Twas the Night before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house
The pounding had quieted, the crew had clocked out.
The cabinets were all hung on the walls with care
In hopes that some cooks might soon be there.

The dishes were washed and all put away,
The laundry room tidy at least for a day.
I put on my jammies, Mike snored in his chair
I sat in the rocker, should I poke him, do I dare?

Outside the wind blew, the rain went pitter patter.
The new vent flap chimed in, oh my what a clatter!
I covered by ears, wrapped myself in a blanket,
On the punch list that goes and I know where to rank it.

My eyelids grew heavy, my breathing had slowed,
The movie had ended, someone said it had snowed.
And in my mind's eye what then should appear
But those shiny new appliances so expensive and dear.

Dacor, Wolf, Bosch, Liebherr I love you so much,
Along with cabinet door and drawers that close with a touch.
With plenty of storage everything has it's place
And when the gang is home there's lots of space.

I dreampt I was hosting a dinner for 10.
The menu was Greek and Italian and Cornish game hen.
The wine was uncorked, appetizers ready and waiting.
First rule in this kitchen "there shall be no catering".

The soup was simmering when the timer went off.
I lifted the lid, took a taste and then coughed.
The texture was fiberous and the aroma musty.
It was full of wood chips and awfully sawdusty.

Something's not right, what's wrong with this picture?
What could I have done to concoct such a mixture?
I stir and stir and now my arm is numb.
Oh wait, that's weird because so is my bum.

I wake with a start and stiffle a giggle,
Open one eye, big stretch and wiggle.
I creep downstairs and take one last look,
It will be another month before I can cook.

A wish comes to mind as I turn out the light
Happy Holidays to All!
May your New Year be bright!

New version of Johnny Mathis' "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas"

It's beginning to look a lot like progress
Everywhere I look
There's a pile of sawdust there, making me sneeze again
And nailing, sawing even louder than before.

It's beginning to look a lot like progress
With the hardwood floor
But the prettiest sight so far is the the sun through the glass
of those eight foot doors.

I couldn't wait for Xmas and started unwrapping. Santa gave me permission. He wanted us to stay on schedule. It's the 12 days of Christmas on steroids and the kitchen is taking shape. That first Saturday that it's operational I think I'll cook all day just for the sheer joy of it.

Before we started the project lots of friends said, "oh, lucky you, no cooking for 2 months. You get to dine out". I like dining out but it would have added another $5000 to the budget and with all the extra fat and calories I would be living at the gym. It's a nice gym. They just don't have laptop holders on the elipitical yet. Besides, I love to cook.

When all the dust settles my next project will be a cookbook for construction,"Cooking Construction Style". Catchy title, don't you think?
Hey, don't laugh! You can turn out some very tasty and healthy meals with just a microwave, toaster oven and crockpot in a laundry room. There's an added bonus if you have a rice cooker and a panini maker. We're not talking frozen t.v. dinners here either folks. More along the lines of, "Zuppa di Casa", "Luisa's Paninis" and "Pollo Rosto". If you want the recipes you'll have to buy cookbook (due out sometime in 2011 after I regain my sanity).

Santa came early!

And what to my wonderous eyes should appear but boxes and boxes of cabinets so dear! So many that they filled the living and dining rooms. I was as excited as a little kid at Xmas. Oh, how I wanted to open all those packages. I should have taken lessons from my brothers. They were very adept at opening their presents under the tree before the day and cleverly closing them back up.
I was a good and just looked at what was visible. Ooooh, aaaah! Oh, there's the knife block. Look how cool the new silverware drawer turned out. They followed the drawing exactly! There's the mixer lift.
I'm not weird....it's the construction dust...really!

Progress stinks!

Progress stinks, literally! It's a kind of plast-icky, dusty, sour sort of smell. (If it was wine it would definitely be corked.) Remember all those holes that the drywall rats ate? They were nicely patched up, taped and and then came the mud (drywall compound). All mud has smells. There nice, not so nice and, stinky (i.e. that found near bovines or volcanic activities). I've popped in on projects during the drywall phase and knew this type of mud had its own odor but never did I realize it really STINKS until I had to live with it 24/7. It took about 4 days to dissapate. Ah, blessed relief just in time for painting.
With the exception of a few, paint nowadays doesn't have much smell. At least the brands that I specify and use. Sometimes, despite the construction specifications, painters take it upon themselves to purchase a different brand. As long as the color is right o.k. I'll let it go. Such is the case with the existing ceiling paint. I wasn't around when the ceiling was painted originally but I was here when it was painted for the remodel. To avoid any litigeous situations I won't mention the brand but, really people, perfumed paint! Pee-Uoooo! There are regulations for low/non VOCs (volatile compounds) and the should be one for scents!

