Bump it out

When we tore out the old kitchen nearly 3 years ago -- not that it was functional or anything -- we discovered that only half the room had any foundation under it. The front half of the room was built (circa 1900) directly on the dirt, which meant we had to pour a new foundation in order to create the necessary support to hold up that entire section of the house. No wonder we had a saggy roof and warped floorboards before!

To make a long, 3-year story short, a byproduct of this key foundational work was a 12" concrete ledge just jutting out of the house, looking awkward -- necessary for the foundation, but odd and ugly. The solution: a bump-out. (Is that the technical term? I do not know.) This bump-out is purely an aesthetic choice, as the inner wall is load bearing. In other words, we will not actually gain any additional space in the kitchen with this little addition, but we will gain some extra curb appeal. Heaven knows we need that! We do have a carpenter working with us on this project, since we're in a rush and it would take us 10 times as long to do it ourselves. Case in point: he and S working together got all of this done so far in a single day.

Important to note: the front kitchen window will be moved from the inner wall to the outer wall, creating a nice deep sill where I plan to grow some herbs and plants to green up the kitchen. Right now the window is just in place to keep out wildlife out. We can't move the window or put the sheathing on the outside of the bump-out until the electrical box is moved -- hopefully this week -- and that will really change the look of things. Can't wait.

I've updated the Sketchup to reflect the current plan. Hopefully this will help you see the vision a little clearer.

One of the neighbors just stopped by and said it's "actually starting to look like a real house now." Now that is high praise. Progress is bliss! We still need a porch but that's also in progress and coming soon, Lord willing. (Please!)

We got some other stuff done this weekend too, amazingly enough. It was quite the productive two days, thanks to my hardworking hubby who is slaving away trying to get things done before the baby arrives. Love him.

How was your weekend? Fun? Productive? Little of both?