You will be happy to know that I finished the final plaster skim coat:
And painted it out to match the exsisting wall colors:
Looks pretty damn good if I do say so myself!Moving on to the next section of cabinetry. In case you can't remember, the former floor plan looked like this:
Now it looks like this:
The big red "X" is the next section of cabinetry and paneling I needed to removeThe first thing I did was attempt to take down the old vent hood. And although I did discover yet another type of wallpaper:
This proceeds the other paper, since it is laying over the top of it in some areas.. It probably dates back to the 1960s..Once again it wasn't super smooth sailing. The hood had been direct wired into the wall through a giant hole above the upper right cabinet.The wire ran down behind the over-stove cabinet and into the hood. I needed an outlet put in above the stove for the new microwave/hood combo I am putting in, so this whole mess needs to be rewired.
As I have said before: I DO NOT DO ELECTRICAL, so I had to just let the stupid thing hang until I had time to call my electrician. I then got to work removing the cabinets and paneling.Cabinets before:
Note the lovely hood, propped up upside-down on top of that upper cabinet.After:
Ewwwwww. Gross.Yes, that is the old cutout where a wood/coal burning stove used to be hooked up to the chimney, plus you can see the kick-ass job some electrician did of ripping up the lathe to put that outlet in, and of course, the lovely brown paper of doom.
Fan-flipping-tastic.
I knew I could patch the upper round hole with one of the drywall repair patches I had been using on the previous wall, but I knew it wouldn't work with the hole around the outlet since I couldn't cut a hole in the aluminum base. It was time to bring out the big guns: drywall patches.
The first step was knocking away more plaster until I came to some lathe that would be strong enough to tolerate drywall screws:
Just what you want to do, make the holes even bigger. 
Fit the patch into the hole and screwed it down. I then taped the joints and it was ready for plaster:
The whole process was a dirty endeavor.
About 15 coats of plaster later I ended up with:
NOT BAD.
Cost for this section of the renovation:
Joint Compound: $5
Patching Plaster: $6
Drywall repair patches: $5
Drywall: $6
TOTAL: $22
Quote for plaster repair: $400/half wall
Money Saved by DIY: $378
Next up. Taking out the stove and remaining cabinetry on this wall. Jeesh, we aren't even half done with demo yet.
This is so impressive. And the cost is not too much for a renovation.
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