Dust, noise, dirt and smells....Progress....it's all good!

Boys and their Toys

I have 2 younger brothers and we spent many days with a family of 7 boys. I know boys, their toys, and the mischief they can get into with those toys. The definition of "toys" changes from the toy store variety to tools, gadgets, cars etc as time passes. Put a tool in their hands, especially the powered variety, and watch their eyes glaze over as grown men revert to overzealous 8 year olds. Vrmmmm. VRMMMMMM!
Of course, this has "nothing" to do with the swiss cheese ceiling. Wiring needed to be threaded through the joists. Uh,huh! I'm not sure that many holes were necessary. It was just too much fun watching those nice round holes come out.
Now propane torches are another matter. Water heater pilot lights are meant to be lit with a long match or bbq lighter. Propane torches melt water heater insides, make for cold homeowners' showers, and really p.o. plumber's bosses. Yes, this is a true story and it just happened to us.
As I said...boys and their toys!

Rats & Swiss Cheese

Don't worry we didn't find any of the real vermin! However, when I walked in that evening it appeared that a GIANT, Drywall-eating Rat had a feast. When I looked at the family room ceiling I saw what the rat was really after..the swiss cheese! That's what the ceiling looked like. Big chunks of drywall had been cut out of the walls to move pipes, install a new circuit for the frig and pull some new wire. That made sense. The 15 or so round holes punched in the ceiling for 3 new recessed downlights didn't. Hmmmm. I saw the guys using a stud finder up there earlier. Did it need new batteries? Did they know how to read it? Was it real stud finder or one from their kids' toy tool boxes? Oh, no! Don't tell me! Is it another case of boys and their toys?

GO!

And we were off. The crew showed up bright and early and they didn't waste any time! Wow, were they fast! It was noisy, dusty, and a bit loud at times. There were those couple of crashing sounds that had me concerned but at the end of the first day it was pretty naked around here.

Get ready, get set....

Get ready:
Plans done and agreed upon by the triplets and the spouse...check.
Finishes, appliances, fixtures selected....check.
Contractor (more on him in an upcoming posting)and suppliers added to the team....check.

Get set:
Purge the cabinets...check.
That was akin to a treasure, scavenger and white elephant hunt all combined. I found things that should have never made the last move, some great donation and garage sale items and best of all, things that had found a "safe" place. In our house that's where items go that you know you have, you put somewhere "safe" and then you can't find when you need or want it. There were also a few of the "what is this" and "where did this come from" s. Those made me wonder how many little gnomes we have residing here. Two little monkeys named Max & Ro stashed a lego or two in places other than the toy box too!
Hold a garage sale...check.
Weather was nice. Made enough to pay for a couple of dinners out during the remodel.
Pack up the main level...check
Boxes are stored in the shop, artwork in the guest bedroom, and furniture is split between the library and the garage. We'll be scraping ice off the SUV windows for the next couple of months.
Set up temporary living...check.
The laundry room is doubling as the kitchen. (It's about the same size as my Hong Kong kitchen was. I pepared many dinner parties for 10-12 people in that tiny space.) The microwave and frig are keeping each other company in the garage. The dining room is on the 3rd level landing and the monkeys' bedroom is now the living room.
All we're missing is the tent, butler, maid, & cook then we'd have all the trappings of an luxury safari camp. Didn't figure them into the budget though..darn!

Have I mentioned that this project started out being just a kitchen remodel? Well, you see, the family room is right there (actually, it's a great room arrangement) and we needed to deal with that fireplace. Add family room remodel to the scope. New flooring in the kitchen was a must hence also into the family room. Carpet down the hall to the garage was a maintanence nightmare so that gets pulled up. Can't match the existing foyer hardwood and there's no where to transition. Add foyer floor to the scope. Sheet vinyl flooring in the powder bath is the same ugly stuff as in the kitchen. It should match the hallway. We'll have to take up the watercloset and lav to lay the new floor. The pedestal on the lav already has a crack in it and a slim, new WC would be lovely. Oh, what the heck, let's just redo the powder bath too. Then there's the front doors with the paint that keeps blistering no matter what we do. Convinced the door are defective. New front doors, sure, why not? And, while we're at it let's put 8'-0" in. What's a little reframing!

It's called Scope Creep. I have yet to meet a project without it.

The Plans

Lecture to self. Set Limits! Not just monetary ones....design ones! No blowing out walls or adding on...absolutely not! That was the easy part. Besides ending the bum-a-rhumba and glut workout, the cooked garbage had to go too (heat vent under the main sink). Then there's better storage etc.. Okay, pencil to paper or truthfully, computer mouse and keyboard to screen.

Rev 1, rev 2, rev 3..ahhhh, this shows promise. Show rev 3 to spouse. Now you might think that the spouse of a designer would, by osmosis, understand and "see" the plan. Un-ah! Out comes the tape measure and we pour over the plan inch by inch. The stickler was the corner sink. That even took a full scale mock-up to get through. I was beginning to think I'd have to break out the butcher paper and mock-up the the whole kitchen. In hindsight that might have been quicker and less stressful. :-) I love you, dear!

Now onto the details: dish drawers, spice pullouts, pantry system etc., etc.. Elevations drawings done! Then came the time to select the cabinet style/wood/color, countertop stone, backsplash tile and flooring and guess who decided to cause trouble? Yup, those triplets (me, myself, & I)!

With clients I usually have 3-4 schemes in mind quite early on. The triplets knew I knew all the things to choose from and all the different things I loved for all the different reasons and they weren't about to let me forget one of them! It was pure agony! In the end it was the island granite that took control and the girls finally agreed. Yahoo!

Now we're walking around the kitchen saying "not going to miss that", "can't wait until we have that". I wonder how long it will take us to adapt to the new space plan?

Poor old ugly thing floating alone in the wall. We gave it a t.v. and gramaphone for company along with some pretties on top. There is just no disguising it. Just wait for the transformation. It's a definite "wow".

Up next a peek at the new plans.

The current kitchen is very talented. So much so, I'm considering having it audition for next season's "America's Got Talent".

The cabinets have great rhythm and love to show off. "Bonk, bonk, bonk" every time I close a door. There are a couple of doors vying for lead singer. They're yellowing so they stand out. This is sometimes accompanied by "tick, tick, tick, tick" of the stove's gas burner ignitor. Turn on the down draft all conversation stops (it's loud) and the pots and pans start dancing. The prep sink disposal chimes in, usually off cue. It's really a timing issue. All someone has to do is brush the switch and it thinks it's time to sing. Talk about being pitchy!

The group will be called Rhythm & Blues...no make that Rhythm & Yellow. Of course, if you or anyone you know, would like to own this talented group just give me a call. All reasonable offers considered. I need to pay for the remodel somehow.

When we bought this house almost 9 years ago we knew it was the house for us...great views (Mt. Hood out the living room window and a green belt for the back yard), great floor plan (perfect for entertaining) and room for all when the clan is home. The kitchen and family room were liveable but lacked good functionality and quality finishes. The original owners had run out of funds and made do.

Take one look at the foundation and you'll know why. It's an engineering marvel. We're on a steep slope but even then it's overkill. It's comforting to know we won't have to worry when the big quake hits. Just think, we'll have prime view property when the Pacific NW breaks off and becomes the "new Hawaii". I can see the description now, "beautiful home for sale, fantastic beach and mountain views on 1/3 acre above the Pacific Ocean". Wonder what the sale price would be? O.K. back to reality.

We had every intention of remodeling the kitchen and family room within a short time after moving in but the best laid plans of mice, men, and interior designer/homeowner often take more time than expected. We adapted. The bum-a-rumba with the frig door at the prep sink is great for the gluts and dishwasher door side slide works the legs and hips. Why is it that I pay for a gym membership?

There's a perception that all designers' homes are something out of Architectural Digest. Wrong! A few are but most aren't. When we do get an opportunity to design and build/remodel our own homes we are excited, estatic, nervous and, as I've discovered, our own worst clients! Really!

I've been in the business professionally for 20 years. I've designed numerous homes, offices, salons, and a church. I've won design awards. I've worked with individuals, couples, CEO's, and a few Board of Directors. I can honestly say none of them has caused me more stress, dilema or indecision over a project than the evil trio of me, myself, when I decided to remodel my own home.

Come along and share the remodeling journey, up close and personal, from a designer's own perspective.