Old House My House

The big reveal

2010-08-18T13:17:13-04:00

Things are still insanely busy (my excuse for not posting in the last couple weeks). We've had many, many late nights recently, poring over decorative lighting and plumbing fixtures (electrician Allen Gallant and TOH plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey need our choices asap!) So I'm pretty bleary-eyed as I write this. But here it goes ...

One of the biggest issues with our house when we bought it was there were very few windows out back. In theory, we had a lovely river view, but in reality we could barely see it! Well today, a dark corner out back was transformed into one that is full of light and that has the most amazing panoramic views.

I took this shot (above) at about 6:30 tonight, from the front hall of the house. If I had taken the same shot this morning (wish I'd been forward-thinking enough to do that!), you would have seen practically all wall. The wall along the far side of the stairs used to extend all the way to the bottom of the staircase (look closely and you can see a dark spot in the top of the door frame; that's where the wall used to end). Today, Tom Silva shaved about three feet off the width of that wall and voila, the river-facing corner in the back was revealed!

But just "revealing" the back corner wasn't enough. The corner itself needed help, too. The window you see on the left was just installed today (this used to be just a windowless wall), and the window opening you see on the right was doubled in width. Ahhhh... that's better! From this corner, we can now enjoy the Charles River AND our neighbor Sue's beautiful gardens (thanks, Sue!)

In other news, here are a few other things that happened today (seriously, there is NEVER a dull moment).

We finalized the design for our front door and sidelights(shown here are Tom, architect Chris Chu, and Scott Kearney from TruStile Doors, working through the details).

Richard and Tom installed radiant heat in our new basement family room.

This very cool pumping truck was used to pump concrete up and over the house, down to the basement level in back. A new concrete floor was poured throughout both the new basement family room and the old basement family room area (in the latter, the existing vinyl tile floor and wooden sub-floor had been removed due to asbestos, leaving just crumbly concrete behind).

And the deck footing were filled with concrete.

Phew, another jam-packed day!

Kitchen island envy

2010-08-11T18:04:09-04:00

Allison and I have visited plenty of friends who couldn't wait to show off their their newly remodeled kitchens. You know what I'm talking about: Those sleek, clean, ridiculously functional kitchens with acres of granite countertops, and shiny, stainless-steel appliances. But despite the novelty of modern-day luxuries, such as refrigerated drawers, and built-in espresso machines, the kitchens the two of us love best all have one thing in common: an island that serves as a central gathering spot.

Having an island—and being awesome—are the two things we're insisting upon for our new kitchen. And according to the sketch (above) that our son recently drew up, it had better be professional grade to boot. Apparently, he wants to have his own "kitchen stadium," in which he can become a true Iron Chef!

Since this kitchen is going to be the hub of the house, we want the island to be the hub of the kitchen. Careful thought is going into the design, so it turns out to be the dream kitchen Allison and I truly desire. Whereas most people have photos of their families pinned up at work, my office is a montage of pictures of kitchens and appliances. People say I need help!

Let's take a lap around one of the early designs (above), shall we? See how the cooktop is located on the island? The thought was that Allison and I could interact with people seated around the island while we prepared dinner. The problem with this plan was that the cooktop drastically reduced the usable workspace on the island, making it hard to find room for a prep area, or even a cutting board. And what about ventillation? Having a big, old vent hood in the middle of the kitchen would be pretty awkward—and obstruct our views.

And so, in the end, we decided to vote the cooktop off the island. Instead, we're placing it in a more traditional location, along a wall. Now the island will serve as an expansive prep area, which is where we'll spend most of our cooking time anyway. Allison and I will also be able to face the people we're cooking for. In short, our island will be the ultimate gathering spot for our family, and our friends.

A Week in the Life

2010-07-26T18:18:29-04:00

So what's it like to be the homeowner on a This Old House project? It's a unique experience, for sure, and BUSY (a major renovation is always busy, but in our case we also have (1) a compressed timeframe and (2) the small matter of documenting the whole thing for TV and a magazine!) I thought I'd share 'A week in the Life of a This Old House Homeowner' to give you all a feel for what it's like. Every week is different, of course, but read on to see what happened during the week of July 19, 2010. (And if readers enjoy this'week in the life' snapshot, let me know and I'll do it again some other week!)

