There's a difference

between drawing, design and the take your pants off kind of living you do day to day. Where do we put our clothing? Where do we put the vacuum? How about books? Where should the bar of soap sleep it off? Why does the beautiful rainshower head function more like a misty morning? I find that designing affords freedom...line on paper lacks realism, it's all about composition, the layering of materials, walls meeting at 90 degrees. Now I'm a victim of my decision to 'cut costs' by not allowing for enough storage...not a single closet. I had an idea of where all of these things might live eventually, now I'm facing the reality of what it means to store things in the basement. Out of arms reach is quite inconvenient for things like your vacuum or...the 'diaper champ'. I'm not sure modernism allows room for things like diaper champs anyhow, but you get the idea. That's making it on the top 10 list of misgivings.

In stereo...with time lapse...

Photos of the antechamber / dressing area that transitions between the main living space and our bedroom, the pocket door to the room keeps us from frightening the children. The wardrobe works well and its size forces regular donations to the Salvation Army. These doors would make great room dividers, translucent tempered glass in aluminum frames (by IKEA).

I was checking out hinoki products after spying a stool I loved on VivaTerra and in lieu of spending a small fortune on bath mats, I spent $17 on an 8' piece of clear vertical grain western red cedar, ripped it into bite sized pieces and created a small shower rest for keeping soap, shampoo, etc. Punctuates the need for wood and other warm tones in the bathroom.

Soap tray for our shower...d-line, $197.10.....right.....keep looking

Interior skins...

January 7, 2008
Still there?
We'll have more photos this week of progress inside. The holidays have kept us from posting as visitors and celebrations took priority. The top 10 lists are on the way...we've been busy skinning the interiors, the wardrobe is complete, the desk area is taking shape, the chalkboard at the kitchen island (dining side) is complete, shelving is in place. The main bathroom needs more wood...far too gray. I have some ideas about canvas panels with turnbuttons...

Living...at last...notice the blackboard backdrop

Living looking southwest

Lack wall shelving by IKEA, $14.99

Turnbuttons for canvas paneling

A proper meal...

...deserves a proper table. The excuse-du-jour for purchasing new furniture? Hosting the family for Christmas, the old college furniture looks especially tired in our new environment, lights over our table are larger than the table itself...pick one. The overscaled pendant lights were a seed planted months ago...they're the right size for the space but the table that sits beneath is far too small. We chose Room & Board's Portica table in White oak, part of the Parson's typology but in brushed stainless, not black. Choosing chairs was perhaps the hardest part, what's durable enough for everyday kid (ab)use yet still fits with the look of the table and the materials of the house. At the risk of being too matchy-matchy we submitted to the oak ply chairs to match the table top. Problem is, at $89 each the order gets large quickly. What's more???? We get to assemble it, so Christmas arrives early. Throw it in with the Automoblox and LEGO sets I suppose and there will be some tired fingers come January.

Room & Board's Portica, Solid White Oak top; $1419.00

Room & Board's Boxy Chair, in Oak Veneer (cherry shown); $89.99

The other contenders:

Seven feet of table, Crate & Barrel's Big Sur in White Oak, $1699.00

I love the idea of benches but agreed that it's not practical for many guests.

Room & Board's Parson's table, $1299.00...

(we were afraid the black legs would disappear against the dark floor)

Jake by EuroFurniture.com, $89.99

Sundance by Inmod.com, $123.75

Pony Chair, CB2 $119
Laura loved this one, I contended it looked like a laundromat chair

Dressed in winter white

December 4, 2007
Monday's storm is departing now, leaving about 15" over most of the surrounding island and Downeast. We were playing 'sweat lodge' last evening, cranking up our woodstove to a balmy 75 degrees inside. Blogging has taken backseat to life of late. We're unpacking boxes, tending to sick children, and catching up on other parts of life left too long untended.

My post on "10 things I'd do differently" is coming soon, (I'm narrowing the list). I knew going into this that I would treat it as a learning lab of sorts, my wife, however, didn't. Architects are often hyper-critical beasts esp. of their own work. All of this is not to say we're unhappy in our new digs, we love them and there's the companion list of thing's I'd do again that deserves a post too.

I've been fighting with my wardrobe from IKEA lately. Serves me right really. Laura reminded me that the more you spend at IKEA, the more they make you work to assemble it and come up with something good looking. Such is the case with our freestanding PAX wardrobe.

We're using it as a room divider in our master bedroom sectioning off the entry area for use as informal dressing. We knew we'd have to finish the back side of it not only because the backing board is hideous but unfinished and full of VOCs. We're using 1/8" plexiglas, sanding to mimic the translucency of the glass on the front of the wardrobe unit and mounting it on stainless steel studs. This cabinet has taken me the better part of 20 hours to assemble...no joke...and I'm no tenderfoot when it comes to IKEA pictograms anymore.

Master Bedroom Plan, (wardrobe orients to top of page)

Good luck if you're buying this monstrosity. You're better off purchasing the interior components and fitting them into a well-built plywood cabinet carcass. Maine Coast Lumber is a great source for this kind of thing, all made to order and inexpensive. Dovetailed drawers rec'd within 5 days (living in New England), hard to beat. Many local lumberyards offer this service, keeping things local is another on the 10 items list...next project.

