Retracing Our Steps

About a year ago, Tom was away working one weekend, so I decided to pick up the power tools for the first time and attempt to put in our new kitchen window (see here).

It was a very proud moment for me. Although unfortunately something went awry with the measurements, meaning that that window has never closed properly. Nevertheless, it was a giant leap for me to have accomplished it! Or at least I definitely thought so.

We originally positioned the window in the very corner of that wall so that our big hutch could slot in beside it.

Although when we decided that the hutch was taking up too much room and simply had to go (see here), the corner position of that window no longer made very much sense.

So, with a big sigh, we decided to bite the proverbial bullet and move the window to a more central position along that wall. 

This, of course, involved dismantling practically the entire wall. I think this is officially the first time we've had to undo work that we've done for the house, so it was a bit sad for us.

But we forged on.

And in virtually no time (it's always so much easier to destroy than to create!), we had our new window space (to be behind the kitchen sink) exposed. As you can see, there's quite a bit of timber framing in the way.

We did some measuring and marked out where we wanted our new window to be.

And then Tom broke out the trusty circular saw, with his own added improvements, involving a wristband holding the vacuum cleaner hose on, to minimise dust. Quite smart, actually!

And our kitchen quickly became more breezy!

And then more breezy still!

In the above photo you can see that Tom built a little frame out of salvaged timber to close in the old window space. Leaving us free to start rebuilding that wall!

We had to get Allie approval before continuing...

And could then slot all of the original VJ boards back in.

Next, Tom replaced all of the ceiling boards. Which involved some pretty uncomfortable hands-over-head hammering.

I then attacked the entire wall with putty, to cover over all of the little holes and not-perfect bits in the boards.

And then the last order of business was this last little corner (that used to be to the left of the original window).

We had originally left a little square section board-less in this wall, with the intent of making that a recessed little kitchen TV nook.

 

I've since decided that I want to put shelves on our new section of wall in the corner there though, which means we're scrapping the TV nook plan. So, we shifted all of the long boards up to the top...

And then covered the gaps at the bottom with other random boards. Since the joins will be hidden behind our kitchen cabinets, we decided it didn't have to be seamless.

And at long last, we could finally put the window back in! Tom perched himself on our new windowsill and notched out the space for the window hinges. He's much better at it than I was (see here)!

Don't do this at home, kids!

With the notches cut, the windows could slot in comfortably....

And we finally have a working (and this time properly-fitting) window again!

Of course it's not the prettiest window you will ever have seen just yet, but it works!

Oh and those last two photos also give you a hint as to what's happening to our kitchen sink! Can you possibly contain your impatience to find out what it is? Ooh the suspense!