Monday, July 19, 8:15 am

We started the week with our weekly jobsite meeting at the house. Since there's nowhere to sit inside the house (we moved all the furniture out in May), we've been meeting in the front yard at a picnic table. So far the weather has cooperated! Most weeks, the meeting consists of Raveen and I, Tom Silva, our architect Chris Chu, our interior designer Melissa Gulley, and one or both of the This Old House producers (Deborah Hood and Jen Wells). The focus of this week's meeting was budget, and Tom reviewed a few areas where we're over-budget so that we can plan accordingly -- fun, fun!

So far we've had unplanned beam replacement due to worse-than-expected termite damage, additional costs to replace a few more windows than originally planned, and additional costs to build a new bathroom in the basement (long story, but let's just say that when the asbestos was removed in the basement, it didn't leave much of a bathroom behind!). We had been aware of these unplanned/added expenses, so there were no huge surprises at the meeting. But there are certainly better ways to start a week ;)

Tuesday, July 20, 8:00 am

Shoot Day! Raveen was filmed in the morning with Norm and kitchen designer Donna Venegas, with the three of them checking out a paper mock-up of our new kitchen. There's a lot of energy at the house when the TOH crew descends on shoot days. From the homeowner's perspective, the filming process can initially seem quite chaotic ("We're starting NOW? Where's my script? What, there's NO script?!!?"). But after having been filmed a few times now, I see that the beauty of the show is that it IS unscripted, and we homeowners are really just being ourselves. That said, it usually takes quite a few tries to get a good 'take'. Raveen was at the shoot for most of the morning, for what will ultimately be just a few minutes of TV footage. (The rest of the TOH crew remained at the house until 7:00 pm(!) shooting additional scenes that didn't include the homeowners... and actually doing real work on the house).

Wednesday, July 21, 9:00 am

A trip to the Boston Design Center to meet Donna at her kitchen showroom, with Raveen and I, Chris, Melissa, and Jen. Donna had already developed her 'first draft' of our kitchen plan, so the objectives of this meeting were (1) to review and tweak the kitchen layout as necessary, and (2) to start thinking about cabinet door styles and colors/finishes. Our new kitchen is pretty big, so there was lots to review on the layout front. (Not to mention that we could have spent hours just ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the model kitchens with all those great cabinet features -- soft-close drawers and pull-out spice racks come to mind!) But we made good progress and by the end of the meeting were down to just a few details to iron out (location of prep sink in the island, and the organization of the cabinets/appliances along the sink/front wall of the kitchen -- dishwasher to the right or the left of the sink? Where will everyday dishes be stored?) In terms of door styles and colors, we tossed around several ideas but ultimately landed on a simple, classic door style in white, with a different, fun (yet-to-be-determined) color for the island cabinetry. Here's a stock photo (from Donna's website) of the cabinets we chose. We plan to add more color in our kitchen, but you hopefully this gives you a sense of where we're headed.

Wednesday, July 21, 11:30 am

After the kitchen meeting, we wandered across the street to the headquarters of rug company Merida Meridia in South Boston. A good friend of mine runs the company, and I have seen (and loved!) their beautiful rugs at her house. Raveen and I have just barely begun to scratch the surface in terms of interior finishes and furnishing for our house, and Melissa has suggested choosing a rug we love as a starting point. Then we can use the colors in the rug to help set the palette for the rest of the house -- it's like literally 'laying the groundwork' for our interior! Raveen and I both love fun, bright colors like these!

Wednesday, July 21, 11:30 pm

Raveen and I were both working late, long after the kids were already in bed (since our house project takes up quite a bit of time during the regular work day, we frequently burn the midnight oil to catch up on our day jobs). We took a quick break from our 'real work' to talk about house stuff... specifically, the open issues with the kitchen layout. We make a decision about the front wall of cabinets (dishwasher to the right of sink, primary storage of plates, bowls, etc. to the left of the sink), but still couldn't agree on where the prep sink should go... we'll have to sleep on it and revisit.

Thursday, July 22, 5:30 pm

As I was driving home from work, I received a call from someone at This Old House magazine. Can either Raveen or I can be available for a photo shoot in a couple weeks? I'm sure one of us can figure out a way to carve a few hours out of our workday, so I confirmed that yes, one of us will be there.

Thursday, July 22, 7:00 pm

I stopped by the house after dinner, kids in tow, to pick up the mail and check out the latest work at the house. (Hmmmm... there was no mail. Could that be due to the scaffolding blocking the mailbox, perhaps? I'll stop by the post office tomorrow). The kids had fun pretending to use the mock appliances in the mock kitchen :)

Out back, they discovered the new deck footings Tom installed this week, and enjoyed hopping about from footing to footing (Tom, I hope that's okay!) We stayed for about 20 minutes in all, then headed back 'home' for the night.

Friday, July 23, 9:00 am

I heard back from This Old House magazine, with more details on the upcoming photo shoot. It turns out that the shoot could take the better part of a full day. Yikes, it sounds like one of us will be burning the midnight oil again that night! The thing is, though, we both really love being a part of all this. The people are all amazing (and I'm talking about the guys you see on television AND all the 'behind the scenes' folks you don't see) - incredibly talented, interesting, and just plain nice. It's totally fun to be involved in the filming, photography, and interviews, and also to just hang around the job site a bit with Tom and crew. When our project is all said and done, we don't want have to have regrets about not be as fully involved as possible. And thus we gladly say 'yes' when asked if we are available to do something for the show or magazine. But since we both have full-time jobs, it's a balancing act to say the least!

Friday, July 23, 3:30 pm

A reporter from This Old House magazine called, looking for information to help with the upcoming photo shoot and article. We chatted for about 20 minutes about the asbestos, lead, termite and carpenter ant issues at our house (all the really glamorous stuff!). Look for an article sometime in the fall! [Editor's note: The October issue!]

Saturday, July 24, 12:00 noon

I took the kids over to Yale Appliance in Dorchester to scope out kitchen appliances. It was a wee bit overwhelming, honestly, because there was so much to look at. But it was helpful to see 'in person' some of the appliances we had been researching online, and the yummy treats from the live cooking demonstrations helped keep our energy up!

Saturday, July 24, 2:00 pm

The kids had been promised a trip the the New England Aquarium as a reward for good behavior at the appliance store (they were actually great in the store, and for the most part enjoyed checking things out almost as much as I did!). So with our 'Old House' to-do's wrapped up for the week, we headed downtown to take in some fantastic sea life. If you've made it this far, thanks for sticking with me, and check out this cute harbor seal asking for a treat from his trainer!

Taking shape!

2010-07-14T11:31:44-04:00

The job site has been hopping! Last week, the new entryway really came together, as Tom and crew added the plywood sheathing and gabled roof. It looks fantastic! I'm excited to see the formerly "blank and featureless" front of the house start to come alive, since that was one of the main goals of our renovation. And already, the awkwardly protruding garage appears less so, since the entryway comes out and meets it halfway.

Speaking of the front of the house, check out the crazy termite damage Tom found when he opened up the front of the house a couple weeks back. We knew from our home inspection that the front sill had suffered some termite damage, but we had no idea how bad it was! Tom found that not only the sill, but also two vertical support beams had been been literally eaten to shreds. It amazes me that the front of the house hadn't started to sag (or worse)! Thankfully, Tom replaced the damaged beams, and we were able to have the area treated to help prevent future damage. I'll never underestimate the power of those little creatures again!

Window seats, love 'em or lose 'em?

2010-07-10T12:19:00-04:00

Who doesn’t love a window seat? The thought of one conjures up many visions, relaxing, reading a book, or just gazing out into the world with a big steaming cup of coffee. With that in mind, we found two potential spots on the main floor of our house to put window seats.

The first was in the kitchen along a wall near the door to the deck. The idea here was to provide a comfortable spot to sit in while hanging out and being part of the action. Then we started thinking about it. Would you sit there a little bit off to the side, slightly lower than the chef? Or, would you prefer to sit at the island and have a better view of whats going on? Could we use the extra counter space?

This kitchen is going to be the hub of the house, there is going to be lots going on and Allison and I felt that we could make much more productive use of extra counter space than a window seat. Who has time to sit anyways?

The second was in the living room in a corner with a beautiful view of the Charles River. The idea here is the seat would be quite large and would accommodate two lovely children sitting cross legged playing a board game. Then we started thinking about it. Whose children are they? Ours don’t sit still! Also, it seemed awkward to position yourself to be looking out the window. What else could we do with that corner? Christmas tree? Piano? After a lot of discussion there were two camps, the seat would be beautiful and fabulous! Versus, you will never actually use it! Hmm… we visited our friends who live three doors down who own a lovely window seat. Its beautiful once you remove the stacks of bills, magazines, and pokemon cards. We got the message, dumping ground!

So as for window seats in our house go, unfortunately, lose ‘em! 

Good morning from Auburndale!

2010-07-09T17:30:11-04:00

I have to pinch myself these days, I really do. For the past few weeks since we moved out of our old house, my routine has been to drop the kids off at the school bus stop in our old neighborhood and head down the street to say good morning to Tom Silva and his crew working away on our house. It's a pretty amazing way to start the day, seeing dedicated professionals building something for you. I always leave happy.

5 or 6 weeks have gone by (I've lost count) and lot has happened. Asbestos and lead paint nastiness had to be removed. It was in the floor and around pipes as you would expect, but surprisingly it was also in the caulking in the sunroom. Men in space suits came and took it away.

If we fast forward to today, we have new foundations poured for the the sunroom in the back and the entryway in the front. Framing of the new interior walls has begun and we have a truckload of roof trusses in our front yard where they will shortly become the new gable roof on the garage.

A lot of decisions have to be made now. The most immediate is putting our order in for windows. A lot of changes have been made over the past few nights that will be the stuff of future blogs, but we feel really good about where we have ended up. Next comes plumbing fixtures, lighting, a 4th of July break, and more plumbing and lighting.

Its a lot to think about and will keep me from sleeping, but I do know after tomorrow morning's meeting, I'll be in a happy place.

Lights, please!

2010-06-30T17:41:57-04:00

Given the big project that Raveen and I taking on with This Old House, you might wonder if we are experienced renovators. The answer is a resounding NO! Sure, we've done a few small projects here and there (minor bathroom remodels, painting, planting, etc.), but nothing anywhere near the magnitude of our current project. So we have LOTS to learn.

One subject in which we've been taking a crash course recently is lighting. Who knew there was so much to learn? We certainly didn't, but we now know that lighting can have a huge impact on the look and feel of a room, so it pays to get it right.

We are very fortunate to have lighting designer Susan Arnold from Wolfers educating us on lighting options, and helping us come up with a lighting plan that will make the most of our house. (Susan and our architect, Chris Chu, are shown here working on the lighting plan). For example, our house has relatively low ceilings. Susan showed us that lighting the walls and ceilings (via sconces, adjustable accent lights, and flush-mounts) can help downplay the low ceilings and make rooms feel larger. On the other hand, if we were to light the house only with recessed downlights (which primarily cast light onto the floor), the ceilings might appear even lower, and rooms would feel smaller.

Susan and her colleague, Bonnie Forbes, have also taught us about the latest and greatest LED lighting options. LED lighting has been around for years, but there are more and more LED fixtures available every day, and the quality and color of the light they provide has improved tremendously in recent years. They're still expensive, but the energy efficiency and long term savings in electricity are hard to beat. If we can find a way to work some LED fixtures into our plan, we'll do it!

Out with the old (most of it, anyway)

2010-06-17T12:36:11-04:00

Well, here's what's left of our former kitchen and dining room area. As you can see, Tommy's guys did some major demo work over the last couple days (a significantly more involved process than in the past, due to all those new EPA lead laws). It's neat to see the space now that the wall between the kitchen and dining rooms has been taken down, since it gives us a better idea of what our new—much roomier—kitchen will look like.

We aren't saving much from the old kitchen and dining room, but we are hoping to somehow re-use the lovely sideboard (mostly hidden by plastic sheeting in this photo) and the upper cabinets with leaded glass doors from the former dining room. We don't have a definitive plan for them yet, but we're working on it!

Not for the faint of heart

2010-06-15T10:29:08-04:00

I pulled up to the house this morning to find this gigantic crane parked on the front lawn, its massive arm perched over our roof. Now, I am certain that to those in the construction / heavy equipment industry, the crane is no big deal and safe as can be, but for me it was a little scary to see our house looking so vulnerable and fragile under that thing!

The crane was used to hoist a 900 pound steel beam right over the house (yikes!), then lower it down the back side of the house, where it will span the opening to our new basement family room. As scary as it was to think of that huge hunk of steel being lifted over our roof, it's reassuring to know that we now have a really solid support beam holding the back of the house up! (That's Tommy and Kevin on the left, confident under the newly installed beam.)

In parallel with the construction work at the job site, Raveen and I are starting to focus on some key aesthetic decisions. One decision we weren't expecting to be faced with so early(!) is the exterior color scheme. While indeed the exterior painting will happen much later on, we need to order our windows soon, and one of the choices on the windows is the exterior trim color. So while we don't need to pick all of the exact colors right now, we do need to have a general scheme in mind so that we know which window trim color to order. White, or a darker color perhaps??? I'm planning to go out and tour some favorite neighborhoods this weekend with our architect, Chris... am hoping to be inspired!

Let the fun begin

2010-06-03T14:27:29-04:00

Boy, are things happening fast! Every time I stop by the house (or sneak a peak via the webcams), it seems like something major has happened. Last week, it was the sun porch coming down and the old overgrown yews being removed from the front of the house. This week, it's been major excavation both out back and in front, making way for our new sunroom and entry hall.

I have to say, I am really glad to finally see some of the fun stuff happening. Last month, we were consumed with what I would call the drudgery of the project… moving out (after having moved in less than four months earlier!), securing permits and financing, etc. Necessary and important activities, for sure, but not exactly fun! Seeing the beginnings of the two additions is a much-appreciated reminder of the great end result we are working toward, and of why all that drudgery will be well worth it in the end.

What just happened?!?

2010-05-27T16:37:11-04:00

As I sit and write this post, it still hasn't sunk in that our renovation will be featured on the next This Old House TV project. The events of the past six months—from first seeing our new house back in November, to being selected for the show, to the work that's getting underway this week--all happened at a whirlwind pace. And, yes, our heads are still spinning! But, as the saying goes, it’s all good, and we couldn’t be more thrilled, or more honored, to have been chosen.

First, let me share some background on how this all came to be.

We first moved to Auburndale in May 2000 after finding a lovely, sun-filled Victorian about a mile and a quarter from our current house. While the old house was largely renovated—and, unlike this house, loaded with curb appeal—I wasn't crazy about the ugly cinder-block garage, which my husband, Raveen, and I were determined to replace with something more architecturally fitting.

Well, years went by. Our kids were born. And, not surprisingly, our priorities changed. What was once "The Garage Project" morphed into "The Garage/Kitchen Project," which begat "The Garage/Kitchen/Mudroom Project," and finally "The Garage/Kitchen/Mudroom/Master Bath Project."

At the same time, the pull of "the peninsula" had begun. Let me clarify. The Islington Peninsula neighborhood was in the same school district as our old house, and we had several good friends who lived there. We were smitten by its leafy, bucolic feel, as well as the views and access the area had to the Charles River. But here's the thing: There are only 97 houses on the peninsula. And folks who live there tend to stay for-ev-er. So we were realistic about our chances of ever finding a house there, and decided to just make the best of what we had.

In September 2009, we asked architect Chris Chu to give us her thoughts on renovating our Victorian. While we loved her approach to opening the house up, while maximizing its views and sightlines, we were discouraged to learn that our options were relatively limited, thanks in part to local zoning laws, and our tiny little lot.

Raveen and I started asking ourselves if it was really worth it to invest in a major renovation, even if it wouldn't get us anything close to the home of our dreams. In mid-October, we told Chris to scrap the plans. We just weren’t ready to move forward.

But then—just a few short weeks later—a house on the peninsula came up for sale! It needed a TON of work, but the lot was fantastic, and Chris told us she could work some magic both inside and out. Needless to say, we went for it. After Chris learned that That Old House TV was looking for a local project for its 2010 season, she submitted our house (before we'd even closed on it), and the rest, as they say, is history.

So fasten your seat belts, folks. You're about to accompany us on what will surely be the ride of our lives.

Finishing touches

2010-01-22T16:36:43-05:00

It's been a while since my last post, but we're still here! The last weeks of the renovation were a whirlwind, from the extraordinary push to complete the work in time for the wrap party, to the subsequent photo shoots (you can see a story about our house in the current issue of This Old House magazine), the holidays,compiling the inevitable punch list for Tom, and simply unwinding after our nearly year-long adventure with This Old House.

In the run-up to the wrap party on November 19, there was quite a lot of finish work left to do. This included final carpentry, painting, as the painters burned the midnight oil to try to get everything covered in time, landscaping, and installation of light fixtures and hardware (finally, some doorknobs!). All hands were on deck during these last days.

Here you can see Kevin and Tom finishing up the living room bookshelves. This wall used to be the outside wall of the house, with a window that looked out to the jalousie-glass porch. It's also where Bill's desk used to be. Now, a pocket door separates the living room from the new family room on the other side.

On the day before the wrap party, electricians complete the wiring in the living room bookshelves and in the ceiling above, where we added new down lights. Painters are working feverishly on the landing to finish painting all those shelves and cabinets.

Somehow order emerged from all that chaos and things got done! Bill's desk has found a happy new home in his upstairs office (with fireplace), and we are all enjoying our "new" living room (BELOW) with its beautiful wall of shelves. Someday I hope we will be able to put a baby grand piano into this corner.

A Tom Silva original

2009-11-17T14:53:25-05:00

Remember the three-season porch with jalousie glass we demolished to make way for the new, two-story addition? Well, it actually sat a little bit below the level of the rest of the house and below the grade of the rest of the property. We wanted the new addition to sit on the same level as the rest of the house. The problem came in trying to marry the second-floor addition and stairway with the old hallway to maintain enough ceiling height on the first floor. The biggest problem area was in the first-floor hallway where the new stairs to the library landing would have to cut into the ceiling height across the new entry. This presented a big challenge in trying to build the basement stairs with enough ceiling height to meet code requirements, and it was also going to be an aesthetic issue in the entry hall next to those stairs.

Tom's ingenious solution was to match an existing archway in the front hallway using a barrel ceiling to mask the disparity in ceiling height from front to back. We thought it was a great idea to take a problem and make it into a distinctive feature of the house using an existing architectural element. And now we'll always know that we have a "Tom Silva Original" design in the house! Next we need to consider whether we'll add any lighting inside or rely on the existing hallway lights on either side of the barrel to cast enough light on the area. It might be pretty to have small sconces on either side to cast a glow on our distinctinve barrel ceiling. What do you think?

Master craftsmen at work on the library

2009-11-12T11:28:34-05:00

Tom and Norm put their heads together to build our library bookshelves

From the beginning, the library landing has been the heart of our renovation. Paul Rovinelli spent countless hours with us designing it. He knows Bill and I are book lovers—to put it mildly—and wanted a special space to enjoy our collection with our children. The library isn't large, but it will be a congenial space, full of light, and the warmth of books. The window seat will be an inviting spot to curl up with a book, do some homework, or play a board game. I can't wait for it to be finished!

And that day is drawing closer. Last week, Tom and Norm put their heads and hands together to craft the cabinets and built-ins for this gorgeous space, and it was a thrill to watch. Knowing that two masters put their combined expertise into this space will make it even more special for our family. Thank you, Tom! Thank you, Norm! We couldn't be happier with how things are shaping up.

With a seasoning of plaster dust

2009-11-11T16:35:33-05:00

In case anyone was wondering, we still don't have a working kitchen. Sure, we're making do with the old range down in the basement and various small appliances set up here and there around the house—but it's getting old! Yesterday director (and amazing cook!) David Vos took pity on us and brought over one of his signature roast chickens, and a container of his special red beans. What a treat that was! We must have been on the same wavelength, because I chose the same day to bake a few trays of cinnamon rolls for the workers and crew assembled at our house.

So we're not going hungry. And I'm starting to see signs that the new kitchen will soon be up and running, too. The beautiful cabinets from Crown Point have been in for more than a week now, and the appliances are here, though they're still sitting in the living room. There's still plumbing to do and light fixtures to install. On the bright side, yesterday was counter day! Our kitchen will soon have two types of countertops: Caesarstone for the wall cabinets, and mahogany for the island with a food-safe finish so we can use it for cutting. Both look just beautiful, and I love the combination of wood and stone. Unfortunately, at the end of the day the counters all had to be covered up and protected for work on the subway tile backsplash. Lucky that I snapped these pictures first. Might appliances be next?