Punchlist

November 21, 2007
Exactly 5 months from the day the excavator arrived on site and began roughing in the driveway, we have our certificate of occupancy in hand. Funny thing about a certificate of occupancy, it's just permission...no embossed gold seal, just "it's okay if you want to live in this" kind of approval. We'll have a list of things to square, a front step, a wall hydrant, a few electrical devices, all very minor items. We were counting on receiving our occupancy permit today as we'll be picking up the U-Haul on Friday morning and moving our existence from Bar Harbor to Mount Desert. I think I convinced one of our electricians today to seek an alternate career, he was the unfortunate recipient of a tirade 5 months in the making. To be fair, he deserved it. More posts and details in the coming weeks as we settle in and skin the interior. The images that follow are somewhat stark, partially because we haven't moved in (or cleaned) and partially because we'll be adding an interior layering of function specific details. And, there's still the grading, loaming, seeding, planting, driveway...and my punchlist.

The amateur photo hour follows...

Kitchen toward living

Living sans contractors

Kitchen (minus the proper electrical devices)

The cleanest our mudroom will ever be...note the flush cocoa matting

Bathroom...with Ikea glass panels installed

Open ensuite master bathroom

Master bathroom...bad spot for the recessed light I suppose

Transitions

East Gable, almost.

South elevation, almost.

November 12, 2007
Seeing our family wandering the house, my parents, Laura, Henning, & Sig is a great thing. I feel like we're laying claim to a space that's been our contractor's for the past 5 months. Moving tools out, pulling up the cardboard that's hidden our floor for a month's time, this past weekend marked the transition phase where our house becomes a home. My parents arrived last Wednesday evening and stayed through the weekend. Their visit proved immensely helpful and equally tiring for them I'm sure. Watching the boys, cleaning, cooking, assembling cabinetry, painting, doing our neglected household chores...did I mention watching the boys?

The big task this weekend was assembling the 1300 different boxes of cabinets, door panels, slides, bumpers, and nibs. If I see another IKEA pictogram I'll put a hammer through my skull. Less than useful at times the IKEA assembly instructions bordered on ridiculous...after taking about a half hour trying to add adjustable legs to the first base cabinet things went more smoothly and by the end of the day Saturday my father & I had assembled all of the cabinetry for the kitchen and pantry area. Thankfully my father's well of patience is much deeper than mine.

Dad, fixing my mistakes

Quality control

Island cabinetry in place

Vent hood + Laura pining for her range

Island palette, gray surround, white cabs, butcherblock

On Sunday Laura & I worked together to grout the mudroom and bathroom which was a smashing success and left us still speaking at the end of the day...remarkable progress. Thanks to Lester our general contractor for encouraging words and some helpful tips regarding sponge-work. Other progress...the woodstove was installed, the island completed and countertop installed, undermount sink today. Most of the doors are in place, drywall base detail is complete, the basement stair is ready for our code inspection, the heating system is functioning properly, dryer hooked up, vent hood installed, recessed cabinetry in place, everything ready for a final coat of paint, the electrical devices and plumbing fixtures. The outside is becoming a career for at least two people. Detail shots when things get more interesting.

Sore knees

Eric...repeating "It only looks like cinder block in photos"

Wash me.

Success & failure

November 5, 2007

Time to confess. Not everything has gone perfectly lately.

On Tuesday evening Laura & I installed the so-called ‘self-sticking’ stainless steel backsplash. We planned the sizes, the jointing, templated the outlet locations (by this point we weren’t speaking anymore) and ‘enhanced’ the sticking power of the membrane with some liquid nails. This worked only to reinforce any inconsistencies in the substrate we were sticking it to. We used two different types of adhesive and the better performing one was clearly the DAP Better than Nails tube adhesive. Liquid Nails once spread on the surface cures very fast, turns out much faster than we can lift the panel and align it in place. The photo speaks for itself, not good. Plan B is to construct painted MDF panels that are face mounted to the backsplash to cover the already been lived with look of the stainless sheeting. Work in progress, I’m calling it a failure at this point but I’m fickle. We're speaking again, but not to the backsplash.

With a name like 'Roll-a-lam'...I should've known

This weekend while Hurricane Noel passed by to our east lashing us with strong winds and inches upon inches of rain. We were spared power outages but many of our neighbors were in the dark. A sleepless night found me at our house around 2am early Sunday only minutes later a tree fell a few feet from the car, across our driveway squarely on top of the port-a-potty. Laura and family rescued me later that morning with a breakfast sandwich and chainsaw.
The weekend plan was to complete all of the tile setting. I made it slightly more than half way by Sunday mid-day with the larger bathroom complete leaving the master shower to complete by Tuesday. Things went well, not a professional job but respectable for a virgin tile-setter. It’s markedly more stone-like in person, the photos make it look like…well cinder block. Strike that thought. Now we just have to seal and grout it. Thankfully I masked every square inch of our tub before slinging thinset around, my work with a margin trowel is amateur at best.
And…our heat is on today, starting with a low temp in the tubing to dry things out slowly.

Red = membrane waterproofing (RedGard)

Completed tile work