I wish I'd picked a darker gray for the walls. Coming sometime in the future: stainless steel between the oven and the microwave, and tile backsplash between lower and upper cabinets.
Monday, February 20, 2012
The kitchen is complete!
At least mostly complete . . . here's a partial view:
I wish I'd picked a darker gray for the walls. Coming sometime in the future: stainless steel between the oven and the microwave, and tile backsplash between lower and upper cabinets.
I wish I'd picked a darker gray for the walls. Coming sometime in the future: stainless steel between the oven and the microwave, and tile backsplash between lower and upper cabinets.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Design decision: Leave adobe bricks exposed?
The entire house, both interior and exterior walls, is built from double-wide large adobe bricks.
An adobe brick is simply dried mud. If you drop it from as low as two or three feet to a solid surface, chances are good the brick will shatter into dust and smaller chunks of dried mud. It's shocking that these old houses are made from this material, yet this house has been standing for over 150 years.
As I gutted the place during the remodel I uncovered many brick walls. Initially I thought I'd leave a few exposed, but since adobe bricks are so fragile (and dirty) I covered them all back up except for a section of wall in the kitchen. I like the different look, texture, and feel of the exposed brick versus just more drywall or plaster. Yet the wall needs work--part of it needs to be rebuilt and mortar repairs are needed throughout. Also, if you leave adobe exposed it must be treated with a chemical or resin to create a harder surface and prevent deterioration of the exposed mud bricks.
Another reason I have for leaning toward leaving the wall exposed is it serves as a "truth wall." In straw-bale constructed homes (straw is a highly energy efficient material for construction) it's a common practice to leave a truth window so people can see the material inside of a wall. Since my whole house is built from these adobe bricks it's cool to actually see some of them.
The end of the exposed brick wall in the kitchen has looked like it was about to collapse for the past six weeks or so. I was afraid to touch it. It's a load bearing wall and I didn't want to create some sort of collapse, even though the section of concern was clearly bearing no weight.
Last night my friend Bob suggested wood shims and an extra brick where one was missing. Like magic the wall looked a little more complete and stable. More work needs to be done and in the end I may just skim the wall with plaster since these bricks are so unstable, but with this temporary fix I feel comfortable leaving it alone for a while.
After the shim repair:
Before:
An adobe brick is simply dried mud. If you drop it from as low as two or three feet to a solid surface, chances are good the brick will shatter into dust and smaller chunks of dried mud. It's shocking that these old houses are made from this material, yet this house has been standing for over 150 years.
As I gutted the place during the remodel I uncovered many brick walls. Initially I thought I'd leave a few exposed, but since adobe bricks are so fragile (and dirty) I covered them all back up except for a section of wall in the kitchen. I like the different look, texture, and feel of the exposed brick versus just more drywall or plaster. Yet the wall needs work--part of it needs to be rebuilt and mortar repairs are needed throughout. Also, if you leave adobe exposed it must be treated with a chemical or resin to create a harder surface and prevent deterioration of the exposed mud bricks.
Another reason I have for leaning toward leaving the wall exposed is it serves as a "truth wall." In straw-bale constructed homes (straw is a highly energy efficient material for construction) it's a common practice to leave a truth window so people can see the material inside of a wall. Since my whole house is built from these adobe bricks it's cool to actually see some of them.
The end of the exposed brick wall in the kitchen has looked like it was about to collapse for the past six weeks or so. I was afraid to touch it. It's a load bearing wall and I didn't want to create some sort of collapse, even though the section of concern was clearly bearing no weight.
Last night my friend Bob suggested wood shims and an extra brick where one was missing. Like magic the wall looked a little more complete and stable. More work needs to be done and in the end I may just skim the wall with plaster since these bricks are so unstable, but with this temporary fix I feel comfortable leaving it alone for a while.
After the shim repair:
Before:
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Granite countertops installed!
Today provided one of those extremely rewarding moments of a home renovation. The cabinets, finally secure, level, and attached to the walls, were ready. The free granite my friend Leon found for me in November had been cut and prepared. The installers arrived and in about an hour they had the new counters installed. The cost was the cost of the prep and installation ($600) which seems pretty inexpensive for solid granite counters. They mounted the sink under the counter, which I didn't even think of asking for but love.
I can't stop staring at these new counters! It's the kind of finishing material that really makes a place.
If you live near Salt Lake City and have a need for granite (they also do window sills, table tops, etc.) call Harry of Distinctive Marble and Granite at 801.750.5720. These guys are great.
Next to refrigerator:
Close-up of sink:
During install:
Prepped for install:
I can't stop staring at these new counters! It's the kind of finishing material that really makes a place.
If you live near Salt Lake City and have a need for granite (they also do window sills, table tops, etc.) call Harry of Distinctive Marble and Granite at 801.750.5720. These guys are great.
Next to refrigerator:
Close-up of sink:
During install:
Prepped for install:
A windowsill transformed (for surprisingly little money).
These aren't the best photos, but the guys from Distinctive Marble and Granite did a great job of adding a classy windowsill to my kitchen window. Love it!
Before:
After:
Close-up (truer to actual colors, the wall is a light grey, not pink, red, or green as it appears in any of these photos):
Before:
After:
Close-up (truer to actual colors, the wall is a light grey, not pink, red, or green as it appears in any of these photos):
Thursday, February 02, 2012
About that Ikea kitchen . . .
Last Saturday I had three generous and talented friends help me begin the installation of my Ikea kitchen. We made a lot of progress.
Much remains to be done.
On Sunday, two other friends helped me raise the upper cabinets. Since then, despite significant effort, I've felt over my head and have accomplished little. I have a new helper arriving tomorrow to see if we can move this project forward.
Here's what it looked like at the end of last Saturday, and what it still looks like now. There are MANY hundreds of parts remaining to put together to finish this job.
The whole process is overwhelming and I am beyond my skill zone and stretching point. Hopefully there will be some progress tomorrow.
Much remains to be done.
On Sunday, two other friends helped me raise the upper cabinets. Since then, despite significant effort, I've felt over my head and have accomplished little. I have a new helper arriving tomorrow to see if we can move this project forward.
Here's what it looked like at the end of last Saturday, and what it still looks like now. There are MANY hundreds of parts remaining to put together to finish this job.
The whole process is overwhelming and I am beyond my skill zone and stretching point. Hopefully there will be some progress tomorrow.
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