Fireplace Remodel Day Seven

Day #7....time for something completely different: the shoe rack/plinth in the entrance hallway used to be an indoor planter, and at some time in the past was covered with an ugly slab of marble. We wanted to convert the planter box into a third shelf, and bring the wall forward five (5) inches. Coupled with the space we gain from removing the brickwork in the living room, this will give us almost a foot of extra depth in the corner of the room.

The marble was too awful to photograph...

I started by dismantling the shoe rack and cutting a section out of each shelf to accommodate the extended wall.

This is a bit later after I removed the adjacent drywall to expose the framing. Time fort cup-o-tea.

It was another beautiful sunny day and I was plodding along with the front window open.

I re-constructed the modified the back section of the shoe rack and got everything squared away.

Then I put up the new framing - I could have used less lumber, but then the wall would not have been 500% over-engineered.

This is how the shoe rack looks from the front - the loss of space is compensated for by the extra shelf.

Installed drywall over the new framing...

I put a temporary back and top on the shoe rack and re-installed the plastic sheeting at the living room side. There's a lot more to come on the shoe rack, but with the wall extended, I can get back to work on the fireplace side....