Renovations: Final

This is pretty much it - the new house.

The outside is finished and the leaves are off the trees. The sunlight comes streaming in our new kitchen windows and the master bedroom is so bright. It is amazing!



One finishing touch: the powder room corner vanity with vessel sink - Pat's design!



What an adventure - this major renovation - not for the faint of heart (or wallet). We still have some finishing touches and a lot of moving in yet to do, but we are glad to be here in our new house!

Renovations: Week 9

Here are a couple more views, as things develop. We feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to bring our vision for this house, that we've loved for the last 15 years, up to date and up to its fullest potential.


We can't wait to use the new bathroom. The tiled shower looks so inviting and airy. The green corian top in the bathroom is in place and the plumbing is hooked up and ready to go. The tile floor is heated so once we get going, this might be a hard room to leave...


Here you can see the Corian countertop in place in the new kitchen. We love it! And the view from the front - wow!

Renovations: Week 8

The kitchen is taking shape. Now we can see the cabinets in place and some of the trim going up. Here are four of our main contractors, guys with whom we have spent quite a bit of quality time, lately:


Josh is Rocky Drass' nephew. He has worked very hard on our project doing all kinds of general labor. Rocky, our GC, is up on the ladder installing some crown moulding.


Adam, Rocky's brother, has also been on the job almost every day. He's done a lot of general carpentry and construction. You can also see that the painting is well underway.

Our roofer and sider, Scott, is putting the finishing touches on the siding on the back of the house. Now you can see that the cabinets are all in - we are waiting on the counter tops!

Renovations: Week 7

Week 7 saw so many changes - almost as much as in the beginning when demolition started. The big difference though, was that these were finishes - the things that really matter and would really show. So...we spent a lot of time looking at finishes, visiting home remodeling stores over and over again - until we finally came up with what we thought would be a winning combination.

This is the tile and our compass mosaiic installed in the front entryway. We carefully aligned the compass rose to true north. We think it looks great.



The painters are busy at it again. Choosing a color scheme was no small chore either - lots of paint samples and changing our mind. Thanks to Bobbi and Katie for their input. But now we're there - the whole house inside is getting new paint. How fresh!

And...we're getting all new wood trim inside. Here the painters are staining and varnishing the new pieces (right).



Here's a last minute change order. We really hadn't completely decided on the laundry room orientation, but once it was roughed out we knew we wanted a window in there. So here it is - and what a difference it makes in the laundry room space!



The new cabinets are going in - WOW! We love oak - that's obvious. But one funny item here - I found a scrap of wood in my wood bin from the last kitchen I built - in my last house almost 20 years ago! The wood scrap is an almost IDENTICAL match - color and wood. I guess our taste is consistent.




Our driveway has been full of trucks and our house has been full of workmen for months! They are nice guys but...



- Chuck and Pat

Renovations: Week 6

It is now the end of week 6. It's hard to believe how far we've come - the house is so different now. Demolition is over - it is all new construction and finishing now. The drywall is done although there are still a few rough spots and there's some small additional patching to do. The old doors have mostly been removed and a few new ones are in. The oak will look fantastic when it is finished. The electrical is mostly done and the plumbing is ready to receive our new fixtures.

This week we'll show a few videos of the progress. First, here is the outside of the house from the front. Nothing happened here this week (all work was indoors) but it was a nice, sunny afternoon when I took this video showing where we are now:

This view shows the rear. Nothing happened here this week either, but it's a good overall view:

Here is the master bedroom suite. A lot happened in here this week; the drywall is all finished, primed and some painting has happened. The room will be a light sage green with one darker green wall. The old door is removed, the master bathroom has received one coat of paint and the concrete tile base is in for the shower. Rocky ran the wiring for the heated floor but the element was too long; he took it back out to swap for the right length.

Finally, here is the kitchen and much of the downstairs work. We're almost ready for the new floor and the cabinets. A first coat of paint has been applied to most of these walls - you can see the color choices.

That's it for now. Next weeks photos and/or images should really showcase some bright new materials!

Renovations: Week 5

Rocky calls our house a "craft house" and it sure doesn't look contemporary anymore. Here's a link to an HGTV article about the "Arts and Crafts" Architectural style: http://www.hgtv.com/home-improvement/arts-and-crafts-architectural-style/index.html We now seem to have some elements common to that style. I find it interesting that the article prominently mentions Frank Lloyd Wright as the most famous architect who defined Arts & Crafts. Our house is no FLW, but the corner windows do remind me a bit of things I've seen in his Falling Water and Pope-Leighy houses.


The most interesting part of this transition is that we really added very little space - we only added about 40 square feet upstairs (extending over a small patch of low roofline) and about the same downstairs (the new laundry room is in former garage space). Yet WOW! what a difference - we love the stone, the siding and the new front entrance.




Suddenly it is time to select paint colors. Pat worked really hard on this; two of her best friends helped with color and theme selections - thanks Bobbi and Katie! We went to the Benjamin Moore store and selected from THOUSANDS of colors then brought home samples to paint. Pat is busily painting our test panels. Good thing we did - only two of our in-store choices will go on these walls!




Here is the loft prepped for paint. It sure has been fun (NOT!) walking around up here this weekend (my office is the door in the back).




The master bedroom drywall is all in; master bath to the left and closet off to the right. We love the new view out the front and side windows!




The kitchen drywall is in and the first coat of spackle is on. As you can see we'll have all recessed lighting.




Here's the new laundry room. One more window will go on the back wall providing a view into the back yard. We'll be re-hanging our old laundry room cabinets (they are in excellent shape) above the washer and dryer.




Before all the drywall sanding starts, we had to move EVERYTHING else into the basement. What a weekend! We emptied all the living room shelves, five closets (including our master bedroom closet which until now had been taped off), and we moved lots of furniture out of the way. Whew! It all fits in our basement - look!



It will be fun putting it all back. No, really - and you can help! Volunteers??????

- Chuck and Pat

Renovations: Week 4

Here is another one of the many full spaces - the garage. To the left are our old kitchen cabinets; We will eventually install them in either the garage or basement in a work area. Buckets of spackle await the drywall hanging, and our Amish masons are loading grout into the garage for next week's construction of the stone facing in the front and on our chimney. Maya in the foreground is supervising the project.



Rocky's trailer sank deep into the mulch off the edge of the driveway when he delivered it. The siding sits in a stack ready to go, and the yellow scaffolding will be erected around the chimney by the masons.



At left below, looking through the plastic sheeting for dust control, Chuck is checking out the fridge in our temporary kitchen. Hey, anything good to eat in here?

Below right - the new kitchen - all studded out. We just passed the electrical inspection, next comes the insulation and the thermal inspection. Then it's drywall time...



Here's a neat view: the photographer is in the new laundry room, shooting across the hallway (door to garage is on right), through the new powder room, through the new kitchen and out the new front windows.



Pat is checking out the garage from the new laundry room. She won't be able to do that anymore after the drywall goes up, but there will be a new window to the backyard to her right (after it comes in; we added that detail later, as a change order).

On the right, another view from inside the new kitchen. Power room is to the left and you can see out the garage door and out the garage window in the background.



Living in a stud house is fun. You can see what the spaces will eventually look like but it is so light and airy!!! Ha Ha - it's also buggy and dusty!

New week - DRYWALL!