castro corner house

about a year ago we were on location shooting a short film at this construction site of our castro project. above is a stunt double taking a break during filming. (our film was nominated for 6 awards, and won best musical score). we had so much fun with this project: great clients we worked closely with to see each nook through to the final details. we are scheduling a professional photo shoot soon … the following is a look back toward the end of construction.  above photo shows the options of painting the slim wood trim the same color as the Marvin window cladding (dark bronze) – or white. we chose the option on the left. in the living area we selected an Ortal corner gas fireplace, above which we had a challenge to locate a TV.  the goal was to hide the TV but also to disguise the cabinet as much as possible so it didn’t scream ‘doors here!’. we designed a bi-fold / pocket door cabinet that operates on a Hawa track system. the very talented ‘wood whiz’ carpenter JB customized the track to fit the cabinet depth and built the doors with planks that wrap around the sides.the owners wanted the floors to have a rustic quality. we worked with Restoration Timber and settled on reclaimed plain sawn white oak, that has knots and worm-holes through it. they loved the look. we ordered an even mix of widths 3″ – 5″ – 7″. here is a thick redwood slab that the contractor had lying around, and the owners purchased from him for a bathroom sink counter. it worked perfectly in the room and contrasts well with the other finishes.the same wood worker JB who built the tv cabinet was originally brought in to build this wood slab counter for the island. it’s composed of solid 3″ thick white oak, also sourced by Restoration Timber. JB perfected it in his shop and installed it on site after the cabinets were in. white shaker cabinets are from Cabinets & Beyond. the concrete farmhouse-style sink is from Native Trails. other details, like the cabinet pulls from Rocky Mountain Hardware above. we found the new entry door at a local door shop, and it works with the exterior (it did get stained darker) and has a small peep-door built into it, to replace the one that was in the original front door. on the right, in a gabled part of the ceiling over a bay window, we clad the ceiling in painted lathe pulled from the house.

stay tuned – more to come!!

 

remodeling design award

We submitted our “Bridge House” project to the annual Remodeling Design Awards in the Spring and were thrilled in June, during a particularly challenging work week, to get a voicemail saying we’d been given a Grand Award for the project. Woo-hoo! This was a fun project, and only really possible by having great clients who were receptive to our ideas. Sometimes I feel that working in Victorian houses is restrictive and in this case we came up with some great ways to mix old and new…I wasn’t sure which category to submit to but I chose ‘historically sensitive renovation‘. This was the first project for Farooq on our team: he saw it all from climbing up into the dark attic to winning the award.

A huge thanks from our team to the judges for this Grand Award!! We’re very proud and excited to share the pages with the other esteemed architects and designers.

Thanks to the photographers Eric Rorer and Rachel Styer for capturing the house, and Mixed Nuts for some of the staging elements.

Check it out among the other winners here.

…and please vote for it here! (through Sept 26)

A copy of the feature below:

 

 

 

 

 

bridge to somewhere

I thought I’d start with this image although taken some time ago, is a little indicative of my daily work experience. i.e. balancing my workload high above everyone’s heads with imminent danger (drama) looming, sometimes in my sperry top-siders and members-only jacket, but usually in plaid. It takes stains better. yuk yuk yuk We’re on one of two steel c-channels that form the ‘bridge’ in this house. 

A few weeks later it looked like this once all the sheetrock was in place, looking toward the back of the house. We’re all really excited about this element / focal point of the home, and as mentioned in an earlier post we reused attic redwood framing to make the walkway of the bridge.

A view looking in the opposite direction at the kitchen, some cabinetry installed, and the front door off to the left. At the right side of the kitchen is the light shaft with a skylight at the top, and will have a glass panel to close it off but let light through. 

Here’s a look at the main stair that connects all 3 levels. After we shifted the rooms around the old walnut floor border had to be redone to make sense in the new spaces.

The lower stair was at first enclosed below but we decided to open up the triangle of space to let some light through as you walk down that lower run. The steel railing is in place in the photo but the wood hand grip isn’t in yet.

On the left I’m holding up old wood casing against two windows that meet in the corner…clearly we couldn’t use this 6″ wide trim – we went with a flat stock. On the right is a steel post, part of a moment frame at the front of the building that we left exposed right next to the original wood window trim. We like the contrast!  I was thrilled that these clients were as excited as I was to leave the unfinished steel exposed. I’ve tried to work this into a few projects but it’s often been covered up. Who doesn’t want a hulking steel beam in their house to brag about?

Fast forward a few weeks, this is a view looking up at the bridge and loft, with a nice round barn light in the foreground.

Here’s a view looking out along the bridge once the owners have moved in. The guard rails were custom-built by a local fabricator, with 1/4″ x 1/4″ solid square pickets. The pendant lights along the bridge hallway were powered off to one side, so we wouldn’t have to run wiring through the center ridge beam. The lights are just swagged over and hung off the beam by a hook.

And a view looking over the edge past a barn light down to the dining table.  Below is a partial exterior view; nothing much changed at this facade since it is ‘potentially historic’. The one change we did manage to sneak in was to replace a missing wood ‘flower’ ornament that the owner noticed upon moving in! See in the red circle – it’s back in place! I encouraged the owners to go with a monochrome paint color; originally tried to get them to do black or dark grey but I’m happy with the sugar-cube look as well. Stay tuned, portfolio shots coming soon!