247reno.ca - a Toronto home renovation blog

Follow our real-life home renovation to help inspire yours

Old second floor kitchen being converted to a den

August 21st, 2008 · 4 Comments

Good news. We’re making good time in converting the old second floor kitchen into a den/tv room.

Ben and I made good progress a couple of weekends ago in getting the second outside wall framed and insulated. From there we turned our attention to wiring everything for surround sound, cable and power. Finally, we added the vapor barrier and began to drywall.

Ben and I have run out of weekends though so I called in Austin Hamilton Contracting (austinhamilton@hotmail.com or call him at 416 720 2692) again. Austin is the guy who helped us build the frame for our deck. He’s gotta be one of the nicest guys around.

I basically asked him if his team could come in and finish the remaining 25% of the drywall, do the taping and mudding, add the trim and then prime everything (I’ll do the final coat of paint). Fortunately for us he’s tried to fit us in as best he can. We’re not in a huge rush so his best effort is fine with us.

Here’s some photos of the progress:

Adding insulation

Inside wall

First coat of mud

Tags: Drywall · Framing · Contractors

4 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Leon K // Aug 22, 2008 at 4:15 pm

    Looks awesome! Have you decided what you’re going to put on the floor? Would it be hardwood, laminate, or carpet?

  • 2 Kirk // Aug 22, 2008 at 6:50 pm

    Thanks Leon!

    We’re going to try and re-finish the existing hardwood. We’ll need to peel the fake tile off and see what our hardwood guy says is the price. Some of the wood will need to be replaced around where the plumbing / rad was. The rest of the second floor is hardwood so we’d like to keep it consistent if possible.

    Worst case scenario we will put broadloom in there to match the stairs to the third floor and the third floor itself.

  • 3 DL // Aug 25, 2008 at 9:41 pm

    I just stumbled across your website. Love it! I’m also contemplating the conversion of my upstairs kitchen to a den (currently registered as a duplex). Did you cap off the plumbing or just rip it all out? I’m not sure if I should get rid of all the plumbing, just in case I need to change it back to a duplex, down the road. Did you have to re-register your house as a single family home? Thanks and keep up the great (and helpful) work!

  • 4 anke // Aug 26, 2008 at 12:18 am

    Hi DL

    Thanks for your comment. We simply capped the plumbing and hid it behind the wall. That gives us plumbing options long-term as you mention.

    Good luck with your renos.

Leave a Comment