Kitchen & Bath design thoughts and other things

My prior post on the electrical, fireplace, kitchen and bath details grew into a monster of a post – so I decided to leave out my thoughts on why and how did we get here? and instead break them out into this post. This photo on Houzz.com early on became one of the design touch … Continue reading “Kitchen & Bath design thoughts and other things”

My prior post on the electrical, fireplace, kitchen and bath details grew into a monster of a post – so I decided to leave out my thoughts on why and how did we get here? and instead break them out into this post.

This photo on Houzz.com early on became one of the design touch points when I was talking about the layout of the house with Deck.  It had the traffic flow layout that I was looking for and it just seemed “right” to me.  The house entry is on the left, the kitchen and casual eating area is in the center, and off to the right, is the traffic flow to the private side of the house.  This is actually how my house is now laid out – it fits the site well in terms of orientation and ground slopes.

Last week, when we were looking at the giant beam over the center of the kitchen, talking about roof penetrations and other things, Paul mentioned down draft ventilation and his personal good experience with it at his house.  That triggered the changes to the layout  described in my prior post.  The main thing was the deletion of the overhead stainless hood/ventilation system.  While talking with Shelby at the design center I realized that, because of the light in the Houzz picture, the hood wasn’t very ‘present’ – so what we are doing comes even closer to what the mind’s eye imagines when looking at the Houzz photo.

We are going to do a white subway tile with an accent color – probably orange or red – not the mix and match in the Houzz photo.  The hanging rectangular light fixture will still be made – Paul is going to construct it from maple wood and hang it from cables.

It is interesting how we are getting closer to the feel that the photo evokes even as we in reality depart from it!

In the bath, I really was not interested in having a tub for my everyday usage – I can’t remember the last time I took a bath and I really, really don’t like how water always leaks around a shower curtain into parts of the bath that are not designed to be water proof.  So the master bath is being designed for showers only and will have a walk in shower structure.  Again in white subway tile but with some sort of accent color.  Both bathrooms are specifically designed to not be large and opulent show spaces – mostly because I don’t spend much time getting ready for the day and this way, on cold winter days, they will heat up easily (plus – as part of my design philosophy of putting all the utilities and mechanicals in the core, they shouldn’t get too cold!).

Finally – ceiling fans.  One thing occurred to me this month – the sprinkler system is going to be pretty high up near the ceiling – and on a series of really hot days, it could get pretty hot up there – which is probably not good long term for the wax in the sprinkler heads.  So I thought about re-circulation.  We have near ceiling make up air for the geothermal heating system but a fan may still be a good idea – hence pre-building a mount point.

If I install one, it probably will be one of these – a 52″ inch Haiku, with polished aluminum blades from Big Ass Fans

Finally – while we were wandering around the site yesterday, the Fields (my neighbors and the good folks who sold me the land) dropped by.  I had never met them so it was very, very nice to finally speak with them.  Their son Chris informed me that he was the one who spoke with Comcast when they quoted $65,000.00 for cable to be dug and run to all the houses on our common drive.  Apparently also, if I had a land line put in, Verizon is no longer selling DSL internet service.  So, in order to get internet service, I either need to spend uber money on a conduit from the street or go with a service that provides structured internet via the cell network – like this one from Verizon.   Essentially they mount a commercial antenna on the outside of your house and you can sign up for 10, 20 or 30GB of data per month.  I am thinking I will go this way – at least for awhile – maybe Verizon will bring FIOS to town at some point in the future.  I would do satellite for TV services.

As the house comes together and there is more to see, I am going to start working on a post about the design process and influences.  More on that in the coming months.

Electrical decisions along with Kitchen & Bath design

Very busy week this week on the job site for me – we went through a lot of decisions as Paul had me meet the Electrician and the Mason (again, I am terrible with remembering names on the first meeting and I have forgotten them – sorry) and on Friday morning I went up to … Continue reading “Electrical decisions along with Kitchen & Bath design”

Very busy week this week on the job site for me – we went through a lot of decisions as Paul had me meet the Electrician and the Mason (again, I am terrible with remembering names on the first meeting and I have forgotten them – sorry) and on Friday morning I went up to Amherst New Hampshire to finalize the kitchen and bath built in designs.

