1110 Watauga Street

update 2010

2010-05-23T12:38:00.000-04:00

although my blogging has slowed considerably (okay - come to a complete halt), our work on the house has certainly not stopped. and although there have been a measly 4 posts since may of 2009, when i look back at photos from last spring, i am reminded of all we have this year that we didn't last year.

- a deck

- a finished master bath

- a completely renovated hall bath

- trim and paint in several rooms

- a full grown dog (who i still call my puppy)

- curtains up in the living room (sorry, no pics... yet)

and the most recent work: the exterior of our little house.

to give you an overall sense of how it will look in the end, here is a site plan.

first up was the front porch. i decided i wanted the option to add rails to the porch, so the aluminum columns that were merely leftovers from the gross vinyl column were not going to work. (there wasn't a way to gracefully add railing to 4" round aluminum columns... or not that i liked.) so we went the simplest route possible: 4x4 pressure treated columns. then we moved forward with the plans to add new wide sitting stairs and a planter box to announce the entry a little more. the planter box has been a huge hit with friends and neighbors. so i think it was a good choice...

here are the photos of the work to the front of the house.

we used what we could afford.... re-dried treated decking boards. robby ripped them down to give the square edge (no rounded edges on a modern planter box). and we had to go through and hand pick boards to get grain that i was happy with. (it was a struggle at first to convince robby that this was necessary, but in the end he agrees it looks a lot better)

from there we turned our attention to the backyard. the attempt to plant grass last year on the hill that divided our yard failed. (the incline was too steep with a puppy that likes to run laps in our yard) so we cut the hillside and robby built a retaining wall out of 6x6 heavy timbers. (yes, it is true, he can build just about anything and make it look good) we then seeded the yard (again) and this time have had more success than last year. spring is really not the time to try and grow grass, but i think we will be able to make it through the summer with what we have and then seed again in the fall.

voila.... beautiful green yard! and please check out the shrubs along the fence... notice how much bigger they are this year than just one year ago. (and since this photo was taken they are probably two times bigger)

new rhododendron planted along the other fence.

next up we've got our first ever vegetable garden, along with the beginning of a new fence along the south side of the house with a gravel pathway.

the vegetable garden as of May 5th.

the beginning of the fence - which will match the planter box in its design - and the new pathway which will eventually get pavers.

the pathway continues around to the back of the house.

the view from the back looking to the front.

and the vegetable garden as of today... may 23rd. and check out the hydrangea! it was TINY last year.

SO, as you can see, we have actually been very busy... just all on the exterior. the house needed major help in the curb appeal category, and hopefully we are getting there. in a few years when everything has finally grown and gotten full i think it will be a lovely house and yard from front to back. here's a nice reminder of what it was on april 1, 2008. and the photo below from april 17, 2010.

bathroom

2009-11-25T15:33:00.003-05:00

just in case there is anyone out there reading this blog anymore, i thought i would post before and after hall bath photos. quite an improvement i think.

here is the after:

and here is the before:

here is a detail of the light fixture. i really like it. i think it goes well with the retro floor.

slip sliding away

2009-07-06T16:41:00.003-04:00

i know i have abandoned this blog. it is not my intention because we are still working hard on the house. but life as an architect + photographer has gotten hectic lately. i've got a few shots from late april/early may of the bathroom work. that bathroom is done now, and also has once coat of paint, but i don't have photos yet. also, here's one shot of the living room with some paint on the walls finally... it still needs touch ups, and we're far from finished with the paint rollers, but it's a start. more to come...

first the bathroom. IKEA sink that i love. and the toto toilet is like the one in our master bath.

robby with his winter beard working on grout.

and the fixtures in place. i know, i'm a dork.

and here's the living room. one dark grey wall. it turned out bluer than i thought it would - the color is steel wool from benjamin moore. i like it, though... i think. the green in the nook is still the test swatch. but it will be that color, more or less. the rest of the walls are a faint grey... mostly white, but up against the few places where we have trim painted you can see the difference.

maybe you can tell the color of the walls a little better in this shot of the kitchen... up against the white cabinets and countertops. it's subtle.

that's it for now. one day i'll have it all done done and get some final shots up. but we've got a lot of painting to do before that.

the final lap....

2009-05-07T22:24:00.003-04:00

well folks, it seems we're on the final lap of this race: the hall bath. i left you with demo, now i bring you tile. floor tile at least. here we go...

black hexagonal tile. it's something i've been dreaming of for a long time. i don't know why i love it so much, but i do. and now i have it. first sheet going in. it was harder than it looks, but as always robby rocked through it.

it's the small things people... like arranging the cut tiles by size. (largest to smallest)

grout night.... there was literally a funnel cloud overhead. seriously: a tornado warning. funnel cloud spotted near our house. and robby just ignored it.

and a backyard update... grass is growing!

and the other things we finally got planted are flourishing as well. we love the fig tree our dear friend dawn gave us. it only took 9 months to get it in the ground, but it's alive!

and new plants along the side of the house...

we're alllllmost there. soon enough we will be. we can see the finish line very clearly!

yard time!

2009-04-23T22:59:00.002-04:00

so we spent this past weekend working our tails off in the yard... moving mulch, moving rocks, finding snakes (4 of them!), making new beds, planting new plants, seeding and fertilizing... i could keep going. it was very rewarding to start to see it all come together. there is still more to do (and a vegetable garden to plant- fingers crossed) but we feel like we've made some real progress.

i'll start with some shock and awe... the yard one year ago (horrifying as it was):

and the yard as of this past sunday:

obviously some of the improvement comes from our neighbor building a big fence (i guess she didn't like the view... i can't blame her until recently). but we've worked hard to get all those gross weeds out and to start planting things that will grow and look great in the years to come.

now we'll go backwards...

final deck photos. robby has officially decided our deck has a very "zen" feel to it. i think it's because the deck, the house, and the oak tree have a lovely little conversation occurring. they all work together to create this awesome outdoor room without there being any walls. so i tried to capture more of this feeling, but i have to say - you just have to come experience it in person. (that is an open invitation)

now we move to the front of the house. robby took out the old nasty ceiling fan and put in a new light from (you guessed it) IKEA. $30 goes a long way there. (personal disclaimer: this light isn't made for outdoor use, but our porch is covered, so we'll be fine). he also finished removing the old railing and plastic column covers to reveal the aluminum underneath. we've gotten some positive feedback on those, so they're here to stay for a while.

here is a random shot inside from the front door looking back. i had a wide angle lens and i think my sister asked for this shot last july (sorry for the delay), and i had just cleaned so things were relatively tidy... still no paint on the walls. still no personal photos or items out. and still no built-ins in the living room. all in due time.

okay, and here is the finale for the back yard. i'll have to post front yard photos once i take some. so along the fence we planted forsythia and lilac. we finally got our fig tree in the ground. and i divided some of my hostas from the front yard and brought them to fill in around the hydrangea. i also bought pink hypoestes to fill in, too. sadly those are just annuals, though.

here are my peonies that i am SO excited about (if i can keep boone from killing them). 6 buds total, so i'm hoping to get at least one nice flower arrangement from them.

more shrubs we bought for around other parts of the house. soft touch hollies and golden leaf cyprus. both will add year round color to some parts of the house that just need to be covered up.

robby throwing down wheat straw on the grass seed... fingers crossed we get some grass!

and my very special lily-of-the-valley. this came from my mom, which came from my grandmother's, which i believe came from my great-grandmother's garden. i have 5 blooms and lots of healthy leaves so it's life here in well rooted, i hope.

and a shot i stole of robby all dirty and sweaty on saturday. i bet anyone out there who did yard work this weekend knows the look on his face.

april demolition brings...

