Kitchen Beam Arrives and the Ceiling is Underway!

When I arrived at my home the other day I saw a HUGE surprise in my front yard!

This beam is 737 pounds. It is angled on one end to slide into the angle the roof makes with the walls. Nice touch, eh? You too can own a beam like this one for only $1250. Not sure if that includes delivery!

They are using only two men and some cool engineering tricks to get this up and in place. The mechanism is called a “come along” or a ratchet lever hoist.

Here’s a little video of how it works. Sorry, I don’t know what the music is in the background.

Success!  Here is the beam in place!

Home Theater is begun!

Wow, it was exciting to see it all start to come together in our home theater. Last night, Jeff and Nathan went over to inspect the progress, and returned home very excited about the home theater. This morning I stopped by to see why, and totally agree! It is going to look amazing!

We had a home theater in a previous home and are using as many of the components as possible: drapery, light fixtures, screen & speakers, and some other things I am probably forgetting at the moment. Very green!

The  new part of this plan is that it is also an exercise room. We are planning on using exercise flooring material similar to what you see at the gym on the main floor in there. I found this great rubber flooring company online that will send you samples for free, then extras cost a bit for postage.  It will look black but have tiny flecks of color like this:

We have a treadmill we want to include and a set of weights. The boys also will have a pull up bar installed in the ceiling somewhere. Last I heard, there were plans for 3 pull up bars – so they can all do pull ups at the same time!

Here are a few “before” pictures when it was still the original workshop space. This area is part of the addition that was built in 1981.

Now, in the framing phase:

You can see the elevated seating platform on the right. The two  metal posts will be removed and the heating duct work will be re-routed.

Our plan is to leave the ceiling unfinished for now, but painted black as you see in many restaurants. We will be converting the space above this area into a master bedroom & bathroom suite and want to have easy access to the plumbing and electrical at that time. So, we don’t want to drywall and then have to remove it in a few years.

The screen will be on the left side of the picture where Jeff, my patient husband, is measuring.

Our hot water heater challenge has been resolved. Mike moved it closer to the stairs, and we can now contain it in its own room!

Just to the left of the hot water heater closet is the seating platform. We will have elevated seating and the first step is also the platform for a short bar area. Mike plans on putting some small low voltage lights on the steps. Won’t that be super? I applaud Mike’s angled step idea!!! It really takes this this space into a “high end” feeling.

Here is a view of the screen area. The screen is going to be recessed in the middle.

I think we’ll have a million light switches down here! You can see we are still using our post-it note method of switch placement. I have also started drawing on the walls! Top view and front view of the platform design! Someone asked me what our process is, and here is what we generally do:

• I draw what we want.
• Jeff helps figure out the measurements and we discuss the reality of it actually working and if the design/space will function and look the way we want.
• We give the drawing to Mike and he builds it. He does make suggestions (really good ones!) and we incorporate those too!

Check back to see the progress!

Labor Day was definitely a LABOR intensive day

Whew, we spent two days straight at the new house figuring out our lighting plan. Nothing drives us more crazy than a light switch put in upside down or in the wrong order. You know you will always go for the switch that SHOULD turn on the light, have to back up and do it again to get the right switch, if it is not done right.

So, instead of hiring an architect to design our lighting plan, we decided to do it ourselves using the handy post it method. You know, those slightly sticky yellow post it notes?

This seems to work really well and so far, our electrician has been quite pleased with it. The problem we ran into was that we ended up having to actually figure out where the furniture would be placed so we put the lights in the proper location on the wall or ceiling. Then,  we had to figure out what made the most sense for placement of the switches.

In the end, we felt really happy with the design and it was exciting to see the start of the wiring yesterday. Of course, last night we decided to change our entire home theater system concept, and will need to add one more switch. Thankfully, our builder is quite flexible when we do this kind of thing!

We also were thrilled to see the start of the tray ceiling in the kitchen!

You can really get a sense of the room this way. The left side of the tray looks a little skinny right now because of the temporary support wall.  The steel beam is scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, it will be installed, then the additional level of the tray will be built. Quite an improvement over our initial plan, thanks to MICHELLE!

 

Here are a few more pictures of canned lights going into the ceiling of the study. See, we are calling it a study now instead of gameroom!  I really like the placement over the boys’ desks which will be in front of the windows. We had them center the ceiling fan, which for some odd reason, was not centered, remove the hanging pendant in the far right corner, and add a few more cans. Guess we better find some ceiling fans for the home quickly!

Smote detectors are scheduled for this room and also the florescent lights were removed in the two offices. We’ll re-use the florescent in a closet being green.

Ok, watch for the next post to be about brick! You know how much I dislike it. Well, I am about ready to tackle that project.

Framing it up

The work continues rapidly!

Yesterday they started work on the laundry closet.

Now they have moved to the basement and are working on the movie theater area. There was a hot water heater in a rather inconvenient spot, so they moved it and build a little room around it. We didn’t really want to see it. We are using a door from upstairs. Mike, the builder, is GREEN again!

Then I saw where he has been busy working on the wall where the screen will be installed.

You can also see the area on the right where he’s been busy framing. There have been water problems down there and they must have had drywall damage or been trying to figure out the problem. I foresee a big dig going on outside before this is over!

Today was also granite research day….so many gorgeous ones to choose from! I went looking for one we saw at Ikea called Titanium. It was a beautiful predominantly black granite with white splashes and swirls with carmel colors in it too. Very dramatic.

Here is the one from Ikea…

The titanium that they had in stock was very boring. No carmel, very little white steaking and very expensive. I visited 3 different granite shops. Good news, I found some others I do really like and they are less expensive! The one below is the picture that Jeff liked best.

Fireplace is totally gone!

Yesterday I thought it was exciting that the hearth and chimney were out.

Then I stopped by this morning and saw that the fireplaces were all gone.

We are exploring the option of using a steel beam to go across the span. That way we won’t have to have a support column in the middle of the room. Wouldn’t that be nice? It would make placing furniture so much easier and give us more options.

My mom recently added a screened porch to her home and they used an innovative approach to the problem that didn’t require the column  and she’s sending me the plans to share with my builder and engineer to see if they’ll work. I can’t wait to hear if this will work on our situation.

Here is another cool picture of the rear yard view

Also stopped by the Mecklenburg County Extension office and met with two master gardners! It was my lucky day! Two were there and we discussed the side garden in depth. I was so worried about what to do with the nice naked dirt and they confirmed I should be putting some black plastic on top of it to keep weeds from growing…..immediately!  So, off I ran to buy black plastic garbage bags (which my sister recommended a week ago!) and paint for the brick.

I also found that I can send my dirt samples in and have them analyzed for FREE! I fill out a form telling the lab what I want to grow and they will tell me what my PH level is and all those important gardenly details like how to make it be in the right range for what I want to grow.  It was a super easy form to complete. You can do it for your lawn also, so I will find out what it needs. Wonder how long it takes to find out?

They had a LOVELY garden in front of  the office. Drat, why didn’ t I snap a picture? I will be going back soon and will be sure to remember. They also have a hotline that you can call and leave a message with any kind of gardening question. The volunteers research and will get back with you. Hooray, I am so happy about having professional gardener access!

Did I tell you I don’t like the white brick on the house? Well, that is a story for tomorrow I guess. I have to tell you that I am not afraid of paint! Just wait until you see what I am doing next!

Great news today…the wall is gone!

87 days to go.

I dropped by to see how things were progressing and work on the yard renovation project, and was amazed at the progress!

They have removed the wall down the center and the entire ceiling for the vaulted area. You can see the temporary supports that have been added in the middle of the picture below. Also, the top of the brick fireplace shows where the ceiling formerly was.

Ben in front of the wall as it is being opened up.  You can see how high the new fireplace will go! See the light in the attic?  That post in  front goes from the floor to the top of the fireplace.

Here you can see what the fireplace looked like above the ceiling line with the two systems running up the chimney.

Before I left, Mike had gotten started on the fireplace removal using a way cool tool that looked like a mini-jack hammer. It was amazing how quickly he was able to remove the bricks. Another person was cleaning them off, then stacking them outside to use in a later project.  Another GREEN thing.

There will be more pictures tomorrow that will be simply shocking! I didn’t take any right before I left, but I did get a sneak preview of how it is going to look.

Are we being GREEN?

Yes! Mike is saving all the things he can during the de-construction phase. We will re-use many of the doors, wood moldings, and even the insulation that was removed from the ceiling while making the vaulted area.

 

I love it that Mike is interested in helping us save money by re-using these things. I am sure we’ll find more ways to be GREEN.

The ceiling is open!

88 days to go.

Stopped by this afternoon, as promised, and here are some pictures! The first sign there was excitement happening was the new dumpster in the back parking area. I was wondering where they would place it.

Then I walked inside and saw this!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

New Demolition Pics

A little bit more has happened since the last post. Got the permit!  Hooray!  Also, we’ll see the ceiling begin to open tomorrow and the vault will begin. It sounds like it will be a very interesting process to watch as they move from one end of the room to the other modifiying each rafter as they go. Mike has come up with an innovative way to re-use the existing rafter material in the process. Rather green, don’t you think?

Mike, our contractor, has been working on all the things he can do without having the permit. Removing wallpaper, trim, and carpet.

Below are some pictures I took yesterday.

The boy’s bathroom has wallpaper removed. Lovely color tile, eh? I would love some ideas on what color to paint the walls, trim, and cabinets to make this look a little better. We’ll be doing the bathroom tile in a later phase. The current plan is to remove the hanging light fixtures and add lights over the sinks.  Crown molding will be added and all the trim painted.  I think we can remove the tile baseboard in that icky color and put baseboard.  The tile and sink are in GREAT shape.  The floor tile is a beige and brown mottled color.

What colors would you use?

Trim and doors removed

The Laundry room with the paneling and trim removed. We decided to remove the area above the door casings to make it feel more like a hallway to the addition area. It was originally the 4th bedroom and is now a pass through area to the addition which includes the pool bathroom, guest room, gameroom, Jeff’s office, and basement.

Another view of the laundry from the other side. We’ll be putting our washer and dryer in the closet and building it out to enclose them so they are not visibile when walking through.

The workshop table and supports were removed. It seems much larger now!

Be sure to check back tomorrow for some exciting pictures of the ceiling!

 

 

Fireplaces, stone, stone and more stone

Fireplace design is tough! We entered the project thinking that we were going for a stone fireplace on all four sides. Now, I am investigating other options including cast stone, carved antique mantles, and true stone installed by a Scottish stone mason.

Did a search of architectural antique stores in our area to see if we can find a carved wood mantle that reminds us of things we have seen in England, France, or Italy. Not much luck, though Crossland Studios seemed the closest to what we were looking for. When we lived in Atlanta, Red Baron Antiques was amazing! There were also several other businesses that specialized in European antique furniture, room paneling, fireplace surrounds, etc.

Jeff loves the cast stone option but we are not sure if it is the right look for our house. It reminds me of all the gorgeous ornate carved churches we saw on our travels.

 =

I found Todd over at Classic Stone Creations and this beauty this past week. I love it, but it may be a little overpowering. Of course, it is completely custom and we can have a raised heart added.  They make all their products in house. Maybe we should add a ventilation hood in the kitchen to match?  Todd was super helpful in explaining the process to me and it is definitely an option.

The Stone Man is someone that we met at a home show this past Spring. He had the most amazing display that included an outdoor fireplace with a tree that was integrated into it. He specializes in outdoor hardscape and will do an indoor fireplace. We are meeting him at the Blue Max stone yard today to see if we can find a stone we like. We like this picture of the arched firebox.

I previewed Blue Max and saw these samples I really liked.   Click here to see the final choice!

Visited Boral Brick and saw their cultured stone. Lovely samples: