When we bought our house there were a few things on our list of improvements we’d like to make in the coming years. Near the top of the list were removing the pillars on the main floor, moving the awkward corner fireplace and replacing the hardwoods with something lighter.
In October during cheer carpool, I learned from Layla’s friend, Olivia, that their family (who lives two doors down in the same model home) had done just that before we moved into the neighborhood. That was all I needed to get the ball rolling!
Here’s a before pic. Notice the four pillars.
Within a week or two these were the first to go. We have a great demo crew at the house who were eager to earn some cash. We were still in the process of having things engineered (notice the holes in the drywall in the upper right), but we’d established these were not load-bearing, so away they went. 
Well shoot. Look what we discovered in one of the pillars! Why would they run this right here?! Guess it saved a couple bucks to go straight down.
Next to go was the wall dividing the dining room and family room. This would open things up a lot! But these pillars are load bearing, so we had to have a longer beam installed, along with a couple more studs in the basement, and the two remaining pillars would become a small L-shaped corner. Also, look what was in the wall! HVAC! Bummer, now we needed to reroute it.
Getting closer! But now we decided to replace the fireplace rather than just move it. The expense wasn’t much more and we weren’t sure how much life the old one had left in it.
Before the new beam and wall removal… 
And after! Also, I taped off where the new corner wall would go.
Now it’s time to prepare for the new fireplace. We were lucky and got a deal on a floor model.
My electrician
Mantle arrived, fireplace in, drywall and Duraboard up next. Just in time for Christmas!
Making sure the mantle goes in straight
Yay! We can get the TV up off the floor. This is Christmas Eve morning!
Tile is going up soon!
Meanwhile, we measured everyone and left an Easter Egg behind the new corner wall.
A perk of getting new floors – you can rollerblade in the house!
Hard at work. These kids did so much demo!
Kieron did almost the whole kitchen by himself!
The pets love the new fireplace
All subfloor!
New floors going in…
And here they are!
I’m SO glad we decided to get rid of the carpet in the office!
Since we had to empty the pantry to do the floors in there anyway, we decided to redo it too. Here’s before…
And after! We love the counter and room for appliances. Quartz will go in eventually, but you get the idea.
Last step was putting up the last of the crown molding and the board and batten!
