Finishes Part II

More photos from our meeting this morning.  The interior in the old part of the house has now been painted.  All the tile has been grouted and part of the kitchen cabinets are in.  The countertop folks came by yesterday to measure so they can start fabrication.

Looking into the new entry way from the outside, standing on the new side porch.

Old dining room, painted new!

Laundry room with grouted tile-trim is next.

Looking into the kitchen from the entry hallway.  That's the island on the left.  You can see the new wall for the bar overhang peaking out the top.

Another shot of the dining room looking through to the old living room.

Newly grouted kitchen tile.

The wall cabinets have not yet been installed.  This is looking from the family room into the kitchen at the back of the island.  That's the wall to support the overhang.

Our old bedroom/new guest bedroom/study with new drywall and new paint.

Another shot of the awesome dining room color (can you tell it's my favorite?)

Closer up shot of the old living room, with new paint.

Another shot of the kitchen. I'm  standing next to the island, with my back to the pantry.

Finishes Part I

The house is really starting to come together.  We have new front doors on the old and new porches.  Tile in the kitchen and bathrooms and newly painted walls (which are still being touched-up in the photos below).  

Cabinets will go in by early next week and the siding should be up by the end of the week.  Will we actually be in the house by Halloween?  Free candy for everyone if we are!

Kitchen tile (not yet grouted)

Master bath

My closet

One of the windows in the bedroom and my closet door

Family room

New front door on the old porch, which will be getting a spruce up when the interior is finished.

Trim and Interior Doors

We're moving along nicely now.  Just a couple pictures from the iphone until I have a chance to download photos from the better camera.

Tile is being installed this week.  Painting and cabinet installation will be ongoing next week as will siding!

Closet doors in the kids' bedrooms.  All of the interior doors are this paneled style and will be painted white.

Trim on bedroom windows.  We were going for a simple craftsman style.  I think they did a great job!

Trim on family room back window

Trim on family room windows

Drywall and Sofa

Mostly pictures for this post.  We finally have finished drywall in the house.  All the walls have now been primed and it's really starting to look like a place we could live in!  Next up will be the paint, trim, and doors.  Oh, and we finally bought a piece of grown-up furniture, not even from a yard sale, but from a real furniture store (that isn't IKEA).

Kitchen-the fridge will go along that wall on the left.  The island will be where that big box is currently being stored. 

Family room-the entertainment center will go under those two small windows.  Anybody know where we can find another Ikea Norrebo Storage Bench?  They've discontinued them and we'd really like another to match our set.

Master bedroom- The bed will be centered under those three small windows.

My closet on the left.  The master bath entrance on the right.

Shower in the master bath.

The new sofa.  Jody is very excited about the chaise lounger on the left.

This is the fabric we're getting on the three larger pillows, instead of the orange stripes.

Drywall and Insulation, Part I

The project was delayed for three weeks because the roof trusses did not land where they were supposed to (and consequently, we failed the framing inspection).  Our fantastic engineers figured out a way to reinforce the trusses so we did not have to add a soffit in one of the upstairs bedrooms and bathroom.  Of course, Arlington County took its sweet time reviewing the revised drawings, even though they were approved by the structural engineer.  And it took until today to get an inspector out to the house.  Everything has been approved now: plumbing, mechanical, electrical, and framing and they are installing the insulation today.

During the delay we had some progress in the old part of the house.  We decided to expand the dining room a bit by knocking out a closet that had been in our old bedroom.  You can see in the picture below the area to the left of the buckets is where the closet used to be.  For those who have been to the house, the bathroom door is in the far left of the photo.  I was standing in the doorway to the old kitchen when I took the photo.  It has completely opened up the dining room and the old hallway and we are very pleased with the new space.  Including the floor repair, that little change with big impact cost us a grand total of $600.

The ceilings in the old house were damaged when the tarp over the old roof became loose during a few heavy rainstorms.  The contractor replaced the ceilings for free and we had them go ahead and do all the walls while they were at it.  If you've been in our house, you know what condition the old walls were in.  It's an understatement to say they were not flat.  Here's a shot of the new drywall.

They've also installed the new windows in our old bedroom, the bathroom, and the old living room. It's hard to tell these are new because the new trim isn't on yet, but take my word for it, they are a significant upgrade from the original 1925 windows.

This House Has Guts

While we were on a fabulous vacation out west (pictures here), the house got some guts.  The plumber, electrician, and HVAC (heating and cooling) subs were able to get in and rough-in all of the connections.  Thanks to our friends Kevin and Alison for taking these great pictures and keeping us up to speed while we were away.

Solar tube in the kids' bath surrounded by insulated air ducts.  The A/C vents will be in the ceiling because (a) there's more room for them there than under the second story floor, and (b) cool air sinks and hot air rises so cooling will be more efficient with the vents in the ceiling.

Plumbing rough-in for the master vanity (which will have two sinks).  How cool to be able to use spray paint to write reminders on your office floor!

Plumbing rough-in for the kids' bath and the installed bath (right).  The bath and wall surround are made of Vikrell, a new material from Kohler.  We're giving it a shot because it got great reviews on strength and durability and it saved us a couple hundred bucks over a cast iron tub and much more over a tiled wall.  And, of course, we will be installing low-flow shower heads (1.5 gallons per minute) and toilets (1.28 gallons per flush) to reduce water consumption.  If I had my way, we would have composting toilets, but Arlington County hasn't deemed them acceptable...yet.

Rough-in for the master toilet and installed master shower.  We used a Kohler Vikrell shower stall here too.  The name of the line is Sterling.

Rough-in for recessed lights in the family room.  We realized one row of lights was too close to the kitchen so they'll have to be moved further into the family room [crosses fingers for cheap change order].

Within the next week or so, the house should be ready for its drywall.  The kitchen cabinets arrived yesterday and just about all the finishes are on site now.  Once the drywall is up, the floors will go in and the cabinets and vanities will be installed.  Rolling right along!

Framing Complete, Windows In, Roof On

It's been an exciting few weeks.  This phase of the work is going pretty quickly.  They finished the framing and we took our maiden voyage up to our second floor while the exterior walls were still open.  It gave us a new perspective of our whole neighborhood and we really like the view.  We have three celestory windows in our bedroom, positioned over the bed and looking out over the backyard.  From Jody's height, you can see the tips of rooftops.  From my height, all you can see are treetops and sky.  I LOVE it!

In the kitchen, we decided to reuse our old kitchen window since we liked the size and it was fairly new (7 or 8 years old) and in good condition.  We're also reusing a half-round window that was in the old family room.  It will go in my closet.  Jody's closet and the upstairs "kids'" bath will have solar tubes.  They are highly reflective tubes, 14in diameter, that pop out the top of the roof and channel sunlight into the room.  Ours are by Velux.  It's a great way to get natural light into a space when the sun is out so you reduce electricity use.

Another note about the framing: we couldn't afford to use FSC-certified wood for the whole project, but we were able to use it at least for the roof trusses.  The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certifies lumber that comes from a sustainably managed forest, so that the forest can continue to be productive for a very long time with minimal harm the ecosystem.  The FSC website says "The FSC label provides a credible link between responsible production and consumption of forest products, enabling consumers and businesses to make purchasing decisions that benefit people and the environment as well as providing ongoing business value."

We labored long and hard to decide which roof shingles and siding to choose. The siding, which is unfortunately vinyl (we just didn't have an extra $5k for the hardiplank), will come later.  The color is granite gray.  The roof shingles are from the Certainteed Landmark line and they're called "driftwood."  We fell in love with the many subtle colors and think it will look very nice with the earthy gray color we chose for the siding.   Since the main view from the street will be the large sloped roof, we spent a lot of time deciding on the color.  

Enough blather. Time for some pictures!!!!

                                                

FSC certification stamp

Looking down the stair case from the second floor.

An action shot of the huge fork lift used to get the plywood up to the second story.

Shot of the back with the side roofs to the right almost finished.

We were actually supposed to have what's known as an "eyebrow" that would have made the second story look like a pop-top addition instead of part of the new structure.  It was supposed to wrap around the back so there would have been a little roof overhang across the back of the house between the first and second story.  Well, since the architect overestimated the roof height, that lip was hitting right at the top of the back windows shown in this picture.  It would have blocked what little North light will come into those windows.  We had luckily stopped by the house on Saturday to check on progress and the framers happened to be there putting up the eyebrow.  The supervisor framer explained the situation and we had them stop work on it immediately.  We then, with the framer, designed an overhang for the patio doors (pictured below) to help add some interest to the back of the house since it was pretty bland looking without the eyebrow.  

Windows in, house wrap on! You can see the impromptu overhang we added on the right.

Master bedroom, with the celestory windows facing the back yard.

Part of the solar tub installed.  There will be a metal tub that comes through the attic and will spill light into the room.

Arguably, my favorite room of the house: my closet. 

The master bath is in the foreground.  One of the other bedrooms is in the background. 

Jody's closet. Did you really think I'd share?

Bedroom 1

Second upstairs Bath

Alex's bedroom

Storage nook over the old attic, accessible through Alex's closet.  He's already been spending the most time here when we visit the house. 

New roof

The nub you see at the top of the roof is the top of one of the solar tubes.