ice storm…stairs and such

There’s a light at the end of this tunnel*…this is a skylight shaft over one of the bathrooms.  Bright & cheery it will be, a nice place to put your face on morning or night.

The house is insulated, and sheetrock has arrived for install.  French doors & sidelights in the living room looking out to the deck.Above is the ‘peninsula’ gas fireplace that sits between the living and dining rooms, and the temporary stair – ladder.

Here is the upper run of the stairs being installed. We used a steel stringer to attach the aluminum CR Laurence base ‘shoe’ for the glass railings that will go up both flights of stairs and around the balconies. The shoes (silver strip toward bottom of pic) have to attach to steel, from what I know. A close-up of the shoe on the upper balcony. It’s attached to the tube-steel that is bolted to the wood PSL, so that the shoe will be aligned with the flooring and it will look (fingers crossed) as though the glass starts from the floor with no support.Jumping ahead a few days here is the stair with treads initially installed. I had pushed for an open-riser stair in this house, since you walk in and see the bottom of the stair from the front door. But I was overruled by the Feng Shui consultant, who explained that energy would flow right through with nothing (such as risers) to stop it. So we have risers. A view from the living room toward the front door and up the stairs. We originally were to have a low wall or railing at the square landing bottom of stairs, but decided to nix it and extend the bottom step all the way across so you can walk up or down into the room.A view from the park next door. We painted the bay window entirely the same dark bronze color as the windows. The window layout is original on this side.A view from above the house you can see the solar panel standoffs on the flat part of the roof. On the left is the new shed dormer at the front. Here’s the shed dormer that replaces the 2 former hobbit dormers.  At the back of the house the new stucco siding is going on, and in the yard we have a small shed / outbuilding / meditation hut.  Much more to share – stay tuned! *There is indeed a light at the end of the tunnel – we are determined to have the owners moved in by Christmas.  ho ho ho! 

back yard cottage finished

The cottage remodel with two apartment is now completed and ready for move-in.  Here’s a view in the upper unit living-dining rm / kitchen room toward the front.  We went with mid-range / affordable (but tasteful) finishes such as Ikea kitchens because these will be rental units.  From the courtyard looking at the front of the cottage at the back.  The red wall on the left is a 3-unit building at the front of the same lot.  Below are some views of the Ikea kitchens in a white lacquer finish with large white tile backsplash:The cleaning crew hadn’t come yet when I took these photos, hence the dusty floors!  We got lots of storage in the 39″ high upper cabinets, taking advantage of the 9’+ high ceilings.  Because this building is essentially in the backyard it has lots of greenery outside the windows looking into the neighboring gardens. The front building was remodeled at the same time; I did the design way back in 2007 at my old firm. Above is a view of the Edwardian street facade.  The owner worked with a colorist to choose the palette – I really like that it’s all one color!  Obviously interior paint was still going on…  I’ll go back and take more photos – I think the front door is no longer lime. Using a monotone palette celebrates the original detail in a subtle way, rather than using a different color for each of the million pieces of festoonery.  On the left is a photo of the one of the Ikea-finished bathrooms….then looking out the window I took this photo of what I think is a chicken coop in the neighbor’s yard!  Cute little corrugated-metal roofed hutch.   Maybe rabbits live in it..The new relocated stair and railing.

back yard cottage sighting / siding

Hey, what is that peeking from back there?  Ever look at that ugly cottage in your back yard and wonder, gosh, what ever kind of siding do I put on it?  We went with Hardie clapboard siding.  A clean and simple yet slightly traditional look for the upgrade of this building. Larger, more vertical windows at the courtyard bring more light into the rooms and accentuate the 10ft tall ceilings.  This is the color that the siding comes – not yet painted. Upstairs the living spaces are now open to each other, front to back.  Photo below looking at the back wall, the older 70s window shapes had to be maintained because they’re directly on the property line.  Or we would have increased them – why, why is there so much blank wall space above these windows?  To hang fun pictures?  Fact of the day:  windows closer to the ceiling bring light deeper into the room.  Push ’em up!