Electrical

The electrician walked us through in a very, very thorough, but efficient manner, the electrical layout.  I came onsite at 7:30am on Monday and he and his team had clearly been onsite for quite awhile as he had put in the rough ins for electrical power every 12′ feet in each room and had marked out locations for switches.  Also he had identified areas he needed decisions on. Fantastic stuff and we worked through things effectively I hope

Inside the house, some of the key decisions we made were:

  • confirmation of the power outlets along the walls of each room (and wall switches too)
  • two in floor, flush mount, under floor power outlet boxes/ canisters s in the middle of the great room – location and type to be determined later (like Hubbell SystemOne?  or the Legrand Evolution? or Steel City?)
  • Quad electrical outlet box near the computer setup
  • Where ever possible we will do LED lighting
  • decision to have no over head built in lights in the bedrooms – wall outlet driven only.  Which then drives the switched/not switched circuits.
  • Wall lighting in the hall.
  • No in ceiling lights in the cathedral ceiling space – all track lighting.  We will have 3 main tracks above the main beam in the living room.  A track above the beam over the kitchen sink.  And if I remember properly, a track in the main entry hallway.
  • An electrical box for a ceiling fan in the middle of the living room
  • Kitchen cabinets will have under cabinet lighting
  • Location of the main panel to be in the equipment/utility room
  • And probably some other stuff that I am failing to remember sitting here at my keyboard
  • aaaand I did forget – Panasonic vent fans for the bathrooms – which apparently will be designed to run all the time as per the ‘stretch code’ that lots of towns are going to.  I wonder – can we vent this under the house like the kitchen ventilation – and eliminate another penetration of the roof?

We then moved outside

  • Location of in ceiling lights, on sensors, in the carport – for those after dark arrival home from work in the winter
  • Flood lights on all sides of the house – some switched only, some on sensors
  • Addition of a 50 amp, 3-phase panel in the garage (for arc welding and anything else that needs heavy output
  • electrical outlets in the garage every 12 feet.
  • Power for twin tracks of lights (florescents probably) in the ceiling of the garage

Miscellaneous

  • External electrical power outlets on the garage wall in the car port
  • External water spigot in the garage wall in the carport (for easy access to all sides of the house
  • under house flood lights – switched and external power socket – for late night retrieval of items from under the house, critter removal and general interesting look
  • location of the generator and propane behind the garage, on the down hill side
  • wiring for lamps along the driveway

A lot of stuff – fortunately he was taking notes on the studs as we went and it was mostly pretty standard stuff.  Also, I almost forgot – Paul and I discussed that the plans call for a 7 foot garage door – he proposed going to a 7′ 6″ door, and lowering the level of the concrete slab for more clearance and headoom.  This would also eliminate a concrete ramp up to the garage door.  This all sounded great to me – less site work and mounding of dirt and gravel, the ramp would crack and break anyway and more room sounds awesome.  Paul is going to take a machine in and remove some of the gravel from the garage.

Masonry

On Thursday morning, I met with the mason, who Paul has worked with extensively and who has done several Rumford Fireplaces.  The fireplace is a 36″ Superior Clay design, and as you can see in the pictures below is tilted slightly towards the center of the room.  We decided on a traditional concave grout contour, the fact that the chimney should be square on its self – so it would be at an angle to the room with 90 degree corners.  We did a last second addition of a bluestone cap on the top of the chimney as an anti-icing attempt (plus it will look good I think – a nice capping horizontal line.

Kitchen & Bath

Finally, I went and met with Shelby Brown at Fairview – the kitchen designer Paul recommended.  Finally I remembered someone’s name (but I do have her business card so it is hardly fair – lol).

In in prior post, I noted that we eliminated the overhead ventilation hood – by doing a downdraft cook top and venting under the house.  That freed up some new thoughts – often a dangerous thing!

I pulled out my copy of Atomic Ranch’s book on mid-century modern interiors  (ISBN 1423619315) (which as an aside, is a great book.   So is their other book and their magazine).  There is a Eichler remodeled house with a fantastic kitchen in it (Shelby has my copy of the book – a new one is on the way!) – so I can’t give you the page number.  However it had a few interesting features that I have now blatantly stolen

In their kitchen, same as mine, the island is an eating area, with a stone counter top – to support an extended off the end overhang, there is a drilled I-Beam for counter-lever support and the cabinets have aluminum picture frame faces with a translucent pebbled glass main surface.

We are going to riff on this – I found online aluminum I-Beams at Onlinemetals.com and they were cheap – so I ordered two 7 foot lengths of 6 inch I-Beams – so we can screw up without having to wait for more delivery.  We are going to weld on a 1/4″ aluminum plate to spread the support out and use it to support the countertop weight off the island at the opposite end of the island from the cook top.  To provide visual balance, from the living room side, we added one small cabinet that is aluminum with a pebbled glass front.  The rest of the cabinets are all maple.  I am sure this is impossible to visualize without a picture, but I am hoping it will look really neat and it should be very functional.  My Mom pointed out that if you are eating near the cook top, that may not be super nice – so we are placing at the end of the island and the seating clustered around the other end

So – kitchen decisions:

  • Cabinets are Decora – all maple with a 45 degree bevel on the edges.  Slab sided (ie – flat on the front).  The aluminum single cabinet tie in with the I-Beam is also Decora
  • Counter top is Quartz – London Fog (or London Sky – i am unsure of the manufacturer.)  Quartz is 95% ground quartz and 5% resin – so you get a strong but less brittle than stone, slab that is very even – an engineered product.  It does not require sealing and is very heat resistant (but not as much as stone – so a trivet is recommended).   The counter top should look something like this Ceaserstone online sample and will go well with the raw aluminum elsewhere
  • The island will be lower than normal – regular table height (29″ vs normal 36″) – so you can eat at the island while sitting in a regular chair instead of on a stool.  It should seat 5 or 6 people
  • Layout wise, along the wall, it will be, from left to right:  dishwasher, sink, refrigerator, stack of wall oven and microwave.  Cabinets on the wall bracketing the sink.

Bathroom decisions:

  • Each bathroom is going to have a floating vanity – I unfortunately have forgotten the make and model.

Miscellaneous:

To help fund the changes in the kitchen, we decided that I will self provide furniture around the computer/office.

I will ask Paul to build in the computer desk however – just to have something to use right out of the gate.

