Enlarging a Doorway & Creating a New Kitchen Ceiling

Part 4 of the Kitchen Remodel 

Enlarging the Doorway

Hey there!

Goodbye mouse door! As I had mentioned before, the moment I started seeing the saw blade come through the wall was a bit scary and very exciting! Because our walls are lath and plaster we basically chose a stud we thought would be close to how wide we wanted the new doorway to be, and then sawed along the side of it. The plaster walls came down in big chunks. At the top of the doorway Ed cut between the studs to the height we wanted.

The placement of the ductwork and vents did ultimately determine how wide we were able to go. Obviously they could have been re-routed and moved but we like where they are and didn’t want the extra trouble. In the end we only had to remove one original stud. Ed created a support beam for the doorway out of some laminated wood we had. He repeated the same process as the big wall beam, gluing the boards together and then resting them upon pre-existing studs. We didn’t build a support wall but we had the beam ready and put it in place as soon as the stud was cut out. At this point I’m sure our neighbors were relieved because once the doorway mess was cleaned up we were finally able to get rid of the trailer full of the mess.

The New Ceiling

Raise the roof! Or at least the ceiling lol! The following weekend we finalized our decision about the ceiling. All along we aimed for maximum height in the kitchen. After the beam was put in place we realized that in order to keep all the height we could we had to follow the original roofline to the beam and then leave the beam exposed and wrap it in prettier wood later. By doing this we gained a foot and a half at the highest point. We ran 1x6s spaced out a foot and a half apart that we would later attach drywall to.

As you can see this meant that the ceiling would be slanted, gradually increasing in height from above the cabinets to where it would meet at the top of the beam. On the other side of the beam the ceiling would come out from the beam and go straight across to the wall with no incline.

I’m so glad that I waited to see what everything looked like when we got to this point before making the decisions about the width/height of the new door frame as well as the ceiling line. What we ended up with doesn’t look like anything I had originally planned. I think it’s one thing to have a plan and draw something out, but then sometimes seeing it in person will lead to new ideas that look and work better for the space. This project has definitely taught me that while I’m a planner and like things organized sometimes it’s best to make it up as you go 🙂

Bunches more to share with ya! Thanks for stopping by our little blog!