2009-04-06T22:10:00.004-04:00

...new may bathrooms? well, something like that. either way, my brother-in-law shaun came up for the day saturday to help robby knock out the original bathroom demo and install the new window. i was gone all day and missed all the fun (ha!) but i was giddy with the progress they made (with the help of andrew, too) and the results of the new window... for once i actually really like something i designed without any real hesitation. now i just can't wait for it all to get finished.

i am using slightly more "retro" finishes for this bathroom since it is part of the existing house and the cool cast iron tub will remain. i ordered the tile today... white subway tile for the tub walls and 2" black hexagonal tile for the floor. i can't find a good image online of black hexagonal tile, but trust me- it will be cool. it better be... it is the most expensive tile we've used to date. but i've known since we bought this house that was what i wanted in there. it's also a tiny floor (only 30 sf) so i can justify it. here's the light fixture i've ordered for this bath. and the sink + cabinet (in white) from IKEA that we're getting this weekend in charlotte. it should hopefully all come together nicely.

but for now, here are the photos from before and demo. enjoy!

BEFORE:

they wish this were for real... the chainsaw was for another project you'll see coming up.

the chainsaw takes the stage: the old dying dogwood in the backyard came down. it was in a terribly awkward location and not in good shape. the backyard already looks much better with it gone. we have plenty of shade trees so this will actually open up a good sunny spot in the yard.

boone assisting as usual...

and here's the bathroom all demolished and with the new spiffy window! no more window in the shower!

the window has glass called "obscure" so no blinds are needed... it looks good on the inside and out.

pic of the finished step on the deck... it looks great! robby also spread some mulch on the side yard. eventually that will be a patio.

i am a happy gardener this spring.... my peonies are coming up! i just hope they bloom!

remember these? they've grown and have been moved, but they're looking great this spring. getting the yard to look good takes more patience than i really have, but i'm trying so hard.

more on the deck...

2009-03-29T21:32:00.003-04:00

so robby basically finished the deck today. just the little platform stair on one side is all that is left. and let me tell you, this deck ROCKS!!! here are some photos from today/tonight to prove it...

well, we start with important things here... boone and robby snoozing on the sofa this morning. so sweet.

footings FULL of water from the deluge of rain we've had the past 3 days.

i didn't photoshop this image at all... the sky was seriously this beautiful today!

me enjoying the deck. robby working on the deck. boone eating sticks on the deck. we are a happy crowd.

more important things... puppy love on the deck.

and a little robby love, too.

playing on the deck tonight... hooray!!

doesn't it look awesome? i also love how you can see the blue paint swatches on the ceiling in the bathroom in this photo...

yay for robby rocking the deck!

365 and counting...

2009-03-28T07:35:00.008-04:00

so today marks one year since we closed on the house and started work. i was going through all the old photos and decided it was time for a little slideshow to show the progression over the past year. it's a little long- i apologize- but it's a year's worth of work! i couldn't cut that short. robby and i enjoyed seeing all these together like this... and it also made us a little tired to see all that we've done. it's very rewarding to have such a tangible object to point to that shows our work over the past year. now, if only we can get it finished.

*a little grainy on full screen, but i am much more impressed with vimeo's quality than youtube's!
1110 Watauga Street from rebecca necessary on Vimeo.

deck build

2009-03-22T20:48:00.003-04:00

i'm keeping this quick because i am so tired, the bed is calling. basically- we got a big start on building the deck this weekend. the final result will be 16' x 16' and it's going to rock!

not on topic, but i'm so happy to see our lorapetalum by the back fence blooming! this means hopefully, they will grow like crazy this summer... i was out early yesterday morning to get some yummy light.

another early morning shot from yesterday... our footings are full of water.

me being a dork taking a shot of the anchor bolts...once again, i like the warm spring light in this photo.

help arrives! sadie came with JB to assist... and do her best to keep boone from trying to play with her.

despite the border collie in boone, he is not much for heavy lifting...

good thing these handsome men are!

andrew came to help, too.

i left the house and returned 4 hours later to this... they seriously knocked out some work.

boone: site superintendent.

where we started today...

at the end of the day, boone was happy to have somewhere new to rest his paws.

where we finished up... robby got a lot done today. i tried to help but i was so sore from helping to move all the lumber from the front of the house to the back that i wasn't much good. (read: wimpy)

the view from the back door looking out... we can't wait for the deck to be done!

in other news: we are approaching our 1 year anniversary of owning the house. so stay tuned for a little slideshow of everything we've done so far. and trust atlantic bank has officially become my favorite bank of all time... they gave us an extension on the construction loan terms so we aren't in critical-there's-no-more-time-left mode. once the deck is done, all we have to do is the other bathroom renovation. i say that like we're not gutting the whole thing... but hopefully it will go smoothly. either way- we have an extra 30 days so there is a chance we'll get it done.

progress update

2009-03-13T18:20:00.006-04:00

i know i'm totally slack about posting on here. i'd be surprised if anyone even still checks this... but just in case you do, here are some new photos to show the latest + greatest.

here's the latest view of the kitchen. we finally got hardware a month or so ago... i will never underestimate the awesomeness of cabinet hardware ever again.

a blurry family photo in the kitchen commemorating passing our final plumbing inspection!

the office is FINALLY set up! for my birthday i got stuff from IKEA to get my home work space finished. i'm still working on organizing, and we're missing doors for the cabinet in the corner there (and i need to throw out some of my models from grad school...) but it's so nice to have a real room to work!

now we move on the bathroom. still not completely finished, but we're using it! the shower is awesome and wonderful and it is just so nice to have it. (the color is wonky in these two photos, sorry about that).

weird little detail shot of the shower... robby did a great job with the tile.

daylight shots: more accurate color.

the cabinets are from IKEA. we've learned that they have discontinued this line, and we are missing the 3 drawers that go in the smaller cabinet. we're not sure what we're going to do yet. we have the drawer fronts, so most likely we will have a cabinet maker build the drawers... which could be a pricey venture. so we're stalling.

we reworked the closet and this is looking from the bathroom towards the bedroom and the other way around.

here's the closet re-do. it is MUUUUUCH nicer, much more organized, and way better. (thank goodness for IKEA!) oh, but we are missing that bottom right door... for the first time in our IKEA purchasing history we were shorted a hinge!? of all that we have put together, we really can't complain. we'll get back down there soon to get it...

we decided to make a little custom piece to fill in the rest of the space in the bathroom- open storage for towels with space underneath for a laundry basket. we'll paint it white (eventually) to match the cabinets.

now, we head back outside where we had to put up the soffit vent and boards last weekend. thank goodness for the gorgeous weather. my mom was here to do the rare documentation of me and robby working together. it's fun for all!

mom actually chipped in to help us cut some of the sheets of plywood... she's so helpful in so many ways!

the assistant (me) does a lot of "patient" waiting...

... waiting with a sheet of plywood up on the ladder. no big deal.

safety is always first on our job sites. great shot, mom!

last piece...

mom holding the ladder for robby while i take photos.

boone checking out the action. look at those whiskers!

job finished... the plan is to stain the plywood to match the fir back door. if we don't like it, we can always paint it. for now, though, we can pass final building inspection with this. (we hope)

you know we have to do it...

whoa- this was an old school style marathon post. i hope somebody reads this!?!

this made me laugh...

2009-02-23T14:49:00.002-05:00

... and it felt appropriate for this blog. enjoy:

Stuff White People Like: Renovations

tile update

2009-02-08T17:47:00.003-05:00

we've come VERY close to having a fully functioning master bath, but we're not quite there yet. still waiting on a piece of solid surface for the shower niche and then robby can finish the last tiny bit of tile and grout the last two walls. we did get the toilet, faucet and shower trim this week. pics tell it all the best... and we've now moved on to BIG pics... so you can see it all more clearly.

we start off with some of boone enjoying the shower ... sorry, but he's cute, so i have to post these.

robby getting his grout on...

fixtures in! the trim for the shower (the handle to turn the water on) is not the right one. it will get fixed eventually...

although the shower trim isn't what i would pick out, i decided it created a cool reflection worth a photo to get a little fish eye view of the shower...

we're getting close to calling the final inspection. then we'll still have to finish built ins and paint. and then start the renovation of the existing bath and the deck. the work never ends... but we're making fun progress.

snow day!

2009-01-20T17:52:00.004-05:00

we had an awesome, amazing, wonderful 6" (+/-) of snow today at the house. it was beautiful! puppy Boone loved it and we had a great time enjoying it here. we realized that up against the white snow, the color of the house looked more like we wanted... go figure. so here are a few pics. also, a few of the tile work in progress. slowly, but surely we're getting there. we have a friend who is a carpenter coming in to do trim work for us in two weeks- a big blessing that we can afford him! that will make a huge difference in the overall schedule. we're getting close to our personal deadline for Phase I which is to have it all done by april 1.

the sun came out by the end of the day and you can see that even then the color changed...

i liked the view of the snow in the oak tree from the kitchen. and mr. boone spent a lot of his day in bed... lucky puppy.

bathroom updates... robby has done a great job with the tile. he has pretty much finished all the tile that doesn't have to be cut (it's been cold and rainy making it hard to walk in and out to the tile saw).

here you can see that he's started the floor, too.

that's it for this snowy day...

latest distraction

2009-01-11T19:23:00.002-05:00

click here to see the latest distraction and slow down at the house... a good one, though!

one more coat...

2008-12-13T16:29:00.007-05:00

the painters showed up today and got another coat of paint on the house and almost finished everything. there are some pieces that we will still need to replace altogether eventually, but for now they are staying. the main siding color dried a little lighter than we had hoped so for the final coat we are thinking we'll have them darken it up a bit. here are a few pics to show where we're at.

we still aren't quite sure what we're going to do for the columns on the front porch. we discovered that underneath the nasty vinyl columns are round aluminum posts.(you can see one peeking out in the photo below on the right) they really don't quite fit in (like a few other things in/on this house), but we might leave them there for a little while and see what we think. who knows...

the side facing bill's house looks the nicest (below, right)... of course that it is the side most other people will never see. sigh.

best shots to see the color combo. the new front gutters will match these... once we save the money to get them.

interior progress... the cabinet and counter in the built in space in the dining room. still deciding on shelves or art to go above...? and maybe some color... (i'm planning to paint over my christmas vacation)

and the details of the way we decide to finish off the shower wall in the master bath. i had been trying to figure this out forever and had toyed with the idea of ipe or teak wrapping over the wall, but my old boss brett threw out the idea of the same solid surface material that we had used for the countertops... and we went with it. it looks good, i think. thanks brett...

moonlight gray

2008-12-10T21:59:00.006-05:00

that's the color of the grout for the floor tile. it looks sookie sookie sweet!

the tiling continues...

2008-12-09T22:07:00.002-05:00

as you can see below we went with the running bond for the wall tile. it is much more forgiving for first time tilers. it's looking good... robby's working hard. although if you could hear the sounds he is making right now as he apparently forces the preformed shower niche into it's place, you would think the house is going to fall down. yeesh.

time for tile

2008-12-07T13:45:00.005-05:00

so we're finally moving on the master bathroom tile work. it took a long time and a couple of decision changes (by me) to get the tile ordered. robby rocked and rolled through the backer board friday night and yesterday got the floor done except for a couple of tricky cut pieces around the flange for the toilet. it looks awesome... for a first time tile layer i think he did a fabulous job. and he was lucky that i was out of the house all day on photo shoots so i wasn't there to pester him.

here are photos to get you up to speed. i have a super wide angle lens right now for some photo sessions i'm doing, so i'm taking advantage of it in the house...

backer board as of yesterday morning.

i missed the entire day of tiling... here is the tile man himself laying of the last few pieces...

i showed up just in time... ha ha.

the bathroom in the morning light...

detail of the floor tile... if you know me and how much i love gray, you know why i picked this tile.

laying out the wall tile on the floor... trying to decide on either a running bond (right - traditional "subway") or a stack bond...

detail of each...

a couple of shots of the morning light in the house... and yes, our house is a disaster still. one day there will be no construction dust and boxes.

robby is working on the wall tile as i type... so you'll get to see soon which pattern we picked. exciting stuff!

long time, no post

2008-11-09T18:01:00.006-05:00

where did the month of october go? let's see... robby is now, Robby Blyth, LEED AP (go robby! LEED certified), i attended 4 weddings (3 to photograph, 1 to drink all the champagne), and well, then there was that election. it was a crazy month.

but we're back, and we're busy. we've made several small improvements since the last post. photos below to tell you what...

here is the front of the house last saturday... robby had done some repair work to the front where some of the old wood siding was rotten. the painters came that day and put their first coat of peel bond on... it is tinted the color the paint will be so we can get an idea of if we'll like the color or not...

and here it is with the peel bond. it rained here yesterday morning so they couldn't come prime it all. but it already looks better. the foundation will be a dark charcoal gray. white trim. i can't wait to get it finished!

the metal fabricator came on friday and installed the gutters on the back of the house... the rain collection box is bigger than i thought it would be, but necessary for the amount of rain coming off the house at that point.

close up of the gutters...

here you can also see the big old aqua-hut is gone.... the plumbers installed the new Renai tankless water heater this week... it is much more energy efficient so it should save us some money. and it looks A LOT better!

inside we're making progress, too. robby is finishing up the windows in the kitchen, instead of standard trim detail we decided to go back and let the sheetrock die into the glass giving a cleaner look. robby is so handy... he can do it all.

a close up of the work on the windows... just the first coat. still needs sanding and more mud...

i love the close proximity of the work in the kitchen to the morning coffee... just a little sheetrock in the coffee.

we also got the can lights over the bar installed. i LOVE them.

and robby installed the pendant over the kitchen sink. we like it a lot, too... and once we get a 40W bulb for it, it will be even better.

and this weekend was landscape palooza... we bought some new plants at the farmer's market and are making new beds here and there to make the backyard look a little better.

gutters on the other side of the house and a new bed up against the house for hydrangeas... my favorite.

4 white camellias that will one day get big and provide a little barrier between us and the neighbors.

here's how close we are to the neighbor...

and robby made and installed doors on the shed... very handy and now a secure place to store the tools.

and one last little fun shot... looking out over our neighbor's yard it's hard to tell what year this is.... sort of a timeless little neighborhood we're in. we're loving our first fall in our house.

looks like progress

2008-09-24T22:35:00.006-04:00

my dad came down yesterday and got busy the minute he arrived. he started and finished priming all the new siding! it looks so good... and it's only primer! it has made us very excited to realize how great it will look when it's all done. hopefully just a couple more weeks to the outside looking a little more like we want it... here are the updates from yesterday and today.

first a fun random pic i took... i love all the chaos of materials and stuff everywhere...

yesterday afternoon i came by the house to leave a key for dad and the siding had miraculously been finished!

then when i came home a few hours later priming had already begun...

my dad...

and today.... look how great it looks! i thought i was sad to see the natural wood get covered up, but it looks so much better now. more unified and modern, for whatever reason.

i am very proud of robby's hard work on the siding. in this picture you can see how well he matched up the new siding to the old. it lines up all the way around... he knows every detail matters.

i really love it... it looks so good. and it looks so big in this photo... i swear it's not that big!

i can't wait to get the whole thing painted! next week we've got guys coming in to restore the old wood siding (light pressure wash + scrape old paint off) then prime it. painting might take a little longer, but we'll get there soon. then maybe we can start the bathroom before ringing in 2009...

thanks for your help, dad!!

hello, 1938

2008-09-21T15:40:00.005-04:00

so i came home today from charlotte to find this:

no- the house did not catch on fire while i was away (thank goodness)... but we did get some help out here to rip off all the old aluminum siding. what was revealed is, quite honestly, a little scary to me. it is the original wood siding of the house. we were so thankful to find it under the aluminum, and i knew it would look like this, but it is just a little overwhelming to see it. and to see how much work it is going to take to get it looking good.

we uncovered some nice surprises, like tongue and groove wood in the porch ceiling...

and some not so good things, like mold and mildew around the door and some windows...

robby is having to repair the shoddy work of the cheap window installation done earlier this year by the previous owner...

a little residue left near the roof from the fire here many years ago...

and my favorite uncovering: the marks left by the old house numbers and mail box.

some of the wood is in great condition, like this area...

and other areas have a serious "crackle finish" to them... for those of you out there that love the shabby chic look, this is how nature really makes things age. i guess the house at one point was painted red.

there are some weird crackle patterns... tree rings?

so, we hope to get it power washed and scraped and painted very soon. more photos to come as that progresses.

LABOR day

2008-09-01T21:56:00.004-04:00

check out the rest of the weekend progress... all because robby is a rock star. sookie sookie it's feeling like home.

siding: (i did cut 17 of those long pieces... a small, but worthy contribution)

cool picture i snagged of robby in action... love the shadow of the hammer.

LOVE september. it has been my favorite month for a very long time. this blue sky and slightly crisper day reminded me why.

and (ahh ahhh ahhh ahh ahh ahhhhhhh - angels singing) the CLOSET!!! i admittedly have a shopping problem and should get rid of some of these clothes, but i seriously love having a place to put all of them. in one place. at one time. FABULOUS.

there will be another long break in work as we are collectively gone for the next 4 weekends in a row... fun places to go like boston and boone and a cancer benefit in charlotte, but it's going to be hard to not have weekends to work. this weekend should tide us over for a little while, though...

kitchen update

2008-08-31T11:59:00.007-04:00

we are running at 95% in the kitchen.... besides some trim work and toe kicks, a little more organizing, and the cabinet hardware, the kitchen is unpacked and fully assembled. robby hung the upper cabinets this week and worked on the finish panels for the cabinets. so last night we worked hard to get the boxes unpacked... finally.

here are a few pics from this morning...

the pot rack from IKEA that fits the space perfectly (literally within 1/4"). it is taking some getting used to for me to see all the cookware out, but i think i will like the function of it.

we're hanging siding today and tomorrow trying to get it finished this weekend. we'll see...

we are alive!

2008-08-15T17:43:00.006-04:00

we have just been busy with other things... like a quick vacation! sorry for no posts in ages, but we really haven't gotten a lot done lately.

we do have a kitchen at 75% function... the range is in place but still not working, and we still have no upper cabinets for the kitchen. we're going to IKEA to this weekend to remedy that. we also started working on the siding. we managed to get one small side finished last weekend. remember the story about "how do you eat an elephant? one bite at a time"... here are the newest little bites we've taken.

the other side of the kitchen not previously shown... the range is beautiful sitting there. i just can't wait for it to work! (we need a gas line... it's a sore subject at our house)

the rest of the bar cabinets filled in... still no hardware.

and the beginning of the siding. robby finished that entire side by himself from this point... my computer crashed that evening (blue screen of death) so i never made it back outside to help. he is really good at working alone!

the finished result, for the most part. still some trim work to do to this side. and obviously we need to prime it soon.

for now, that's it.

i know you're jealous of my hardware...

2008-07-23T23:32:00.005-04:00

...especially if you like blue tape.

progress occurred today and i am here to show it. we have a kitchen sink! (never underestimate the need for a kitchen sink. i am so happy to have one again.) the dishwasher is in and works... and we have cold filtered water dispensed from the fridge now... a day i have long been waiting for. my dependence on fossil fuels in the form of plastic water bottles has just decreased significantly. for those of you who know me well, this is BIG.

anyway... what you're here for: photos. (see the blue tape? i learned this trick from a very smart lady.)

the faucet...we lost our first faucet. (how do you lose a faucet?) home depot saved us, though. who knew they carried cool hansgrohe faucets for a decent price? let's hope it holds up.

the dishwasher. the lights match the cabinet hardware.

and one more...

substantial slow down...

2008-07-22T23:57:00.005-04:00

it's happened folks. we moved in and got lazy. well, relatively speaking at least. i have definitely gotten slack on the posting of the photos, as my sister has so lovingly pointed out. so i'm here tonight to show the latest progress: kitchen counter tops. i see though that we last left you with no kitchen at all to really speak of. so here's where we are now:

one row of cabinets in completely, except for the upper cabinets... we somehow managed to come home from IKEA with the wrong ones. shocking. also missing the toe kicks/plinths/side panel and the dishwasher/faucet which get installed tomorrow.

robby did hang pocket doors... including this one to the laundry/pantry:

weird little detail of the sink... but someone out there wants to see it:

the "turn down" over the bar. trendy, yes, but it really does feel nice in the room.

looking back into the kitchen. (not the best picture ever) we're still missing the white panel on the back of the cabinets to finish them off.

trying to show the glossy finish of the counter tops. they are more reflective than i thought they'd be... as kathleen said: "they sort of glow".

that's it for now. more to come soon.... as we get tired of living in the half finished house, i'm sure we'll pick up the pace.

okay okay...

2008-07-11T19:18:00.006-04:00

... pictures, finally!!!

the floors were finished and look AMAZING. the electrician rushed in and trimmed out the can lights so we have light in new parts of the house. robby chipped in and, with his dad's help, installed outlets and light switches. several attempts later the washer and dryer are hooked up and working... all in all, the move was a success. it wasn't easy, and we owe a huge thanks to robby's dad and my mom for all their help. we would still be packing boxes, cleaning bathrooms, and loading up our crap if it weren't for all their help!

so here's something to look at....

finished floors before the move in

composite pic from the kitchen looking towards the front door. again, sans all our stuff!

LIGHTS!!! this was a very exciting part for me...

robby testing out our "gallery wall"... we're currently accepting entries for our first show.

move day! the truck loaded...

... by these two goofy guys.

and now with all our stuff everywhere... you can see the IKEA kitchen boxes loaded up in the dining room as well as our new range and dishwasher which are still in their boxes.

the living room...

and the new fabulous fridge... sponsored by my architects' discount! also, one kitchen cabinet assembled and in place above the fridge.

the washer and dryer in place... no pocket doors yet, but those come monday.

and one last view towards the front door... messy. but we're getting there.

we're assembling kitchen cabinets this weekend... hopefully we'll have a lot to show come monday.

one step closer

2008-06-30T23:46:00.020-04:00

just wanted to post a few photos of the fabulous floors at the house! they sanded today and put one coat of poly on tonight. i wish we could have left them plain (HA!) because they looked so amazing just sanded. i hope by the morning the poly will have dried a little lighter, but they look wonderful either way. fabulous floors courtesy of Sedaris Hardwood Floors )

just sanded - before primer: (aren't they great?)

one coat on:

and just for fun... two shots taken on the first day (three long months ago) looking in the same direction as the photos from above.

best. day. ever...

2008-06-25T22:40:00.003-04:00

... well, at least in a long time: DRYWALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! look how amazing it looks! we have been totally pumped pretty much all day. i was busy at work, but was dying to just sit and watch it all happen. anyway, photos... i know you've already looked at them.

the bathroom might be the best space, but it is hard for me to photo without a wide angle lens... looking towards the shower:

just nice light in the bathroom:

his smile says it all!

i should probably write something poetic about how it feels like all our hard work is finally paying off... but i really just want to run around jumping up and down screaming HALLELUJAH!

floors are fabulous

2008-06-22T23:27:00.006-04:00

...especially when we didn't have to install them!

so it's been a while since i have given all you photo-seekers anything to look at, so here goes. (i've heard no one really reads what i write... so i'm just sticking with the imagery. i probably wouldn't read it either!)

the glass for the little upper windows came in last tuesday....

and while robby and i were in charleston this weekend, the floors magically appeared. i'm glad someone was working hard at the house while we were away....

view from the front door:

view from the back door:

and from in the kitchen:

the floors look great and make the space seem so big. it feels like we're getting somewhere again... insulation tomorrow, drywall tuesday-thursday, then they finish the floors. meanwhile, we have to pack and figure out the logistics of moving into a half finished house...

building your own house is a marathon....

2008-06-16T13:19:00.003-04:00

and we've been sprinting for too long.

we love our house, don't get us wrong. but, we're over it. we're TIRED. we're ready for sheetrock and floors and paint. we're ready for the AC to be running. we're ready for it to be finished. i hope you're laughing at us about now, because at this rate, it will be 2010 before we're done.

so if you only look at the blog for photos, you'll be disappointed today. there are none. i spent most of the weekend packing at our current house. my mom came to town to help (this was scheduled to be the move in weekend... one of the many deadlines we've missed.) so i took advantage of her help and got busy. we got a lot done, which is good considering we're out of the town for the next two weekends and are scheduled to move in july 5 (we hope).

robby continued working hard at the house... cursing every time i walked in because i seem to always find something else for him to fix. (my perfectionist streak has been hard on robby). really, for real, this week there will be sheetrock. they might not start hanging until saturday when we're gone, but it will start this week. we should also get the glass set for the fixed upper windows (kitchen and bathroom) this week, too. and hopefully pass all of our inspections... electrical, framing and insulation. keep your fingers crossed!

once there's something new and fun to see, i'll take photos and post it. but until then.... we're still working. you can count on that.

sweat equity...

2008-06-08T22:08:00.004-04:00

...took on a whole new meaning today. the official high at RDU was 101. it felt like eight thousand degrees trying to get work done.

the changes this week are big to us, but small in relation to what has normally happened in a week + weekend. robby finished a lot of the little framing... the two bulkheads and built-in spaces are finished for instance. he got the hurricane clips attached to all the rafters in the addition. the rough in plumbing is done and passed inspection. and the fascia boards are up as of today.

here are just a few photos... i was too hot to take more than a few.

the thermostat INSIDE the house. we can't run the air yet, so we suffered with this heat wave.

today... working on the fascia boards. robby had to cut back the old trim and corner boards to prep for the new.

i primed the boards after we ripped them down to size.

then we had to get the boards up. poor robby was on the roof in the afternoon sun. i was on the ladder helping, but in the shade. it was seriously brutal.

you can see a couple of the boards up... it seems so small for all the effort it was!?

this weekend we were too gross....

inside view... if you look closely you can see the two bulkheads that are finished...

this week the electrician will be in. followed by drywall hopefully started before the end of the week. our official move in date is now june 30. we will have the floors and drywall done (we hope), but no kitchen. and that is just a good excuse for me to not cook...

i'm too tired....

2008-06-01T22:02:00.010-04:00

... to think of much to say. so i will let the photos do the talking.

IKEA! last sunday.... feels like a year ago. but we survived!

there i am burried behind all those boxes that were ours...

here they are outside waiting to be loaded...

empty van

loaded down with our kitchen and bathroom cabinetry...

we had to do it...

then we had to unload it at the house. we put it in the front room for now...

wednesday night the door came in. we were excited to get it set... it looks great.

happy to finally have a back door!

back view with the door in...

yesterday robby got the other two kitchen windows in. they add a lot of light to the room.

today we finished the rest of the framing!!! (there are a few odds and ends, but all the walls are officially up). we started out with some demo (hence the mask) and robby checking outlets to see which ones might shock him...

a little chaos to get this last wall up. temporary walls, demo, frame, and LVLs. we finally got the whole LVL thing down... of course this was the last one to go in.

ryan showed up just in time to help us with the LVL...

then he took charge of the camera for a little while....

and documented the role i have played in framing...
step 1: bringing the wood into the house... (here a beefy 2x10... )

which makes me tired...

and step 2: cutting the studs to length... then robby does all the rest. which is a lot!

and that's how we've gotten it all done.
all opened up finally! it is so big.... i can't wait to get it finished and move in.

we had a lot of fun visitors today... victoria with sky and cole, chad and ashley, meredith, nicole and tim, ryan and whitney... thanks, everyone, for all the support. we couldn't do it without the encouraging words and much needed breaks!

walls, walls, everywhere

2008-05-26T18:31:00.009-04:00

for a quick IKEA update... we did make it. i'll post hilarious photos of that later. we bought A LOT.

this week at the house we were focusing on framing walls. mostly partition walls, but a few that were a little more complicated than most. my dad came to town (he was dying to see the work in progress) and helped out some while we were at our day jobs. we've really gotten a lot done... enough in fact, that the plumber should be in tomorrow to start rough-in...maybe. a moment we thought we might never get to.

photos to tell the story...

dad doing demo...

robby joining in after work:

this header (another LVL) over the pocket door in the master bedroom was a beast...

it took a sledge hammer for robby to get it in.

this LVL will forever bare the marks of how painful it was to get in...

the windows arrived early and robby couldn't wait to get a few in:

the two casements that are over the kitchen sink

robby cutting holes for the little slit windows even though those aren't in yet...

a sea of studs.... walls and rooms, but it's hard to tell

safety is #1 on our job site

success!

the window in the kitchen

from the outside

construction as art...

this is some of the plaster mesh my dad revealed during demo... i think it's beautiful:

enterprise-rent-a-NOTHING

2008-05-24T13:52:00.001-04:00

to all the raleigh readers: DO NOT EVER use the enterprise-rent-a-car downtown branch....

we were supposed to be on our way up to IKEA in woodbridge, VA to pick up our kitchen cabinets and all sorts of other goodies today... but oh no. i reserved a cargo van from that enterprise and when we show up to pick it up today, they don't have one?! i mean, who does that? it's their sole purpose of existence to have cars/vans to rent.

so basically the guy was a total a**. he didn't even offer a coupon for a free or discounted rental next time. (what happened to customer service?) so there were no vans available to rent anywhere today. (not that the enterprise guy helped us in trying to look for one) so we will have to go tomorrow. but we've wasted 5 hours of work time prepping to go... very angry we are.

so really... i know it's convenient for all of us downtown raleigh folks... but DON'T go to that enterprise!

if you want to destroy my sweater...

2008-05-18T23:23:00.008-04:00

...hold this thread as i walk away. we haven't really destroyed our house so much as dismantled it. but a few times in the past few days it felt like it might take a lot to get it rewoven. as usual, though, robby the rock star pulled through and by the end of the weekend it felt much more manageable. and also like a really big house!

progress as of friday after work....

tarp on the roof, house wrap on, sheathing on (no window holes cut since the windows won't be in for another 1.5 weeks)

interior shot from front door looking back towards the addition:

first thing was to rip up the old linoleum and subfloor... it was tough work getting out old rusty nails...

then the old back door and kitchen window came out:

and another window from the dining room:

as we left it late friday night, same shot as from above:

then saturday arrives. robby gets up and over to the house and by the time i get there (after a birthday party i photographed) he's done all this...

put up temporary walls and knocked out part of the existing old load bearing exterior wall... he's fast.

then came time for the triple 9.25" LVLs. these take the place of the load bearing wall that was there. we {heart} structure that keeps the house from falling down! however, this was no easy task. here we are (meredith came to help saturday) taking a break from just carrying it in from the back. it was so heavy robby needed a beer!

as we rested we took turns kidding around with it as it was sitting up on top of the ladders...

then brian came over to lend a big helping hand and we got it up!

hello big open space.

we worked late saturday night...

today wasn't the most productive... but we got one partition wall almost finished inside.

today as we finished up, from the front door looking back. see the difference from the first of this shot? (sorry for the big fridge in the way!)

we had a crazy storm this evening...

that proved the cricket sheds water!

final shot from the weekend... composite from a corner in the soon-to-be kitchen. you can see the partition wall up that we did today. it is amazing how big and open it feels now. i think we're going to like it. (as usual click on the image and it will get bigger)

(laziness)

2008-05-13T20:33:00.002-04:00

so i've not posted in a while, and i would post new photos tonight, but laziness has hit me. not really, it's more like busy-ness has hit. i just haven't made it to the house with my camera in a while, and it was a crazy weekend with graduation at UNC (Susanna Birdsong, MSW!!) and nasty weather. we did purchase our appliances, which is a huge check off the list. we got a great deal at HH Gregg... if you're out there and need appliances i highly recommend it. robby even scored a free 19" LCD tv. pretty sweet little deal.

the progress we have made includes sheathing on the house and roof, the house wrap is on and more demo inside. robby (and ryan) get the credit for all this. i've been sweating over cabinet choices and arrangement. i've also had to balance the construction budget since we closed on our loan last week and had some bills to pay.

so a new post soon, i promise.

robby rocked the cricket!

2008-05-06T23:21:00.004-04:00

some of you have intelligently asked us about how we're dealing with rain in the valley created between the old roof and the new. this is the answer... well, half the answer at least!

this is the cricket. a crazy little angled roof that connects the two main roofs at a high point in the middle and slopes down either way to get water off the roof. robby got half of it built tonight... figuring out all those compound cuts was quite a task... too bad real life doesn't have a mirror command for the other side. it will get sheathed and finished with shingles like the rest of the roof.

this is the view from the low end:

this is the view from the high end:

higher up on the roof:

robby thinks he's the bee's knees now....

fun times on the roof

starting to take shape

2008-05-04T21:52:00.013-04:00

we made a lot of progress this weekend... i'll let the photos do most of the talking since i have 8000 of them to post.

friday night robby and i finished laying out the last bit of wall. robby voted first... notice the sticker.

robby's super cool safety goggles... nice reflection.

proof i do more than just document the progress... i {heart} power tools.

laid out, ready to go up saturday morning.

ryan came over again saturday to lend us a (tall) hand... and we got the wall raised just the 3 of us.

henry telling us how it should go....

plumb walls!

ripping off the existing roof to make way for roof rafters...

my role in this part was clean up... i made up a game for the dumpster throw called "death stick toss". all the boards that come out of the demo work all have old huge rusty nails attached to them... hence the name death stick. they are dangerous. but my game was fun...

the roof was on fire at some point in the history of this house. we knew that, but saw first hand the results when some of the rafters were exposed.

flash forward to roof rafters up! this moved really quickly. ryan and i measured, marked, and lifted. then ryan and robby nailed into place. (i physically couldn't handle the nail gun up on the ladder... so sad)

visitors... stevie, katherine, and hannah. and our neighbor and friend brian helped with the rafters once ryan left. both brian and ryan were a HUGE help!

back to work after the visitor break. robby and brian knocked out the majority of the work:

by the end of the day, it really started to feel like a space we could live in, not just walls.

we were TIRED.... thank goodness bryan's wife, kathleen, made us a yummy dinner.

sunday sunday sunday!

today was rough.... it was hard to get going, but as always, starbucks helped.

the task of the day was to get roof sheathing on. (i.e. 4'x8' sheets of 1/2" plywood attached to the roof rafters). it was my job to lift these sheets of plywood up to robby.... holy moly i'm making new muscles all the time now.

our pile of plywood:

step 1: get it leaned up against the wall:

step 2: lift it up to robby (no photos of this)

step 3: robby maneuvered these giant sheets like they were sheets of cardboard. he is amazing... and definitely had the hardest job!

real progress! this really feels like the addition i designed. we have decided to keep the angled corner in the kithen open and just put glass in. more money,but we think it will be really nice.

this corner is facing south so it gets filled in with wall. but there is our bathroom! so exciting to watch it come together...

views from around the house...

from the back yard: (if it looks wonky and like it is sloping, it is an illusion... everything is plumb, square, and level. checked and double checked... it freaked us out, too)

best view is from the side street.

just to make it very clear how terrible we look after every work day, we have our self portrait. we really are having a great time doing this together!

and to end, we have a little bit of rafter art.

wonderful news!

2008-04-28T18:54:00.003-04:00

we got the appraisal back, and all our worries and fears were for nothing. it came in well above where we needed it to! plenty of room to spare, which is a great feeling. we now feel confident that we can move ahead and know that this is a great investment, a lot of fun, and a wonderful learning experience! thanks for all those toes and fingers you had crossed... it paid off!!!

this week we'll be finishing up with framing the walls and the roof. stay tuned...

it's hip to be square

2008-04-26T23:03:00.008-04:00

we framed today, and that was the theme of the day. it was a battle at times, but the moment we lifted (and almost all crumpled under the weight of) the big part of the back wall, i knew it was worth it.

today would not have been possible without KC, Hannah, Ryan, and Meghan. you guys ROCK! we are so grateful for our amazing supportive friends who spend their saturdays (and evenings) helping us. we feel so lucky... THANK YOU everyone.

to catch up on photos, we'll start with tuesday night with robby and andrew working their butts off in the dark:

the finished floor system:

then i got busy working and didn't get any photos of the subfloor process (perhaps because that was last night in the dark with lots of cursing) so here is the first wall up:

then we had a cookout. our dear friends bethany and jeremy are in town from boston so we had to take a little break for everyone (helping or not) to visit...

robby manning the grill

back to work. our neighbor henry was a huge help today... here he is telling KC and robby how to get it done right.

part of the big back wall up! this was a beast... but we survived. i am loving the little slot window... you get this amazing slice of the tree in the back yard. worked out nicely.

hannah stayed until the bitter end...

so did KC and henry

construction art

end of the day clean up time...

even at the end of a very long hard day, robby still looks good... not fair.

hopefully we can get the rest of the walls up and the roof this week... but tomorrow, we are RESTING! no work. visiting with the boston gang and laying low.

super thursday

2008-04-23T22:57:00.002-04:00

at 8:30 in the morning i am meeting the appraiser at the house for the big showdown. everyone please keep your fingers and toes crossed that we come in where we need to.... and LOST comes back on tomorrow night, so there will be that, too.

robby and andrew worked super hard last night (until 10 or 10:30 in the rain) to finish getting the floor joists up. at the very end there was a big realization... the foundation is 1.5" off square. robby figured out that the masons pulled their corner mark out and then set their board on the wrong side of their mark (hence the precise 1.5" it is off). we'll live with it and hide it in the wall on the inside... but it sort of sucks knowing it's there. we could have the masons come back out and redo it, but that takes time... and time is something we don't have. but hopefully as of tomorrow (or friday), we will know how much money we'll have!

i'll post pics of the muddy boys working in the dark last night later... thanks again andrew! one night we'll eat something other than pizza... i promise.

one bite at a time

2008-04-20T20:13:00.007-04:00

how do you eat an elephant?, my mom asks. i have no idea. robby is scratching his head... so she says, "one bite at a time." our house is the elephant. a big huge elephant. we bit off a lot this weekend...

the masons were there friday and i came home to a beautiful foundation... it really made my day. they did such a great job... they were extremely fast and very good. (notice the bubble perfectly centered on the level). these were actually taken after robby had already waterproofed the foundation... but you can still see how great it looks.

so the plan this weekend was to get the floor system in. but when we woke up saturday morning i got us all off track. i have been so distracted by the conditions of the yard, that i began thinking out loud about getting some of that taken care of while mom was here to help. the next thing i knew we were at home depot renting a tiller and going to logan's to buy plants that will cover up the ugly fences and fill in the front of the house. this whole task was extremely exhausting... and we didn't get anywhere near finishing, but we did get a good start. especially on the front. the pictures will show that... take a look back at the original posts to see the before. SO much better.

so while mom and i were trying to work on that, robby waterproofed the foundation wall, added the foundation drain, and graded around the foundation so water will run away from it. (and brought us several wheelbarrows full of dirt, tilled up the yard to make plant beds for us, and corrected us when we put plants in the wrong places... according to him).

i was so busy working, i really didn't get too many photos, but here are a few:

front of the house:

the plants we bought at logan's that will grow big and fast to cover the fence... love the color combination:

before of one corner: (really, before there were tiny little maple trees everywhere!)

after:

my mom is amazing. she showed up, cleaned our kitchen, sewed on buttons, and did a TON of work in the yard... and wasn't even tired today. i hope when i am her age i can be a super hero mom like she is.

self portrait time... we were so gross.

so today we woke up.... thought about not getting out of bed, and realized we had an elephant to tend to. i assisted robby by measuring where the anchor bolts were in the foundation and helping him drill holes in the sill. we got that done and moved on to the rim joist. that was mostly robby, but i helped when i could. that was about it before the storms rolled in. we got one floor joist in, just to say we did, but i didn't get a photo of that.

robby working hard today...

detail of the sill with the anchor bolts....

cool photo of work in progress... and the patterns it leaves behind.

rim joist finished:

the storm clouds looming...

self portrait from this afternoon just before the storms sent us home. (thank goodness. i can barely move.)

overall progress...

2008-04-16T21:00:00.008-04:00

so we did get some good new today in regards to the loan... basically, the bank will give us as much as possible based on the appraisal. it may not be what we've asked for, but it should be enough to get a lot done. and what will be left we will scrimp and save and do as we can. we know some really respectable people who have lived with OSB countertops for a while... if they can do it, we can too. our frustrations with trying to do this in the midst of a spiralling economy have not gone away... but we ultimately have faith that modesty in our budget now will hopefully pay off in a few years when we do want to sell this house in a hopefully healthier economy!

so progress continued at the house today... the concrete arrived and the footings are poured. i hadn't posted photos from the weekend yet... i was too depressed to do it last night. so here goes... friday to today:

BOBCAT!!

robby dug out for the crawlspace

have i mentioned that we're having a great time doing this together?

so, i have used a standard nail gun a thousand times.... but a framing nailer is a whole other beast. it weighs a lot and has a powerful recoil blast... so robby made me practice. it was scary...

sunday morning: dunkin' donuts! and ryan (hero #2) there to help...

the boys digging out for the footings...

shirts off... for the boys at least.

i did my share... or all that i could handle. (i could barely move on monday)

footing central...

i got tired after that and didn't get any more photos sunday. robby and i got rebar and got it set in and tied together, and covered everything up for the rain that came monday. we were exhausted.

but it was worth it... we passed our footing inspection!!

today at 4:00 the concrete truck arrived...

i was oh, so helpful today...

i had to at least play a little...

and we made our mark. it will get covered by the brick on friday, but we will always know it's there.

self portaits along the way... we really are loving this.

pins + needles

2008-04-15T21:42:00.005-04:00

as some people know, we still have not gotten a definite "yes" from the bank yet about our construction loan. it was annoying at first, but at this point the stress is really overwhelming. we are too far in to this to have to start thinking now it might not happen... but really, we aren't. we have to at least dance with that notion now... take it out for a drink at the very least.

now we are not worried about whether or not "we" qualify.... we do. but appraisals have started coming in lower than normal according to all sources. has the crumbling economy really finally hit raleigh's downtown real estate market? has my total disgust for the current national administration finally hit an all time high? can george freakin' bush really have done so much wrong that it might keep me and robby from completing this project?

we are certainly not free of blame... our cart is so far in front of the horse that it's not even funny. we saw the work as the obstacle, not getting the money. so we did what we could and got to work. and tore out half the house and started the foundation... we might have a nice new foundation for nothing.... that would be sad.

i hope this little exercise of writing out my concerns in hope that having them out there in the world will make them go away will actually work.... but until we hear, it really feels like we're sitting on those hateful ol' pins and needles everyone always talks about.... not very comfortable.

since it's raining...

2008-04-12T15:54:00.008-04:00

... i thought i would update the blog with some photos from the past two weeks. we have made some real progress with the plans, the finalized budget, and demo. we got our building permit friday!! is everyone aware that building permits are expensive? i wasn't. it was a moment where i felt the first twinge of real "we're bleeding money" anxiety. the bank still hadn't gotten to our loan application... but we were told we'll know monday. we're moving ahead, though. faith comes in handy in these sorts of situations... honestly, it is more that robby already had the bobcat in the back yard ready to dig footings this weekend. so he's prepping to do that tomorrow. hopefully it will dry out before then.

just a little sketch to have on hand... and paint samples. despite popular belief that white is an easy color choice, it is actually really hard to get it right.

andrew and robby doing major demo last week.

robby has worked hard this week to get the screen porch torn out and the aluminum siding off the back of the house. (notice the lovely yellow dumpster) our wonderful neighbor henry came over to inspect the work this week...

we're going to have to trim those branches back a bit...

detail of the WOOD SIDING!! it is not in the best shape, but we'll take it. scrape it, paint it, replace a few boards here and there and we'll be good to go.

more to come as we do more. it looks like a real construction zone these days... a little alarming to think we're supposed to move in in 6 weeks.

new kitchen plans!

2008-04-10T23:13:00.004-04:00

shocking i know.

this version saves money (less counter top square footage, no more wooden box, one main plumbing wall) and i think just works better. or at least it is getting there. it is certainly easier to deal with the prefab kitchen units form IKEA without corners. still some things to flush out, but this just seems right. a big thanks to all the talented ladies at cannon today for input! and everyone else who has weighed in as well. it really helps to get outside opinion. it is harder than i expected to be so closely tied to the entirety of the project... as usual, let us know what you think.

oh, and here's a shot of the handsome builder hanging around the house... i have more photos to post soon.... i've just been trying to get these plans worked out. oh, and keep your fingers crossed that we hear from the bank tomorrow about how much money they're giving us. anxiety at it's best.

options

2008-04-07T23:11:00.005-04:00

okay, so here's where you can help if you're reading this blog... i know you are all opinionated. so tell us what you think.

tonight my friend/former teacher jessica came by, followed by my former boss/ landlord/friend/mothering hero dabney... i brought up to jessica that i have thought about switching the layout of the wooden box/pantry in the kitchen (where should the fridge go?). she then said, "would it feel as much like a volumetric box if it started with a wall instead of a real corner?" (i'll give you visuals, be patient). then dabney followed that up with looking at the more pragmatic situation of traffic and congestion around the fridge if it is where i have it now.

so robby and i have been debating it... the downfalls to the location as it is now (OPTION 1) is that it might cause traffic flow issues when someone is getting in the fridge and someone else wants to walk by. the thing we like about it is the location of the door into the pantry being close to the middle of the kitchen... with that cool little window in the pantry almost lining up spot on.

so then there's OPTION 2... where the fridge is behind the door. not ideal. and the washer dryer is closer to the dining room... (i tried putting the w/d on the same wall as the fridge, but that doesn't seem like the most energy efficient thing to do.) but it does seem more like a box and eliminates the problems of fridge/traffic congestion. and we could swing the door out.

so we really want to hear what you think... one day, when you hopefully walk into this finished house what will you think if you see option 1... or option 2? we know everyone is going to give us hell about whatever decision we make, so now's your time. speak up!

option 1: (click to make larger)

option 2:

ch- ch- ch- ch- ch-anges

2008-04-03T22:49:00.006-04:00

i love david bowie. and i love that song. and i love the idea of changes. (just ask my grad school professors)

we met with the structural engineer monday to help us determine how big the LVLs needed to be (and how many we needed) to support the new roof and the old roof where we are taking out the entire back load bearing wall. it was determined we need 3 9.25" LVLs and they would end up dropping down... i had anticipated this in the kitchen and had detailed a bulkhead to cover the messiness (see a post a while back with the wood running across the top of the bar). the problem was in the master bedroom... so we decided to move the closet. this does a few nice things for the bedroom: gives more than one option for bed location and gives us the ever popular, and usually rare, walk-in closet, both of which are good for resale value. the bedroom is a little narrow, but i think it will work. let us know what you think about the change.

the section (i use that word lightly) up top shows how the bulkhead works in the kitchen over the bar to cover the 3 LVLs. it also shows how the clerestory windows will work in the new spaces.

i'll post more photos over the weekend of the demo progress from the week. a big thanks to andrew garner for all the help tonight... he and robby knocked out a lot. literally.

(click on the image to enlarge)

updated plans

2008-03-29T20:03:00.006-04:00

a little more accurate...

(click on the image for it to get bigger)

it's our house now

2008-03-29T19:02:00.008-04:00

as of about 12:25 pm yesterday, we are officially home owners!

we were instantly amazed at how welcoming people are when you buy a house. we already met all of our immediate neighbors and a few from down the street. our across the street neighbor, Henry Dodson, is a total charmer. he is 82 and was a carpenter his whole life. he did work for some of the most well known architects in all of raleigh during his time (milton small and henry kamphoefner to name two). we had a lovely conversation with him about architecture and building... clearly we will all get along quite well.

here are some photos of the existing interior....

view from front door towards back of house/dining room:

view from dining room into existing kitchen:

existing kitchen:

view from dining room into living room/front door:

from living room down hall into bathroom:

existing bathroom:

future master bedroom: (add 10' beyond that window)

office/second bedroom:

back of the house... future addition goes here:

the shed out back:

we already made some improvements... basically this house is the largest toy we've ever had. and we've already realized how much fun this is going to be. (and how much work!)

robby couldn't wait to take down the plastic front porch decoration:

then susanna and i got in on the action in our own way:

the fireplace had been closed up for about 15-20 years... not any more:

robby taking down the trim around the door into the kitchen... some of the cabinets are gone now. the wall is next...

and of course, robby put up the new house numbers:

we spent the morning doing accurate measurements, so i have worked on more updated plans. i'll post those later.... gotta get dinner and be ready for the carolina game tonight. GO HEELS!

$25.57

2008-03-23T15:49:00.003-04:00

our first real purchase for the new house! the quintessential "modern" house numbers. thankfully home depot has a cheap knock off of the real neutra numbers... otherwise we'd be out of luck. it was a fun and cheap little purchase that gives a great sense of ownership. only 5 more days!

robby also wanted fair coverage of his new air compressor... sears had a huge sale on it yesterday, so it's hanging out now in the basement, ready to be used!

if we build it, they will come

2008-03-21T19:54:00.004-04:00

when i was a kid, i saw Field of Dreams no less than 20 times. robby says he saw it probably 6 times. maybe 20 is a stretch, but either way, i saw it a lot. the point is, that the whole premise of the movie (believe! have faith!) is coming into play in the future of our house project.

as everyone is well aware (well, except perhaps our country's leader), our economy is in a state of major uncertainty. the mortage crisis is obviously a major part of this uncertainty. robby and i secured a great rate for our mortgage. and we thought we had everything worked out to get the money for our addition project. ... this is where Field of Dreams comes in. it turns out everyone has tightened their lending standards and will no longer allow equity to come out of a house based on its future value. (i.e. after the addition is complete) so we are having to go back to the drawing board on how to pay for it all!? this is a little stressful, but we are going to use what we have to get the addition framed and dried in, and then hope and pray that if we build it, the money to finish it will come.

progress

2008-03-11T22:10:00.015-04:00

robby and i sat down over pizza and dr. pepper tonight and finalized a few things, including the floorplan and what the new roof over the addition will be like. sketches to explain...

this combo hard line/hand sketch drawing shows the 10' addition off the back that contains the kitchen and master bath. also shown here is my idea for the deck to have a wall of louvers on the south side that will be planted (vine-ish greenery) to provide privacy and protect that side of the house from the hot raleigh summer sun. (CLICK IMAGE TO MAKE LARGER)

this one shows my newest idea for the roof of the addition. originally we had planned a traditional shed roof... but then i thought : why not pitch it up and make a little butterfly roof so we can get added height and light into the kitchen? i pitched it to robby (no pun intended) and he said sure. (he actually really likes it).

for those of you worried about water (that valley we just made with a quick little sketch can be a big problem if it's not detailed right) the solution is pretty simple... a "cricket" will be built up between the old and the new roof and provide a tiny new little roof that the water will drain off of and into two rain barrels (one on either side, we hope. see top right corner of sketch) so we can water our yard this summer. more details on that to come...

so the new roof idea will provide a nice 10' (10'6") height to the far end of the kitchen and the master bath. we will put a clerestory of windows at the top to flood the space with natural light as much as possible (east light... we should be okay because there are some nice big trees in the backyard). here is an idea of what the kitchen will look like... elevation/section combo.

the other new idea came from this month's DWELL (thanks susanna!). they show an addition to a bungalow that has a kitchen with the exact color/cabinet combo we're using (lacquer white IKEA flat front cabinets with matte black quartz stone counter tops) and it has this wonderful warm wooden box accenting the space. so i decided i wanted the same feel! so the plan is to wrap the walls surrounding the fridge/pantry/laundry with a horizontal wood to provide a little more interest to the space. budget might not allow for this, but for now, it's in the plan.

* this view is from the dining room looking back out through the kitchen. the wood going across the top over the bar is already history.

so that's it for tonight.... we're feeling better about a few things. now i just have to do REAL drawings and probably make a physical model to try out a few of the roof pitches for the back. please let us know what you think... or if anything doesn't make sense.

original sketches

2008-03-09T21:18:00.007-04:00

here are two of the first quick and dirty sketches i did... these are both prior to measurements, but are pretty accurate. (small houses don't give too many options when it comes to the floor plan). i scanned these in a few weeks ago, but it gives an idea of what we have to begin with and where we're going....

below shows two original ideas... the sideways version is the closest to what we're planning to do: a 10' addition across the entire back of the house that will house a new kitchen and master bath. and i am showing too many closets in that sketch... wishful thinking for an 1100 sf house! my mom should make fun of me for not showing any doors in the sketch on the left... it fits in well with my childhood portfolio... mom, i swear i have a masters degree in architecture.

...and so it began

2008-03-09T11:17:00.003-04:00

so 2008 was going to be the year we relaxed. i was finally done with school, robby was happy and settled in his job, i finally had an income..... but that would be too easy. about 2 weeks into this new year, we decided we should look for a house to buy. we knew what we wanted: a fixer-upper in or near the same neighborhood we were already in. we want a house that is more modern than traditional, and that is often hard to find. "flipping" houses has become so popular that it seems every house you walk into has the same granite counter tops, fancy tile, and a lot of other "features" we didn't want.... it's just not our style. with a tight budget and very specific requirements, we quickly thought our search was hopeless.

but then... we pulled out of our driveway and saw it. 1110 Watauga St. just what we were looking for: a little post-war box ready to be modernized... and on our favorite street! (watauga... mere coincidence? we didn't think so.) we called our realtor and asked him to find out how much it was. as it turned out, we could afford it. the rest is a bit of a blur... on a sunday morning we went and looked at it. we knew right away what we had to do. but then came the nausea from that knowledge.... were we really going to buy a house? and with this house came a renovation and addition.... all the work we would do ourselves. again, just what we wanted, but oh the anxiety. so on monday february 18, we saw it again and put in an offer. (happy birthday to me!) the next day the offer was accepted, and it was official; we were under contract. set to close on march 28.

so now, we have a lot of decisions to make... i have a lot of drawings to do... robby has to study for his LEED exam for work! we have taken on a huge project that is going to take a lot of our energy, time, and money, but in the end it will hopefully be a project we can be extraordinarily proud of. we know it will not be easy, but we will both learn a lot in the process. and for us, that is the most exciting part of it all...

1110 watauga, the photo from the realtor site:

there will be more to come... i have done no less that 50 sketches of ideas for the addition. it evolves daily, it seems, and continues to grow outside our budget. (shocking, i know). we're running out of time to make decisions before this becomes a build-redesign-rebuild project.... which will really blow the budget. i hope this blog will hold me accountable and help me get some drawings done for our friends and family to see (and hopefully comment on!) so i can nail some things down. or it could just be yet one more distraction...