stunning statement (remember my inspiration shots?).

Lo and behold, we uncovered a complete Dade County Pine ceiling. Seriously, we get wood slats on the ceiling, too, and we don’t need to install any wood?

This reclaimed wood loving girl is in house heaven!!

And once I found my grove, the removal of the drop ceiling actually went pretty quickly.

Here are the steps for how to remove a drop ceiling.
how to remove a drop ceiling

[Read more…]

house tour video {before}

April 26, 2013

Happy, happy Friday!!

We have made some serious progress on the living and dining room this week. Raise your hand if you love a little demolition. Yeah, me too!!

Remember the wall o’ mirrors??
wall of mirrorsWell, behind that was the omnipresent paneling, and then drywall and then what we’ve found under it all … painted Dade County Pine.
dade county pine wall paintedAnd then we did this …
dade county pine wall stripped

Lucky for me, and maybe you (you’ll have to decide on that), I took a little walk through of the house before we really got started. (I guess the part where I trip over the molding I had already taken down proves it wasn’t actually before I got started, but it was still day one.)  🙂

It was actually one of my friends, Emily, who suggested a little before walk through and I’m so glad she did. It will be really fun to look back on one day and ‘remember when’. Even only after one week of demo we can already tell that this little house is going to look so much different when we’re done with it. It will be so rewarding, and pretty humorous to have video evidence of where we started.

Our plan before moving in was pretty simple. Settle in to the master bedroom, kitchen and guest bathroom for living. Keep the living room and dining room empty for renovation and use the guest room for storage of things we’re not using. The plan has served us pretty well, in spite of my little slip up here.

And you’ll see in the video, our idea of ‘settling in’ is pretty primitive right now. But we’re so focused on the rooms we’re working on, we really just need the other rooms to function as a place to eat, a place to sleep and place to relax (luckily we have the backyard for that) … so well put in our little Facebook discussion about where to begin.

So, grab a beverage of choice and take a look at the house tour video {the before edition} of our little Key West conch house that we’re just getting started on making our very own little space in paradise.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMwtqKOkCbo]

And for those who don’t do videos and just want some cliff notes, here you go …

0:24 – The post I’m referring to is here, and you may notice we’ve already changed out the light fixture, but that’s not to say the new light has any bulbs yet. #onestepatatime
2:48 – By ‘little’ I totally meant ‘ginormous’, and we’re already brainstorming ideas for covering it up, in addition to painting the cover the same color that we end up painting the wall
3:13 – Who has yard sale tips for us? We can’t seem to make up our minds on this one. Joel wants to just donate everything, but then when I look at all of the furniture items I didn’t even get to show you outside it seems like a lot. Maybe craigslist the bigger items and donate the small stuff?
3:48 – Obviously the ceiling line would depend on what’s behind the drop ceiling and not the paneling. I am smarter than I sound, really. 😉
3:59 – I have not idea why I said “mice be a niece idea” instead of “might be a neat idea”
5:21 – Don’t let the water stains scare you – new windows are on the to do list
7:42 – I have no idea how I managed to fail to mention the tulip window treatment in the kitchen … trust me, it sounds much prettier than it is in real life
7:59 – On the fridge is a vintage tin foil/wax paper holder/cutter that was left in the house. I might make it into a planter. 🙂
8:24 – Clearly I have no idea how high the ceilings are, not sure why I just kept guessing

And I’m not exactly sure how many times I said we’re “not exactly sure” about our plans for a specific space. That should help you understand that we’re definitely in the realm of ‘take it as it comes’ DIY. With these old houses we’ve learned to not get our hearts set on any one plan because you really never know what you’re going to find when you start tearing down layers.

Because of it’s location in the room we had thought this would be a cool wall to strip down the Dade County Pine and create a cool accent wall … until we discovered part of it actually used to be a doorway and it wasn’t all Dade County Pine. Whomp whomp.
wall behind sofa during

Oh well, a different kind of accent wall it will be.

Update:  We have started the whole house renovation, check out these posts for more.
  • how to remove a drop ceiling
  • how to paint over cracked paint
  • the DIY lesson we learned the hard way
  • our first finished wall (board and batten baby!)
  • how to pick paint colors
  • stripping wood slat walls
  • removing glued carpet pad
  • how to make your attic access bigger
  • DIY craftsman style trim and molding

How about you? Do you make detailed mood boards before you delve into a room upgrade? Do you have a video of what your house looked like before you put your own touches on it? Do you wish you did?

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