One Step Closer

Our house plans have been approved by the city, which means we are finally one step closer to making this remodel a reality!  As it has gotten closer to beginning, I find myself feeling momentary bouts of regret - I'm going to miss this house I've lived in for the last 2.5 years! - intermixed with the excitement at the prospect of being able to fix all of the little problems these last years have brought to light.*

We are in the process of deciding on a contractor and still trying to make decisions.  Decisions, decisions, that's what it's all about.  Looks like the blogging is about to pick up pace. :)



* "brought to light" is used figuratively, although once the remodel is complete I'll be able to use it literally as well...can't wait to get some real light in this house!

Interior Design: Kitchen in Focus

Emily (our interior designer) has been great to become acquainted with, and also a wonderful help in starting to decide on some particulars.  She's been very good at paying attention to our preferences and giving us some interesting options, truly making all these decisions much easier.

We've moved from initial presentations to creating our own palette.  If you look back at the design boards, I'd say we're moving in the direction of the 2nd board (more period specific) while adding more bold colors and modern touches.  We want to be true to the architecture of the house, implementing many design ideas of the time, such as modern innovations and bridging the gap between inside and outside. This phase of design is where we pick out some of the big things that will set the tone for the house: colors and materials for flooring, cabinets, and walls.

We've been to Fixtures Living a couple of times and had a marvelous time looking at all the latest kitchen appliances and bath fixtures.  Chris has fallen for the La Cornue range, (no wonder,) especially after getting the chance for some hands-on time.  (So thankful to Emily and Alyson@Fixtures Living for setting this up for us!)  We have the majority of our appliances figured out (Miele fridge and dishwashers, Wolf oven) with some specifics waiting for us to finalize our kitchen layout.

 

Because our house is split-level, (the kitchen is a half-level step up from the living room it adjoins,) and because we have some traffic issues to consider, we are throwing around a couple of different layout ideas.  It is a long space, making it a bit tricky, but Emily is helping us puzzle it out.  We are currently exploring her idea (see #2 below) to keep traffic out of the cooking area while still encouraging visiting and entertaining.  I've drawn a rough sketch of the layout to help visualize the area.

We also went to West Hollywood to visit the Pacific Design Center to look at cabinet options at Cooper Pacific.  There are so many options that it is really quite inspiring.  The trouble will be narrowing down our preferences!  At this point, we know that we want to mix up our surfaces a bit (different cabinets on lower/upper, main/island etc.) keeping a medium light tone on the floors and counters, and something medium dark for the cabinets.  The cabinets we'd like to keep in a natural feel, fairly simple to let the range command attention.

That's the status of the kitchen design at this point.  We're also currently working on flooring materials and trying to pin down the design for our subterranean addition.  Hopefully I'll get around to posting an update on that soon.

Design Phase One: Initial Design Boards

As time has crawled by on our end, waiting for new developments in the progression of house plans, our architect (Jeannette Architects) has been busy pulling together all the different aspects of good design, from engineering to contractors to interior design.  Most recently he's introduced us to an interior designer that he's worked with in the past, who will be helping us pull together some of the finishes and design for the interior of the house.

In an attempt to gauge which direction we want to head in with the design of the house, she put together 3 design boards representing different ideas for, or approaches to, a cohesive whole.

First up, the very modern scheme with bright punches of color:

Design Notes:

• White finishes and light wood throughout contrast with the dark wood and bright colors. 
• Glossy finishes and aluminum accents keep the look fresh and bright.

My Thoughts:

• The white and aluminum feel too bright for the style of our house--I'm looking for colors and design that embrace nature a bit more.
• Some of the selections don't feel substantial enough for this house.  I think we need some "weightier" colors and forms to balance with the scale of the house.

Second, the traditional mid-century look, slightly updated for current sensibilities:

Design Notes:

• Earth tones: brown, green and amber, team up with varied wood finishes for a warm feel, contrasted by a creamy white.
• Different ceiling variations to lighten the open beam ceiling while maintaining character.

My Thoughts:

• Overall I'm much more attracted to this palette.  It's much more inside/outside earthy, giving me the soothing feeling I'm after.
• I like the combinations of textures, which I think adds a lot of depth and that substantial feeling I'm after.  

Third, a beach-inspired palette that lands somewhere in-between mid-century and modern:

Design Notes:

• A cool, almost dusty, color scheme is combined with glossy white and wood, resulting in a peaceful, casual, relaxing atmosphere.
• All the modern design of the first board balanced with the mid-century look gives a new yet timeless feel.

My Thoughts:

• I like the idea of balancing the modern with the mid-century and adding in the beach-inspired element of relaxation.
• Leaves me craving some color.  I don't think the element of interest is quite high enough, although that should be an easy tweak.

Overall thoughts:

Since these are very general moods/ideas, and since it the very first round in design, I have to keep reminding myself to focus on the bigger picture rather than picking at the details.  Generally speaking, then, the first scheme doesn't feel substantial enough for this house.  I think it is too modern in some ways.  I like that there is a bit more color, but otherwise it doesn't really work for me.  I love the second scheme (the wood and textures and earthiness) although in some ways it's a little too traditional for me.  I think it needs livelier colors as well.  The third scheme has the fewest things to pick on, but also doesn't seem to have a lot of character.  The white and grey make it slightly too 'cold' for my taste.

As the design progresses, I think we'll be finding a balance between scheme 2 and 3.  Also, we'll be finding more ways to add some color, and trying to decide on some of the main flooring in the house.

It's exciting to be getting closer to actual construction, as well as a little nerve-wracking to be making some very important decisions.

Dreaming up a Modern Library

I love bookcases and bookshelves and book cabinets, and even books stacked up in random places--I love it all, which makes it quite difficult to design a library. Because, you see, I want it all. I have some pre-set parameters, however, which as good a place to start as any in whittling down my options. Obv. I have mid-century modern house, so the Edwardian and the Baroque styles are out like trout. Also, I actually like the books themselves too...which means that we need to consider the storage space and browsing friendliness: this isn't just an art project. We are not paying homage to the idea of a home library, we actually want a home library.

First of all, there is a must-have: I must have an Eames lounge chair in my library.  Just looking at it makes me itch to cuddle up and read (and you can't get much more mid-century modern than Eames.)  Super <3 <3

Second, the space I have to work with is one of the few spots in the house that is confined by a moderate ceiling height.  It may be true that the "ultimate" library requires a ladder and/or a telescope to see what titles are on the top shelf, but since that isn't really an option for me, I've decided that it is over-rated anyhow.  What real reader is okay with their books being inaccessible??  Besides, I'm a little too good at weeding out unwanted books to really justify sky-scraping, dust-catching shelves.  The books I have, I want to see.

In another room, I may just have to do something decorative, especially since I'm looking for the perfect way to display my collection of classic novellas.  Maybe something like these:

If anyone is in the mood to make one of those for me, I have no problem accepting charity!  But for the library, we need some serious book storage capacity.  However, I'm not feeling the whole normal-built-in-boring-shelf-syndrome.  Here are some shelves that inspire me:

A little awkward perhaps, but at least it's interesting.

Probably not practical enough for serious book
storage, but I love it all the same.

This is the most serious option--tons of character, tons of
storage, and varying heights for books of all sizes.  AND
it's gorgeous.

(bookshelf photos courtesy of the bookshelf blog--fabulous site, check it out!)

Engineering, Plans, and Permits

It's been a year since anything remotely interesting (construction-wise) has happened at our house...as I'm sure you've surmised, since there have been no updates on the blog.  Our other house still hasn't sold, but some renewed and enlarged contracts at work are bringing our project closer to becoming a reality.  We have our house plans basically finalized and approved by the Home Owner's Association's Architectural Review Board, which means the next steps are getting the plans engineered and permitted through the city.

The architect we are working with is Jeff Jeannette from Jeannette Architects.  Everybody in the office has been great to work with, and we are getting eager to see some of these drawings come to life.

 This is going to be a big project, even though there won't be a lot of structural changes happening.  The biggest change will be the addition of a large subterranean level, complete with a theater, bar, and wine cellar (underneath the dining room and kitchen). The kitchen and master bathroom will be getting completely redone, but the rest of the house is staying much the same--mostly a matter of finishings and surfaces being updated.

I'm glad that we got the chance to live in the house before working on it.  In many ways it has brought me to appreciate the house more for what it is.  It has also helped me to let go of some of my romantic notions (for example, the master bathroom has a very unique bathtub...when I finally fell into it last week I instantly became much more willing to accept a new design.)  We did end up doing a major clean up of the front yard, since it was really getting out of hand.  There is simply too much landscape to make it easy to keep up!

First on the task list is making a hallway to the room above the garage that is currently only accessible through the garage.  It is time for our girls to have their own rooms, so we are preempting any other house plans in order to accommodate this.  As a side note, if you are interested in the mid-century modern style of the house, the book Atomic Ranch has some fabulous examples of how other homeowners have managed to preserve the spirit of a house like this, while also fully updating it.

Maintenance

Okay, so it's been a couple (or may I say three?) months since I've posted about the house.  Lest you should think I am shirking my duties, let me assure that the remodeling is as much, or more, at a standstill as my blog.  Between crossing our fingers hoping the economy will improve and our other house will sell, months have happened to pass with little other than maintenance happening around here.  Apparently when a house isn't used to being lived in, it has some issues.  This is what we've been doing:

1. replaced the electric stove top with an inexpensive gas one so that we can make it through until we remodel
2. replaced about a million florescent light bulbs
3. replaced two garbage disposals
4. repaired a dishwasher
5. repaired a refrigerator
6. fixed electrical switch issues in master bedroom
7. bought an oven thermometer so we could use our oven predictably
8. fixed lighting issues in the laundry room
9. replaced the sensor on one of the garage doors
10. figured out why some of the sprinklers weren't working (hello hidden GFI)
11. had the heaters serviced for annoying buzzing noise
12. fixed non-functioning doorknobs and deadbolts

I think I've blocked the other things out of my memory.  There has been countless time spent outdoors trying to tame the madness growing out there, and as far as house design goes, we are in the process of refining what changes we want to make.  Hopefully there will be something to show soon!

Hidden Treasures

One of the fun things about this house is how many things from the past remain. Not only in design, but in actual objects left behind and forgotten, waiting to be rediscovered.

A fun discovery was the built-in microwave.



Also found in the kitchen was an old platter in fabulous condition.



While putting things away in the office, I discovered some things shoved way back in some of the drawers. Some of those things were a little less exciting:



And some were a little more exciting:


None of the pictures had names, very few had dates, although most appeared to be turn-of-the-last-century. Most of them don't look to be related, so it is possible that they were purchased from an antique store at some point (stickers on the back of the platter support this idea). But you won't hear me complaining...it is right up my alley regardless of it's origination.

We were left records and an 8-track player, and the kids even found a few odd toys hidden in their rooms. One of their favorite things to tell people about the house is that you never know what you will find next.