Well, my contractor did indeed show up at 7:30 this morning, with five burly guys who definitely knew what they were doing. They admired our demolition job, which made me pretty happy, and I asked my contractor if he could maybe get rid of the mountain of wood in the basement, which he agreed to (yay!). We did a quick recap of what they’d be doing, how high the half-wall should be, and that they’d be installing the header first thing. I headed off to work.

When I stopped by home at lunchtime, they’d gotten the header in, and also created a gap in one stud on the far wall for the over-the-range microwave to vent through – we’ll do the actual vent once the cabinets are installed, but this ensures they won’t have to cut a stud after the walls are sheetrocked. We also discussed ceiling light locations – and this is where the contractor is even more useful than expected, because he suggested a different layout than I’d been thinking, that’ll give me better light in the end. So we’re doing it that way.

As I was about to leave from lunch, the electrician appeared, and we did a quick runthrough of the electrical work to be done. So I headed off to work again. Somehow, leaving the house with 6 experts attacking my kitchen was a lot scarier than demolishing the thing with 8 friends… I suppose because I was in the room, so had some sense that if something terrible went wrong, I’d at least know.

Anyway, when I got home from work, the half wall was down! It is truly amazing how it changes the feel of the front half of my house. The openness is amazing. They’d also framed out the extra few inches the other wall needed to have space for the fridge, and all the outlet boxes are in. Some of the plumbing is happening, too – there’s a drain/vent pipe where the sink’s moving to, and the water pipes have been capped off in the basement instead of poking up through the floor now. The 220 volt stove outlet is gone, too, though it hasn’t appeared in its new location yet.

Here’s what the end of Day 1 looks like, with a bonus shot from the living room so you can see the opened space: