house'd

IMG_2674

2006-02-07T14:46:00.000-08:00

IMG_2674
Originally uploaded by thedysh.

Testing out blogging from flickr

Honey I shrunk the house!

2006-01-19T09:30:00.000-08:00

The wood floors got dark, and the house got small. The contrast between white baseboards and dark floors in EMPTY rooms draws the eye to immediately measure the room. all of the wood floored spaces 'feel' smaller, its not just a myth. However, i think it looks 10x better. And since the rooms didn't shrink and all of our oversized furniture will still fit comfortably, who cares. Also your eyes wont be able to read the edges of an entire room with furniture within.

On another note. I had a railing idea finally that may be feasable. Attach a 1 3/4" aluminum post to the first stair (of the set that goes upstairs). Screw a bracket to the post and to each stare riser and secure slats of glass. check out this mockup i made:

High Quality Haus

2006-01-16T09:14:00.000-08:00

The electrician has been working overtime to remove and completely re-wire the house including a brand new panel. Everything is getting its own nice circuit with the load distributed well

Andy came to visit again. We took some of the salvaged trim that we had saved earlier in the process as well as two doors and put them back in new places. We had to switch the handing on both doors and buy new hinges and switch the direction, but it all worked out good. Today Kathleen is sanding them down and priming them - it's sca
ry it looks like they've been there since 1923.

I found 1923 Newspaper under a piece of wood floor! crazy (pics to come).

Andy, Federman and I installed the two exhaust flaps and did some serious foaming (expanding foam is both gross and fun - kind of like mudsliding at woodstock)

Mike the countertop guy came by and measured up the kitchen and bathroom for stone. He approximates about 10 days from when i pick the stone at this shop (i'll do that tommorow likely)

Sinks and Faucets have been selected, and are getting ordered today.

Alex, a wood floor guy came by and told me that because the downstairs is oak and the upstairs is maple, that my only option to stain is natural colour - otherwise the two woods will look drastically different. I rebutted by showing him an area of stained maple that we uncovered (presumably original). He didn't like the idea of staining the maple dark, i am awaiting a phone call from him this afternoon to nail down a start date (hopefully tommorow) and convince him to do it dark. All of the floor surfaces are prepped for his arrival

Over the hump.

2006-01-10T16:02:00.000-08:00

We are definately starting to see things come together.

Lots of drywall over completed electrical.
lots of patching and sanding,
some priming and painting
one done room carpeted and painted (back bedroom)
kitchen install on day 2 of 3.

check 3 more pages in the gallery

Week 52

2005-12-28T19:15:00.000-08:00

This week has been fun so far. Everyday at the house, lots of work to get done.

With the expertise of Andy, we've learned some neat tricks.

Work Done:
-Leveled floor in kitchen with 10 bags of concrete + wire screening!
-Layed heating pad on top of first layer
-Started kitchen tile (should be done tonight and dry thursday)
-Built new entrance way / vestibule to master bedroom
-Built behind the bed 'niche'
-framed and drywalled up the old closet door in the master.
-started work on the front staircase 'niche'

Check out the gallery

Construction Schedule / Things to do.

2005-12-21T06:26:00.000-08:00

Wednesday:
Ciot - Tile, Grout, Screen+Adhesive?
Steve - Horses, Chop Saw, square Bronze 1/2" u channel, Silicone, Level, RONA CARD. Pickup Truck
Scott - Tools + Borrowed Hammer Drill?
Rona - Massive drill (for outside wall), Flexible Pipe, Mastic, Lumber, Drywall, Powder Mix, Tile screen & adhesive?, Nails, Corner Bead, Square? 3 inch screws, tapcons, Concrete drill bit / hammer drill? Trim kit for closet door + new master door….
Fleece in a bag (for plugging hole in wall, PATCH IT WITH DOORS)
TES - Wires for Jim, Thermostat, Heating Pads

Thursday / Friday
Guide to installing a pipe through an outside wall!
Rustique - visit.
Gingers (for ideas) / Somewhere with good prices (lou?) - sink
Ikea - Vanity (STENSKAR)
CRL - order railing setting channel
Steve the Wood Guy - consult.

PAST This weekend:
Mirror Vanities (source non-beveled!)
Tempo - Counter top for vanity
mosaic tiles (for upstairs bathroom wall!)
Closet insides (pescarollo or ikea?)
Closet doors (c-living)
3M frosting front + railing
Quest - Measure windows, Vent for W/D + Cooktop

Reno-matic

2005-12-18T18:39:00.000-08:00

Ok. We got the keys right around 3pm on friday and so began the dusty mess.

Day 1:
-Removed all kitchen cabinets
-Removed backsplash
-Removed island!
-Uninstalled dishwasher, sink, fridge icemaker (de-icing courtesy of the warga method)

Day 2:
-Removed all ceramic tile and full layer of cement-board from kitchen floor
-Removed 400-500 'hellraiser' screws that held down the cement board.
-Met with Kathleen the painter, she's hired.

Day 3:
-Removed upstairs bathroom vanity
-Removed railing (up and down)
-Removed remaining hellraiser screws
-Met with alarm guy and electrician for consult
-Plumber came and roughed in all kitchen appliances, capped and moved sink
-Upstairs bathroom vanity demolished!
-Upstairs hallway closet, GONE!
-made opening to switch closet from master to third bedroom. SAWSEL!

Full gallery here

the final countdown.

2005-12-15T15:12:00.000-08:00

Tommorow is the day. Dec 16th. Day 1 of demolition. The weather as usual (when it comes to important days) has decided to be completely unco-operative. Well, screw 'em. I got a bunch of stuff loaded in the golf, and i'm ready to destroy a kitchen. Over the weekend i will take some fun demolition pics. stay tuned.

Xilo Tile

2005-12-12T13:56:00.000-08:00

I really like these textured porcelains called xilo tiles. here are two colour schemes with the tiles:

kitchen colours

2005-12-07T13:36:00.000-08:00

Wow, i'm colourblind. I know certain natural materials gel well like stones, woods, glass, stainless steel. But what colour do you make the backsplash, do you use light cabinet doors and dark stone counters? or dark wood doors and light stone countertops?

Here are some mildy entertaining palettes i tried to develop.

cold rolled stairs

2005-12-06T09:21:00.000-08:00

I've browsed the internet and it just seems the railings i find the most appealing are the ones that completely dont meet code. Why is it that the japanese are allowed to have a certain type of railing but we are not (i heard they also build doors out of paper).

Anyways, i'm not building a new home, and i can worry about code another time, here is my design: Top railing: two pieces of lightly frosted glass set in a U channel (that is fastened to the floor. Stair railing: 4 pieces of 2" x 3/4" cold rolled steel, punctuated by threaded holes, assembled with allan-key bolts (sp?). Check it out.

King Size'd

2005-12-05T13:39:00.000-08:00

After fitting in the king it is apparent that my original detail for D1 ( adjusting for the natural notch in the bedroom wall wont work. I'll have to full extend it across. My plan as shown below is to build a filler piece of wall up to about 55" and about another foot at the ceiling. The remaining space will house glass shelves. I think it rounds out the design if i put a mirror adjecent to it, and put a sort of 'sill' that runs the length of both the mirror and the niche.

Irresistable Bed

2005-12-05T10:58:00.000-08:00

We couldn't resist the offer by the people at Upcountry to add to my order. We broseed and browsed (physical and internet) and nothing seemed to be modern or neutral enough for our tastes - within a reasonable price. Everything else that was modern and cheap was too modern or too cheap. So we added this bedroom set to our order - two espresso birch nightstands and a king sized bed with cream coloured microfibre padded headboard.

Floor Plans

2005-12-02T12:02:00.000-08:00

I've done a few partial drawings of rooms in the past few days, and promised full floor plans... So here they are:

Full 1st floor:

Upstairs:

Front Door.

2005-11-30T18:18:00.000-08:00

The house has a covered porch - to be diagramed at a later date. This porch has a key-ed door and is glazed all around in superfragile glass. We plan to put our shoes and jackets in here, and put a glass-break sensor out there, as well as a sensor on the door. BUT i think the current homeowners got it wrong: its easy to get into that porch, the main front door to the house should be the 2nd door. Currently both doors are 'french' style wood doors with glass. I think considering the door to the house is right next to a sliding door, all of the glass is overkill. I am going to look at replacing it with a solid door, or a door that has just a strip of very thick, unbreakable glass.

Stay tuned.

Going, Going, Back, Back

2005-11-29T13:08:00.000-08:00

on friday i am visiting the house for my 2nd of 2 prescribed appointments. I am bringing my electrician with to discuss what needs to be done, and how we can please the insurers as to what our electrical system looks like.

What am i forgetting? i've lined up a hardwood guy, a painter, drywaller, closets, i am the demolition guy for everything.

I still need a tiler, disposal bin....

What am i forgetting?

detailing upstairs (continued)

2005-11-25T13:48:00.000-08:00

An alternative to having the closets on the west (dividing wall) is to have them on the east (outside wall) of the master bedroom.

Plan:

Detail:

detailing upstairs...

2005-11-25T13:14:00.000-08:00

There are two locations where i want to use sliding closet doors by c-living The first is in the master bedroom, and the second is in the smaller middle bedroom.

In the master there are two details shown on the plan that need careful planning an execution. The first "D1" is to eliminate an awkward notch in the wall that falls right behind the bed's headboard - the intention here is to extend the notch past the bed and potential nite-stand.

The second is the careful construction of a drywall partition to help break up the design of the sliding closet, as well as a neat place to put a smaller lcd tv. Shown in the plan as "D2" this drywall partition would house hanging behind it. Both doors would run on independant tracks that terminate before coming out the other side of the partition. the track closer to the door to the bedroom will act as the inner track, and this will accomodate the tight dimension between the wall and the doorframe (24")

DLP vs LCD

2005-11-25T10:33:00.000-08:00

I'd love to take advantage of some of the offers like futureshop's samsung DLP 42" for 1799, but i don't think its right in this space. If the living room has a DLP you will be confronted with it right upon walking in. Instead i think an LCD (either my existing 26" dell, or later a bigger model, should be hung / stood on a custom shelf. The old front hall closet should be used partially for av component storage keeping all the wiring hidden away. When i do the ceilings i can punch out of the closet into the new ceiling for wiring all the 5.1 speakers!

check out the layout / rendering:

Friends and Family

2005-11-24T06:23:00.000-08:00

A business associate was kind enough to invite me to upcountry's friends and family sale last night. We were able to get heavy discounts on things, and i was introduced to the owner for future dealing. The new store on king is great (over 40,000 sf)

We purchased:
This dining room table:

With these chairs (x6)

And we completed the we are 2/3rds complete now in the holy trinity of designer knock-offs. We got a barcelona chair in a one-off colour called cognac. Wasili, Barcelona, ....Eames Lounge....?

Is a Barcelona chair really that unoriginal? I will make no apologies that I love mies, got married in his building, and i've wanted one since design birth. The colour is downright vintage looking, which distracts from the chinese vs knoll comparisons. Is wanting a 911 wrong? I still want one too, i think its the ultimate in design and still reasonably functional. I know there are a lot of future porsche owners out there... he maybe i'll get cognac....

Choice Choices

2005-11-21T11:01:00.000-08:00

I've consulted the reigning experts in kitchen design (my mom). She agrees with me that any island configuration while it may be intially appealing in design will functionally drive me nuts. In the width of the house i will have too narrow passage ways between the island and other obstacles. It will mean as little as 30" / 80-something CM to pass between work surfaces. The U shape of counter top completes a square when you include the frige side. Standing in the middle nothing is more then 1m from the centre. meaning the max you'd travel is a few steps to fridge, dishwasher, sink, cooktop.

Rendering:

Real-life Photo of my colour choices.

Kitchen Confidential

2005-11-19T14:04:00.000-08:00

Its seems that laying kitchens out is harder then it looks. Here are 3 variations that all have pros and cons. If you spot something iffy, lay down a comment. And help! which one's got mass appeal?

U shaped counter top:

Island configuration:

Island with Bar configuration:

German perfection.

2005-11-18T09:23:00.000-08:00

I've been instructed that the kitchen supplier orders from ALNO out of germany. I went to their german website www.alno.de and downloaded their virtual kitchen application. After converting my last post (the map of the kitchen) to glorious metric, i was able to proceed. here are the first two renderings, probably of many.

Kitchen 101

2005-11-17T14:08:00.000-08:00

I went today to go visit my good friends in the kitchen business. Turns out the stuff takes 8-12 weeks to get made, and possibly worse with holidays coming up. Here is a snap of a PDF i made for the kitchen ppl, based on dimensions i got while viewing the property!!! I gotta get on this to have a kitchen in a reasonable amount of time. Here's a layout:

Listmania

2005-11-16T22:00:00.000-08:00

Seems like the only way to spend good money is to make a big list and prioritize how much each item costs, what is most important functionally and what will contribute most to re-sale value down the road. Off the top of my head i visualize the following changes:

Kitchen cabinets
Kitchen floor, counter, backsplash
Kitchen washer/dryer stack
Powder room vanity + sink
Trim work in living + dining (crown molding) + paint
"Media Cabinet" where current front hall closet is
Shelf next to media cabinet for flat-panel TV
New Armoir / Benches for shoes and jacket storage on enclosed porch
Oil filled radiant heater for porch area.
Replace dining room + living room windows with aluminum, more horizontal design
Railing, remove and install glass and aluminum ( install after moving in)
Strip hardwood, and restain darker - fill any damage from removing railing.
Upstairs bathroom vanity + sink, new tiling, spandrel coloured glass on top of old tiles
Upstairs bedroom doors, wood with frosted glass. new door for bathroom and 3rd bedroom.
New front door. New 2nd front door.
Drywall partition and small carpet area from finished part of the basement to finished bathroom ( so you dont walk through the furnace + a door to the furnace area.

Obviously thats way too much, but we'll cut from there

First Post

2005-11-16T21:28:00.000-08:00

This is blog for the house purchased nov 16 2005. 60 craighurst ave will undergoe the best budgeting and choices of renovation that the jcashs are capable of. This blog will archive that process.