post 13: miscellany, more speed bumps

Garrett and I are currently at a laundromat doing laundry that has beer and wine which makes me feel 20 and 40, all at once. That averages out to 30, so I'm still ahead, right? 

My Facebook friends now know all about the adventures of us and the resident house centipede in our basement bunker, who we have named Irving (Garrett named him for Irvington) in an effort to humanize the monstrous beast that we are sharing space with. The price of living in a damp, basement bunker. 

We stopped by the house twice today and I took pictures of both trips. 

This morning, Alex's brother Roman was there doing demo on the upstairs floor. 

Here's a view from the bathroom. 

And a view from the kitchen, below:

We also got some products delivered! 

Our Panasonic fans came in and have been roughed in. 

Current kitchen ceiling: 

More speed bumps: 

So the flooring and tile supply guy told us YESTERDAY that all of the bathroom tile could be shipped together and be delivered within a week and a half. Well, today, he says, sorry, 2 out of the 3 tile types are weeks out. WTF!!! We are really annoyed. So we have to make a panicked phone call to oregon tile and marble tomorrow morning and see if our alternatives can be in within a week. We hope so!!! 

 

 

 

post 12: day 9, product ordering

We hit our first speed bump today - the soonest we can get the bathroom tile is 9/9 and most likely, it'll be here 9/12. That's a full week after we were hoping to start tiling. Sad sad sad face. We meet with Dmitry tomorrow morning to confirm products. I probably won't be able to stop myself from asking about changes to schedule.

Here are some pictures from today's kitchen countertop, flooring, and tile picking excursion. We went to Paulsen's on MLK between Salmon and Taylor. 

Here's Garrett showing me the countertop choices he likes. We picked the top one. It's white, with a faint vein of marbling. 

Garrett inspecting flooring samples. 

Marmoleum modular click boards. 

We also stopped by the Ferguson plumbing supply showroom and found what I thought might be true: there are no narrow vanities that are remotely attractive. We are having Vlad make us a custom vanity for the upstairs bathroom. 

post 11: day 8

I write software. Why didn't I start with day 0?! This is going to bother me!

Anyway, here we are at day 7/8, depending on how you count. Garrett and I have just returned to the basement bunker with a load of homework from Dmitry and Alex. Fun homework! 

Some progress was made at the house today, mostly by Val the electrician, but I won't bore you anymore with pictures of hanging wire. Someone came in and started installing the downstairs bath floor underlayment. 

I had to use flash because there aren't any actual lights and the days are getting shorter. Sad face. 

Mostly, we walked the house with Dmitry and Alex and discussed products that are now critical path: 

Tile. We need the tile at the house by 9/5. That's in less than a week! So we basically need to find a product that's in stock NOW. The product we picked for the bathroom wall are 4-6 weeks out and the product we picked for the kitchen backsplash is 5-7 weeks out. (Sorry, Wendy, that was clayhaus tile.) 

We also need to pick out a vanity for the upstairs bathroom that isn't on back order for 5 weeks. We might have our cabinet maker, Vlad, make a custom one. 

We also need to pick out our kitchen countertop tomorrow! We know we are going with quartz, we just need to pick a color. 

Here are some action shots of decisions being made! 

As we are having Dmitry and Alex re-build the bannister, it involves this stuff along the stair. It's kind of a mess right now and Garrett really wanted it cleaned up. This is them discussing how that might look. I don't know what they decided. I spaced out and started wandering around but I did take a picture! 

Here is a picture of Dmitry demonstrating that if we pick a 24" wide vanity in the upstairs bathroom, that it'll butt up right against the shower glass and that'll be impossible to clean.

Here is Dmitry working out with Garrett how the cork floor of the master bedroom will transition to the tiled bathroom floor. We have a sliding barn door between the two. Once again, they made some decision, I spaced out but took a photo! Where's Alex? He's out of frame, taking notes!

Plumbing inspection is tomorrow! 

Electrical inspection is Wednesday, with a possible plumbing re-inspection that day, depending on how tomorrow goes. I can't see how Arnold, the world's hardest working plumber, could possibly have made a mistake but I suppose no one's perfect and it's nice to account for that. 

They expect to be dry-walling Thursday - Saturday. Yes, of THIS week! These guys are cruising! 

post 10: day 7, electrical electrical electrical

It's Sunday! We are 7 days into our project and we could not be happier with the progress that has been made. Our electrician, Val, did a lot yesterday. Here are some pictures.

This is just entering into the kitchen: we will have 3 switches. One for the overhead kitchen lights (we are salvaging these old Boeing lights Garrett had from his previous house), LED over and under counter lighting on both sides, and one for the fan that is over our dining room table.

Lots of outlets along the north kitchen wall. 

For the downstairs bathroom, Val removed the fan/light combo we had before to be replaced with some Panasonic whisper things Garrett ordered. We got one for downstairs and one for upstairs. 

Also, a better picture of the bench with some of the insulation moved out of the way:

Switch for downstairs bathroom:

Moving to the upstairs, we have more wiring! 

Here is Garrett pointing out charred wood from an old fire in our house. Who knows when it was - we first discovered the charring when we did demo for our skylights 5 or 6 years ago. It's all over the upstairs. 

post 9: day 6 bye wall, hello skylight

I skipped going to the house last night after work. Garrett and I had plans downtown after work and I had to make dinner in our small Airbnb (dull knives, electric stove, tiny pots and pans, and oh yeah, it was 100 degrees.) 

And we had a meeting for this morning with Alex and the electrician anyway.

First thing I noticed was that the kitchen floor underlayment was installed. 

Next thing was they removed the brick/lath mess to reveal the opening that will soon be a half-screen wall. Buh-bye, wall!

The framers came in and framed in the bench that will be in the downstairs bathroom. It's not a great shot since they promptly used it as a place to put insulation but you can see it peeking out underneath. 

Upstairs, the big change is hello, skylight!!! 

Also upstairs, see the upper box there? That's going to be the temperature setter for our radiant heat floor!! Waking up on a winter's day is going to be so much easier (or harder??) 

Lastly, they moved our office fan so it wouldn't interfere with our new closet. Also, the guy fixed the light, which hadn't been working in a year or so. 

Plumbing and electrical inspections will probably happen next week, with sheet rock and dry wall happening after inspections pass. All of Dmitry and Alex's subs seem super awesome so I hope everything passes! 

 
 

 

 

post 8: day 4 electrical work, clean up, plumbing roughed in, permit!

Today's post will seem pretty undramatic compared to others but a ton of work is still happening at the house. It's just all electrical now.

First thing, I got to the house and noted that the driveway had been cleared of debris. 

I went inside and peeked around. The most dramatic change is probably the basement. These hanging wires remind me of a sci-fi movie where the alien pods are growing. 

The plumbing also got completely roughed in! Arnold the plumber is seriously the hardest working plumber alive!! 

Our building permit is also prominently displayed. I'd post a picture of that but I don't feel like redacting the private information out.  

post 7: day 3, plumbing, venting

Welcome to day 3. We just came back from our nightly visit to the house. Arnold, the hardest working plumber alive, is still there and hoping to finish roughing everything in tonight. He's leaving town tomorrow and the hope is that the plumbing inspection passes while he's away. We also got the range hood vent installed today, the tub arrived, and the upstairs bathroom vent was installed.

See pictures below! 

Dapper man with new bath tub. 

Kitchen sink water!!!

Post 6: what the frick are we doing, anyway?

So things are progressing really well after only 2 days!  But towards what? We told you the basics, the 'scope' as it were--but do we have a plan? A design even?

Well, I'd love to say this all just plopped in our laps from the sky HDTV-style, but in all reality it's taken months of careful consideration and long hours of trial-and-error planning to shoe-horn our big ambitions into this strange little house, with our modest little budget.


The images in this post should tell the basic story of what we're aiming for. We'll see how close the 'after' photos come to matching, but so far it's looking like it will actually be better.  How is that possible?  We will just have to find out...

Our original upstairs.  See that strange little room just off-center? That was (was!) a shared walk-in closet that you couldn't really walk into, what with the chimney in the way and no space for hangers.  Also, check out that long, un-usable area under the eaves at the top of the master bedroom on the right. We had a couch there, that just looked nice and was mostly neglected.

The new upstairs! crawl-in closet becomes new bathroom, middle office gets a little smaller but with a closet of its own, and just enough space for our upstairs nap-couch. And the long un-used space in the master bedroom gets a new closet under skylights, with actually MORE hanging space. what?!? how's that even possible?

A cross-section view of the new upstairs bathroom. Not huge, but just right.  A little haven of penny-round and subway tile. And yes, that's a bench. In the shower. Under a skylight.



The original downstairs, with that ubiquitous 50's-diner style checkerboard vinyl floor in the kitchen, the huge box-out around the chimney (aka the Space-Obstructor), and a large but strangely cramped bathroom--with the toilet right next to the door, looking directly into the dining room. Whoever laid this out must've had very little faith in their cooking. The kitchen was (was!) a combination of 40's homemade cabinets, crumbling tile countertop, and cobbled-together IKEA storage pieces along the bottom wall. It served us well, but we can all do better.



The new downstairs, with re-configured bathroom, and a kitchen that opens up the front of the house with the back, with space-obstructing chimney box gone. A double-row of cabinets is added, with whole acres more countertop space, and a sink with an actual view out the window.  Oh, and a real working range hood. Our tired smoke alarm is rejoicing in silence. Can you spot the original IKEA piece still in use?



Original view from the dining table, with the Space-Obstructor front-and center, and the toilet just through that door on the left. Awkward, much?



New view from the dining table. Twice the function, 3-times the light and air, all in the same little space. Hello there, back garden.

Original kitchen from another angle.  Those who've been here before can attest to how...charitable this image is to the actual clunky cabinets and worn-out floor.  Anyone remember that sweet floral backsplash tile? And that big white area in the middle isn't a mistake in the image upload.  It's the Space Obstructor in all its glory.


And now its new incarnation.  The cabinet faces are walnut, their sides white lacquer, and the countertops are quartz.  With the exception of the microwave we're keeping our sturdy appliances. And we will actually be installing an even better range hood than the one pictured here.  We'll just have to keep that one a secret for now. The backsplash is a 1x4 mosaic by clayhaus ceramics in a more rich blue than shown, and the floor will be Marmoleum 'click'.  The screened-wall that replaces the Space Obstructor will capture daylight from the window beyond, while preserving some privacy for the hallway to the stairs and bathroom.  It uses the same basic pattern as the screens on the stair wall, just rotated back to its original Japanese-inspired orientation.

If all goes the way it has been so far, you're more than welcome to come and cook for us here, come October.