Initial layout of the fireplace - which includes a cold air intake and ash dump in the hearth floor into the chimney stack. There is a door into the chimney stack, under the house, for removing ashes. I have never used a fireplace with features like this before - I will need final instructions before using!
Initial layout of the fireplace – which includes a cold air intake and ash dump in the hearth floor into the chimney stack. There is a door into the chimney stack, under the house, for removing ashes. I have never used a fireplace with features like this before – I will need final instructions before using!
The Rumford Fireplace taking shape. The hearth will be a piece of bluestone. Note the chimney is square but is at an angle in the corner - Deck House designed it this way in order to angle the fire more towards the room instead of just sitting in the corner
The Rumford Fireplace taking shape. The hearth will be a piece of bluestone. Note the chimney is square but is at an angle in the corner – Deck House designed it this way in order to angle the fire more towards the room instead of just sitting in the corner
Lots of raw materials! Paul put a temporary beam under the house to help carry the load presented by the materials that will eventually make up the chimney stack
Lots of raw materials! Paul put a temporary beam under the house to help carry the load presented by the materials that will eventually make up the chimney stack
The view from the entry, across the future kitchen and into the computer/office area on the left and the living room on the right
The view from the entry, across the future kitchen and into the computer/office area on the left and the living room on the right
6" Aluminum I-Beam for supporting the island counter top via cantilevering. I think we will weld on a 1/4" aluminum plate to the top of the I-Beam for greater coverage
6″ Aluminum I-Beam for supporting the island counter top via cantilevering. I think we will weld on a 1/4″ aluminum plate to the top of the I-Beam for greater coverage
The north side sliding half height windows are in - they are very smooth operating
The north side sliding half height windows are in – they are very smooth operating
The wall of windows along the front of the house. Note the windows down low will open out (they are in the garage drying after being stained). Floor registers on this side of the house for the forced air heating are visible to the left of the insulation - the square cut out. There will be floor mounted power outlets in this area
The wall of windows along the front of the house. Note the windows down low will open out (they are in the garage drying after being stained). Floor registers on this side of the house for the forced air heating are visible to the left of the insulation – the square cut out. There will be floor mounted power outlets in this area
The orange PVC piping is the sprinkler system. We are going to paint the exposed portions
The orange PVC piping is the sprinkler system. We are going to paint the exposed portions
More sprinkler pipe work
More sprinkler pipe work
Overhead forced air heating in the bedrooms. Paul, the electrician and I decided that we would have lighting only come from wall outlets - no in ceiling can lights in the bedrooms since the ceiling heights are not super high - the lack of spread makes it not worth while
Overhead forced air heating in the bedrooms. Paul, the electrician and I decided that we would have lighting only come from wall outlets – no in ceiling can lights in the bedrooms since the ceiling heights are not super high – the lack of spread makes it not worth while
Scaffolding and materials for the exterior chimney. Brick, with a top mounted gasketed chimney flue. We decided on the spot to add brick columns and a blue stone top stone over the chimney to try and avoid the flue from icing up in the winter. It should look good as well. Hopefully not too expensive an add!
Scaffolding and materials for the exterior chimney. Brick, with a top mounted gasketed chimney flue. We decided on the spot to add brick columns and a blue stone top stone over the chimney to try and avoid the flue from icing up in the winter. It should look good as well. Hopefully not too expensive an add!
The backside of the house. Paul, the electrician and I decided on adding flood lights and power under the house - for getting at stored items while it is dark out and potentially interesting lighting effects during the winter
The backside of the house. Paul, the electrician and I decided on adding flood lights and power under the house – for getting at stored items while it is dark out and potentially interesting lighting effects during the winter
A quick jump over the silt barriers and a new perspective of the house. It is looking great
A quick jump over the silt barriers and a new perspective of the house. It is looking great

Weekend update 2 – appliance decisions and other stuff

A bare bones update – more of a list of things that I have decided on or need to finalize with Paul tomorrow morning. New London Style Pizza is waiting – so this is going to be fast Roofing: Everlast 24 Gauge Architectural Series – color:  SIERRA TAN Appliances: – all from the great folks … Continue reading “Weekend update 2 – appliance decisions and other stuff”

A bare bones update – more of a list of things that I have decided on or need to finalize with Paul tomorrow morning.

New London Style Pizza is waiting – so this is going to be fast

Roofing:

Everlast 24 Gauge Architectural Series – color:  SIERRA TAN

Appliances: – all from the great folks at Hunter Appliance (they were excellent.  They have a very, very good service department so they can really speak to how well does a product install, run and service.  Reliability is important to me so we oriented that way and did a lot of mix and match of manufacturers).  Many, many thanks to my salesman Howie – he really took the time to listen and took the time to explain why he was recommending each item.

