Sooo.... remember this pretty extremely boring wall which took up VALUABLE space in our super tiny kitchen?

Yea, dead, unusable space = no beuno.

Since our kitchen is pretty darn tiny, about 11x14, we decided that we were going to knock back this wall and make it a built in for our fridge and pull out pantry.... the pantry is probably my favorite part.  The wall isn't large enough to hold a fridge and 12" door for a normal pantry (we'll probably have 6"-8" inches) so, through the magical world of Pinterest, I found this and fell in love.
Since we are having custom cabinets made (friend of a friend knows a guy who is giving us a SMOKIN' deal) and he agreed to make us this pantry!!! Hooray!

But back to the hole in the wall.  The hole actually backs up to the wall in our guest room.  Here's the the view...
We went back and forth about even knocking down this wall; not knowing if its worth taking up the space in the guest room, but in the end, we ended up calculating that it would really only take up about 12sq ft (3ft deep by 4ft wide).  We also plan on flipping the opening of the door to swing against the wall so you wont even see it when walking in the room.

Eventually, we decided to go for it.

And the demo began.

All the drywall had to come down first...

Then, I was (finally) allowed to channel my inner Jackie Chan and kick down the wood boards through the other room.

This is EXACTLY how Jackie would have done it

It was awesome.

We tried to salvage as many as the boards from my massive karate skillz as we could so we could reapply them over the new wall to keep the room looking seamless.
Next came removing the studs.

We did have to be careful though since there was electrical wire running through two of the studs.  Luckily the guys broke out the reciprocating saw to cut through them without hitting the wire.
And although everyone was waiting for it, no one got electrocuted...
Now THAT is a hole...

or just a HUGE lack of wall...

Step number 473, umm actually, I've lost count... The "next" step was removing the wood floor that "used" to be in the guest room.  We had to get everything level for putting in the travertine pavers, so the wood had to go.

Enter Blake:
He's an engineer and more precise than a brain surgeon on adderall, so I'm glad he took care of this.

And THIS is where we finished for the day. Phew!... the wall in ADDITION to everything we did earlier, we accomplished A LOT! ...(again, I use "we" very liberally)...

However, the next day was my birthday (yay! And please don't ask how old I am... I'm old enough to now not answer that question) and my friends got me the BEST. PRESENT. EVER.... a mult-hour brunch with bottomless mimosas.

When I came home 5 hours later, I was so relaxed, happy, calm, centered, at peace, slightly drunk excited to see a full framed cut out of where my fridge would someday sit.
Here's the view from the hallway...
And from the guest room...
Here's even a picture of Chris standing in our (future) freezer.
They also managed to move all the electrical (Chris's uncle is an electrician) and the water line.

But if you think that is cool... look at this!!
WHA-WHA???!!!! Yea friends... that's perfectly completed and patched dry wall! (Sorry I dont have pictures of them putting everything up.  We have a trade show this week for work and havent been home nearly as much as I normally am)... But honestly, have you ever seen anything so pretty??? (well at least until the floor is down)

We will still have to texture the little side wall there on the right (just light orange peel... nothing too crazy), and add molding... and baseboards... and paint... ... ... ok there is still a LOT to do, but the progress is so much fun!!

Have you guys ever knocked down a wall to make a built in or just to increase space in a large room? If so, did they allow you to Jackie Chan kick the wall? Because if they didn't, you didn't get your money's worth...

-Samm