Who Needs Walls II

So I was finally able to get back to the house for some updated pictures!

I'm not sure if I've said before, but there is a main structural wall that goes down the centre of the old house.  We didn't think it was possible to do anything with it, so when we first saw the house and plans, we thought we could take down the other non-structural walls to create larger living spaces instead of 5-6 small pokey rooms. Stephen has a cousin who's an architect and we thought we'd ask her to give the house a look over just to get a professional opinion.  Well folks, professionals are there for a reason and if you are ever doing anything major to your house, I'd highly recommend consulting one!

Sinead looked around and though I'm paraphrasing, essentially said, "Get rid of that central wall.  It hits you in the face as soon as you walk in."

So that is what we set about doing.

Well, we just made the decision, Stevie (our contractor) is making it reality.  It apparently is as simple as putting a steel supporting beam in place, but hey, I know nothing about structural integrity so  I think this is a pretty massive undertaking.  We aren't knocking out the whole central wall but just about a 6 foot section to join the kitchen/dining room and living space.  The wall has been knocked out for awhile but this week the supporting beam and lateral concrete pillars are in place. 

The most obvious change can be seen in this before and after pic taken from the kitchen.

So here we are now with the kitchen wall taken down (the right wall) and the open central wall space.  The difference in space and light is just crazy! 

Again, looking from the kitchen, this is the before and after:

From the other direction, looking into the house from the old exterior door:

And here's a different perspective I've not introduced yet.  This door connects the old house (where we're renovating) to the bedroom extension (which was completed before we bought).  It used to be an external door but just hasn't been changed yet.  In this pic, we're standing in the entrance hall looking into the hallway going into the old house.  

Directly ahead is the central wall which you can see does 'hit you in the face' when you walk in.

And now with the hallway walls gone and the central opening.  And thankfully the doors aren't directly opposite each other.  Gotta think about that feng shui!