The Header

Some of you have heard about our "Header Dilemma"...basically it's necessary for supporting the 2nd floor. Turns out...there was nothing supporting the whole second floor width wise in the entire house. Oops! Of course, now that we've uncovered the problem we have to remedy the situation in order for the kitchen to pass inspection. At first we were under the impression that we could put in a recessed header in the ceiling which would be totally hidden from view. Sadly, this isn't possible without ripping out the entire bathroom. Now, the thought has crossed our mind to redo the bathroom while we're at it with the kitchen project...but if we do it now, we're required to pull permits and hire an electrician and a plumber. Even though we don't plan to change the layout one bit, we'd still be required to go through all those steps. Basically, the contractor will do the bathroom for us after the fact for a small fraction of the cost because he won't need to hire anyone else to help with the project.

So...to make a long story short...we're stuck with a header in the ceiling that will be visible. It's actually not so bad, but it still isn't great! As you may recall, we're getting rid of the door into the hallway from the kitchen. The idea was to open up the kitchen into the hallway will not transition like a door or wall, or doorframe. But, we'll still have that pesky header in the way. Truth be told, the real reason I'm upset about it is because it doesn't go straight, it's at an angle. Those of you who know me well know that I will harp on this annoying tidbit for the rest of my life! It would be so much better if it were straight...but alas, it isn't possible due to the location of the structural columns for supporting the first floor and second floor. Oh well!

There are some other ways to address this. We could create a soffit. We could install lighting in the soffit to make it look intentional, we could create a drop down ceiling of sorts, or we can do what I think we're going to do. That is, just box in the beams with blueboard and plaster, and paint it to match the ceiling. I'd much rather do my best to make it "disappear". I see no reason to spend more on strange lighting. I think that will just make it stand out more.

On a brighter note, at least the header is on the outer edge of the kitchen and not right through the middle!

Here are some pictures:
Oh and sorry for the weird angles. I was trying to show the angle of the header to you...Didn't really work out as well as I'd planned. Remember, the doorway behind the header into the hallway will be removed.








What do you think? Not so bad right...but just not great either...