  1. GE built in single wall oven.  Model JT3000SFSS  (in chrome)
  2. GE Profile microwave (to go with the wall oven)  model PEB7226SFSS  (in chrome)
  3. GE Trim kit for the microwave to match the oven   model JX72230FSS   (in chrome)
  4. Bosch 500 series dishwasher, pocket handle, with 3 racks (24″)  model SHP65TL5UC   (in chrome)
  5. KitchenAid 22 cubic foot, 33 inch full depth refrigerator.  Right hand hinge door    model KRBR102ESS  (in chrome)
  6. KitchenAid 30″, 4 element cooktop with central down draft ventilation.  This was not onsite when we were there – they had just sold their last one.  However, this link here shows basically the same thing.   model KECD807xBL   ( all black – no chrome surround)
  7. SpeedQueen washing machine – top loader  – not sexy or elegant but the only choice if you want reliable AND a top loader according to Hunter.  They said it is this or go European front loader.  Model  AWN432SP113TW0  (white)
  8. SpeedQueen electric dryer – the reliability matched pair  🙂   model ADE3SRGS173TW0   (white)

Plumbing Fixtures (bathroom and kitchen).

Paul really recommended Symmons as very good value for your money.  I went to their sight online and like the styling just as well as the Kohler that I had previously bookmarked – so I have replaced Symmons items when their is a product line match with Kohler (Kohler does a lot of extra things as well like sinks)

  1. Symmons ORIGIN series for the bath
    1. single handle lavatory faucet – one for each bath  – model S-9612-1.5 in chrome
    2. Origins Tub/Shower/Hand Shower system for the guest bath – model 9606-PLR  in chrome
    3. the master bath is going to have a walk in shower and I want a rain system as well as a regular hand shower system – I am unsure of the mix and match up – but the rain shower head I am looking at is the 12″  2.5 gallon per minute Symmons   – in chrome
  2. Symmons ORIGIN series for the kitchen
    1. Single handle faucet with separate sprayer.  Model S-23-3  in chrome
  3. Kohler bathroom
    1. San Raphael elongated toilet (concealed trapway, gravity flush, elongated bowl and 1.6 gallons per flush).  Model K-3466 in white
  4. Kohler kitchen
    1. Kohler undermount single sink – a system really with an elegant stacking system – expensive but practical.  Model K-5540

Other stuff to talk to the electrician about tomorrow morning

Light switches – rocker switches seems to be the way everyone is going these days.  Some interesting advances here

Hallway and other public locations switches

  1. Hubbell Wiring RSD115ILW tradeSelect® Illuminated Two Position Decorator Quiet Switch  – this is a rocker switch that when turned off, also functions as a night light – so you can find the switch in the dark.  This would be annoying in your bedroom but great in the hallway, bathroom and the public spaces of the house
  2. Wiring the living room for ceiling lights and fan(s).  I am worried it will get very hot at the top of the ceiling (I am not sure where the make up air intake will be for the furnace?).   Lighting up there will be some sort of track lighting.   As far as fans go – I am looking at these:  the Big Ass Fans,  Haiku series – in polished aluminum
  3. For electrical outlets & random stuff – that will be a discussion with the electrician – but I, if possible my “would like to have” list of things and other randoms is below
    1. 4 way receptacles – since every wall receptacle seems to instantly acquire a power strip to be able to service more items
    2. flood lights outside
    3. external power receptacles in the car port (garage side)
    4. some capacity for network Cat6 cabling
    5. a home base for electronics in the garage or pantry?  aka – server room
    6. in floor receptacles scattered across the great room.  Like the Hubbell SystemOne Floor boxes for wood floors.
    7. the potential to run multiphase power in the garage for MIG welding using medium duty welders

 

Finally – cabinetry

Paul has two designers and I like portions of each one of their designs – but the change from a ventilation hood to a down draft system has created possibilities – I have some ideas that I want to discuss for the cooktop island.  I am bringing a copy of my book Atomic Ranch – mid century interiors to the site tomorrow 

Construction update – a weekend of decisions

My first full weekend back in Carlisle for awhile and lot has gotten done My Mom, Dad and I went over to the job site on Saturday morning – Paul and his family were there as well as the plumber (brain lock on my part – his name has slipped my mind, despite shaking hands … Continue reading “Construction update – a weekend of decisions”

My first full weekend back in Carlisle for awhile and lot has gotten done

My Mom, Dad and I went over to the job site on Saturday morning – Paul and his family were there as well as the plumber (brain lock on my part – his name has slipped my mind, despite shaking hands with him several times – sorry!).

Paul and I reviewed the progress so far – which has been great.  NSTAR has been fiddling around but should be able to run power in the next few weeks.

On the house itself, the roof trim is all up and the mahogany oil stain looks fantastic.  It is a three coat process and there is a definite difference between coat #2 and #3 which can be seen in the photos below.  It is a Sikkens product.  Paul explained that he is going to give me a sample / control piece that has been finished with three coats – after three or so years, I will need to bring out the sample and compare colors – where needed, a single new coat will be applied.  As long as I keep on top of it, everything should last a good long while

In terms of decisions

  • we decided on the Sikkens clear oil that will be used for the exterior siding and the tongue and groove ceiling.  It should give a nice variety instead of making the surfaces all blandly the same color.  The team will sand the interior and clean things and after the clear is on, put another top coat on to polish things up (less ability for dust to cling!)
  • In the ceiling area of the carport, we decided on a mahogany luan plywood, with battens to cover the seams
  • We talked about the length of the window seat by the fireplace – the plans call for an 8′ length but we are thinking of extending that so it covers the full window.  More to come there.
  • The fireplace structure is going to be tumbled brick and we agreed on how the chimney front will go
  • We discussed the skylights in the bathroom – manual vs electric.  It turned out that I did not remember correctly the design I had picked out – I went manual on the factory release but had forgotten.  We are going to proceed that way for now
  • Additionally – we discussed whether or not we should add a cap/flashing to the butt end of the ceiling beams by the clerestory windows.  The butts are vertical/flush cut and are going to be exposed to a lot of sunlight and I have been worried about the wood checking and cracking.  Paul rubbed his chin and started to think about water.  We might add some copper flashing as a cap around each beam.  I think it could actually look pretty good – and as Paul pointed out, that replacing those beams would require removing a large section of the roof and that would not be fun.  More thought needed here!
  • And I keep remembering things – we also discussed what color to paint the PVC sprinkler system pipes.  We definitely want to do that before they mounted.  I am unsure.  One way to go would be to go black and let them visually disappear – the other would be a mechanical color.

Next steps are that I meet with Paul and the electrician on Monday morning.  Paul is looking for final decisions on a number of items – so I have been working on them.  These are –

  1. Final decision for the roof color
  2. decision for kitchen appliances and ventilation – or more specifically the size of the cook top and the ventilation structure
  3. fixtures/trim kits for the plumbing
  4. electrical outlet locations
  5. Ceiling fans discussion with the electrician

To keep this post of a reasonable size, I will do a new post with the appliance & roof color decisions

Below is are photos from yesterday’s visits (we went over twice)

Short construction update after a lot of business travel

I just got back last night from San Francisco where we had our annual Disaster Recovery exercise and our next year strategic planning offsite (sort of heel to toe on those) – however, both went really, really well so the lack of sleep was definitely worth it.  I have been laying low today (plus it … Continue reading “Short construction update after a lot of business travel”

I just got back last night from San Francisco where we had our annual Disaster Recovery exercise and our next year strategic planning offsite (sort of heel to toe on those) – however, both went really, really well so the lack of sleep was definitely worth it.  I have been laying low today (plus it is on and off again drizzling here)

Paul and his team have been making progress however and we went over to take a look.

Upcoming is the final decision on the metal roof color, the hood over the kitchen cooking surface and the brick work for the fireplace.  As far as roof color goes, the roof manufacturer is Everlast Roofing and I really like the Brite White.  It looks good, will have the minimum heat loading and will match the barn next door – so very site specific

I haven’t figured out the cooking hood yet but the brick looks great.  Paul and I just need to confer and keep him on track 🙂