Atelier 918

Almost done with finish work

It has been a whirlwind of dust and debris here. Hammering, drilling and sawing. The cloud is starting to settle as the dry wall is installed, primed and painted and the trim work is in place as of today. We still have more painting to do and the floor will remain unfinished until we do the rest of the kitchen over in February-March, but our new little room is almost done. I'll have to get a photo by daylight to show it off.

I was in the kitchen yesterday morning making breakfast and looking out the back windows when suddenly I realized that I can see the whole backyard now. It is really an amazing difference.

The cabinets are ordered and should arrive mid-February and we have just about settled on a cement tile floor pattern we both like. It is finally coming together. We are going to have to have a bunch of parties to show it off in the Spring.

Cement tile option

I've ordered simple sample cement tiles from Tierra y Fuego in San Diego. We are considering buying tile from them as they have a good selection, are on the West Coast and their suppport so far has been acceptable. Here is a link to the page showing all of their Barcelona cement tile patterns, borders and solids. http://www.tierrayfuego.com/FloorPavers/index-barcelona-decorative-cement-floor-tile.htm

Addition construction scheduled

We now have a construction start date on our kitchen addition in a few weeks time; finally our project will really be underway. Still, the cabinets and floor are not ordered yet, both having some lead time so the kitchen won't be done until late winter, soonest.

My partner has been great about anticipating some infrastructure changes that will need yo happen, in particular preparing the basement to relocate our laundry machines downstairs. We are going to have the asbestos insulation removed from the pipes overhead so that we can replace/relocate them to provide more headroom down there. The space needs a heavy duty cleaning-- I'm thinking pressure washing and shop vac kind of cleaning. There is about 80 years of coat soot and oil boiler residue on the floors and walls.

We are also planning to switch to a tankless water heater. There are some limitations on how much hot water output there can be at one time but our water pressure isn't that great, being at the top of a hill do we don't usually do laundry and showers at the same time.

We will have to get the plumbing arranged for the basement to support the machines but there is room to place them near existing pipes. My one concern is that there is no floor drain in the basement in the event of a leak or overflow, though we didn't have one in our current laundry room either and it hasn't been a need.

I know it is going to be unsettling to have all this work done and workers in the house. It should be much nicer in the end.

You know your kitchen remodel project is overdue when...

As I mentioned previously, our washer is dying. Then, just to add insult to injury, the kitchen faucet is leaking and we can't figure out how to repair it (the brand new Grohe faucet arrived two weeks ago, ready for the remodel and our new farm house sink, already on site and awaiting the project start).

The funny thing is that the bucket in the sink catching the drips can be used to help fill the ailing washer. Oh, when your house failings align in a harmonic fashion.

I am just hoping nothing else starts breaking.

On the other side of things, our toddler is now day-trained and in underwear, so washing cloth diapers is less of an issue with the washer problems. You win some, you lose some.

Closing in on the project start

We have been settling the final details and measurement for the kitchen cabinet order should be able place our order within the week. It has taken a lot of back and forth, with my partner spending a lot of time combing over the fine details.

We also met with the builder one more time, to start on the addition construction. We are close to underway, though I doubt the kitchen will be completed by Thanksgiving. We will do our best.

We adding some basement finishing to our project, as we need to relocate our washer and dryer downstairs to make room for the pantry. (did I mention our Fisher & Paykel washer is dying and not worth the costly repair?)

Kitchen Planning Update

The kitchen project is moving really slowly right now. We have our cabinet style and basic cabinet/drawer layout all together, but we need to figure out who we are going to order through. Hopefully that can happen soon.

It is a really great time to order cabinetry right now. With the economic slowdown many manufacturers are offering discounts -- even manufacturers who don't typically offer these types of promotions. You can get custom paint for free, probably negotiate a flat discount as well.

There are so many beatiful cabinet options available today. If you have the money I say go for it.

We still need to order our new appliances and still no progress on the flooring.

At this rate I think we might be done in time for Thanksgiving. Sigh.

Permit Progress

Our plans are now filed with the City and permits are in hand for our little addition. We are comparing final bids before selecting a contractor to work on the project but it should be starting in the next couple of weeks.

There are a few aspects of our remodel that are up in the air still. Windows is one thing. Do we try to find salvage windows, what with Sound Transit doing demo of houses in our area for the new light rail line? Do we get new? If new do we get fiberglass windows or wood windows? The window dealer was playing it that wooden windows fall apart really quickly. It makes me wonder if she is speaking the truth or if she just gets a bigger commission on one over the other.

We also haven't decided where we are going to move the washer and dryer, currently off the kitchen and totally convenient. We want that area for a pantry and we were thinking about putting the laundry on the sleeping porch -- but we have greater hopes for the sleeping porch. Other options are replace them with a stacked pair in the downstairs powder room, which is pretty small and would definately make it less of a guest bathroom if we had to replace that. We could put them in the basement but it is dirty and unfinished down there (coal and oil soot from the old boilers, now gas) and I hated doing laundry in the basement while growing up. Not sure. Not sure...

We have continued looking into floor tile. My partner's mother knows someone who imports the cement tile from Morocco and they are sending us a catalog. From a design standpoint I'm not sure if we want to do full pattern across the floor or just a more selected use of patterned tiles against a solid color.

saturday planning

we have to work on the kitchen cabinet plans -- what structures to store what. I was talking about this aspect of planning for our kitchen remodel with someone at the office yesterday and she thought it would be fun. For me however,who does planning and analysis and project management all week long it is more of the same. Plus, with our toddler there just isn't that much time for us to work on it together -- let alone really explore our options.

I've got loads of books and magazines though, plus the Internet, so I will work it as best as I can.

Kitchen Addition Mock-up

Based on the drawings of the building engineer, with input from the window dealer, we have come up with a more detailed diagram of what the addition to our kitchen will look like. We are basically just enclosing the porch area fully, add in a pantry and putting in some new windows. We also will be removing two windows.

My partner really wanted my feedback and that got me in a panic. The plans we will submit to the city for our permits and once we agree to the plans we kinda need to stick with the plan. Any changes along the way could get expensive, and it isn't like I can change my mind after the construction is complete if I don't like it. And sentimental me feels sad about removing one window in particular.

So, Photoshop queen that I am, mocked up what the house would look like from the outside. Here are the before and after versions:

 

 

Not too bad. My main concerns for the changes is that there should be both design harmony with the rest of the house, and also that the interior flow made sense -- sort of more from a feng shui standpoint.

kitchen storage planning

We've been working with a cabinet dealer for our kitchen remodel and I was hoping to get a little more guidance on storage planning and needs. Since that isn't happening I started wooking on a spreadsheet listing out all the items in our kitchen. I looked around online fir any planning tools of that sort but didn't find any in the limited time I have.

I have been adding in notes, both of where the cabinet dealers plans have things going and where I will want them. I see lots of omissions in the current plans. The basic configuration will stay the same but whether we have drawers or cupboards or other special structures all needs work. It might take another two weeks to get it all finalized.

Has anyone seen how a kitchen remodel is kind of an odd puzzle? You gave to sort of figure out what styles you like and then get some benchmark info on sizes and then you have to tweak everything to get it all to come together. At least that's how our kitchen remodel planning project is progressing.