2nd floor work

So when the house was purchased, the second and third floors were partitioned out into several small, dark rooms. On the second floor in particular, the partitions were terribly laid out and cut the floor into a small kitchen a small dining room and a small bedroom. Space was poorly used and worse, the wallpaper was hideous. Let's review:

The kitchen:

That's the cantou on the right, a partition wall on the left. That's the only window for the room. And yes, that's a linoleum floor.

The dining room:

Only the wall on the right is a load bearing wall. That's clapboard attached to the beams for the ceiling. That wallpaper!

The other view:

Again, the only window in the room.

So this floor was a mess. The big front balcony with floor to ceiling windows felt removed and detached from the rooms because it spanned the kitchen and the dining room. No breezes coud get through because there were walls everywhere. The staircases seemed isolated and a colossal waste of space. And the back room was a place you would go to die. Dark, one window, dank, and cold all day long. There was only one answer. Total destruction.

Luckily the walls were just plank board and wallpaper. The ceilings capboard and paint. I took a crowbar and sledgehammer to them all. Well, first I disconnected the power and ripped out all of the old wiring and fixtures. The house would have to be rewired anyway and the old cloth-wrapped wiring was an enourmous fire hazard. The hardest part was the freaking linoleum. But I got it too, and when I removed all of the detritus, this is what I had:


this is the kitchen by the front window. look at all the light and gorgeous space! Light streamed into the place now. The cantou looked like the rightful centerpiece of the room, and a wonderful breeze flowed right through the place. I wish I had better pictures but the 2nd floor is wide open. It's one big room, and that's how it will stay. It'll be a wonderful place to cook, dine, relax and hopefully cuddle around a raging fire in the winter.
I still have to remove the wooden backing from the cantou. I also have to disassemble the cast iron stove and reassemble itdownstairs, where it will provide heat for the guest bedroom eventually going in there. Just a reminder of how big the cantou is, that's a full-sized iron stove inside the cantou.

the cantou: