Tar Paper Crane - A Remodeling Blog

Something Old, Something New

2012-01-22T09:38:00.000-08:00

You remember the story of our English Tudor, right? This historic bay area home had not been touched for generations. While the details were stunning, the cramped rooms just didn't work for the way families now live. We did a careful restoration of the period details, opened up some spaces, and added a kitchen/family room, master suite, guest bedroom, and garage. What a difference!

The original kitchen was tiny and isolated, a place for the help, not the family. The new kitchen/family room addition makes food prep and family time one in the same. In place of an island, the central kitchen table is a place for Legos and lunches and feels lighter than a built-in.

To keep the kitchen clutter-free, a section of the old porch was converted into a pantry, used for storing food, wine, and bulky countertop appliances. We saved one of the original wood swing doors and re-purposed it as a pocket door. The holes from the old hardware are still visible to tell the tale!

The two-toned kitchen cabinets and simple white subway tile create a very vintage vibe without feeling fussy.

In an extraordinary feat of seamless remodeling, we replaced the middle set of French doors that were rotten. The only visible difference between the new and the old is the sheen of fresh varnish.

The dining room was kept mostly intact. We restored the gorgeous gum woodwork common in the 1910s, and added the punchy red grasscloth from Villa Nova Fabrics to make the room come alive. Read this post about how we removed a bay window when the new kitchen was added.

Check out the amazing built-in hutch! The shapes in this
hutch are repeated in trim and fixtures throughout the house. I love this piece!

This historic restoration was a really fun blend of the past and the present. I hope you like! More to come on the exterior and the second floor. Also, I'll update the Completed Projects Tab over the coming weeks with a full list of finishes and colors used in the spaces.

Need help with something on your own home renovation? Leave a comment below and this construction nerd will do her best!

Little Blue Cottage Featured in Better Homes and Gardens

2011-11-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hi there remodeling friends, great news! Our very first project documented from start to finish here at TPC is featured in the November issue of Better Homes and Gardens. The snappy design of the Little Blue Cottage won over countless readers and we couldn't be more flattered that it also caught the attention of the pros over at BHG.

For those of you who fell for the little cottage that could, pick up November's Better Homes while you're stuck in the Denver airport next week, flip to page 66, and read the back story of the family that turned their starter home into their dream home.

*Special bonus - there are way better photos than I ever took, and more rooms that I didn't show you!
**Extra special bonus - The Little Blue Cottage is also being published in the BHG's new decorating book, aptly titled New Decorating Book, available here and at fine local booksellers in your neighborhood. Pick up a copy for that shelter-loving love in your life, or add it to your own wishlist!

***Double extra super special bonus - Yours truly will be appearing at the world famous Builders Booksource in Berkeley, CA on Friday, December 2 from 7-9pm to sign your copy and answer all your burning questions about how this house came to be so awesome.

Yay!

Residential Aluminum Windows - Locally Made in California

2011-06-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

Metal windows are unique in that they are equally at home in residential and commercial architecture, modern structures and old-world historic buildings. They have a timeless minimalist profile, derived from the strength of the frames, which affords narrow sight lines even in very large windows.

In the Rustic Modern house, we installed the Bonelli windows you see below. These are black anodized aluminum frames with satin nickel hardware. The durable anodized frames require no maintenance, look great, and are locally made to boot!

Keep in mind that aluminum and steel windows work best in temperate climates, like here in the San Francisco Bay Area, because the metal frames do not have a thermal break. Metals are great conductors, making these windows transfer heat and cool from outside into the house, rendering all that insulation less effective. In areas where it gets very cold, condensation can also be an issue, particularly if you don't have heat vents near the windows.

For steel windows and doors, look to Hope's Steel Windows and Doors out of Jamestown, NY, Torrence Steel Window Company out of Torrance, CA, or Crittall Windows Ltd. You'll need to go through a local distributor.

For aluminum windows and doors, you can order directly from the manufacturer. Blomberg Window Systems out of Sacramento, CA has great shop drawings and customer service. Bonelli Windows and Doors made the lovely units you see on this post. They're out of South San Francisco. They don't do shop drawings, but offer very competitive pricing, have a library of standard details, and will build to alignments you submit. Although I haven't used them, I've heard nothing but good things about Fleetwood Windows and Doors in Corona, CA. They have been serving contractors and homeowners since 1962. What other manufacturers do you guys like? If you have a local vendor you love, send them a shout out!

Board Formed Concrete Fail

2011-03-27T19:30:00.000-07:00

So much has happened since I last wrote, I know it's been a while. I had a post all lined up to boast to you about how we formed the huge concrete wall using panels constructed by affixing HardiPlank siding of varying heights to sheets of plywood.

I was going to tell you how this best-of-both-worlds approach proposed by our concrete subcontractor would take advantage of the flatness of plywood and the wood grain texture of siding to give us the look of perfectly uniform board formed concrete.

It was going to be so great! But, here's the rub. It didn't work. Like really really didn't work. You see, HardiPlank is a product made of fiber*cement* and what sticks to cement better than cement? Well, it turns out, nothing.

The concrete crew neglected to use form release oil, but several experts since have offered that even form release oil couldn't have prevented the disaster that resulted from all the HardiPlank forms being permanently and very stubbornly stuck to what is meant to be the single resounding architectural element of the entire project, our giant concrete front wall.

For those of you who aren't schooled on board-formed concrete, let's back up and I'll tell you how we got to this point. Traditionally, concrete forms were built from framing lumber like 2x8s or 2x10s. The concrete is poured between the wood forms and when the boards are stripped off, there is a slight imprint from the wood texture. Some concrete slumps between the boards leaving horizontal lines at the seams too. You see this look a lot in modern architecture.

Given that our wall is 16' high, 25' long, and has an exposed steel beam that spans a 17' wide gap in the wall, it's crucial that the wall be very flat. Lumber tends to warp and move, so the thought was to form with plywood for flatness and the add siding with the wood grain pattern for texture.

2 months and $25,000 later, we have reached a resolution. It looks beautiful, it looks intentional, but I still cringe at how we got to this point.

The solution? We soaked the wall, scored the siding, and took chippers and grinders to every inch, being careful to not damage the concrete underneath . It was time consuming, labor intensive, and awful. Then, we hired a sandblaster to blast off the fine layer that was left and smooth the texture.

The lesson? If someone on your project claims to have invented a new wheel, ask a lot of questions. Ask other people in the field, suppliers, vendors, and reps. Go to the forums and ask people who do this all the time what potential trouble you might run into with a new process. I love finding better ways to build, but I hope you all can learn from my mistake on this one.

Rebar Madness

2010-10-17T17:22:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy couple of weeks trying to get everything in place for this momentous concrete pour. Since last post, we poured the piers and installed all the underslab plumbing. Then we dropped in 12" of gravel and tied all the rebar for the topping slab and the retaining walls.

The entire garage level will have concrete walls and floor. This includes a laundry room, bathroom, and mechanical room, so we have to make sure that every exhaust duct that needs to go through the wall is planned before forming all the walls.

While it's always important to have a lot of people on hand for the concrete pour, that is especially true here where we have to get the hoses to the top of a 16' high wall.

Including the piers, the topping slab, and the retaining walls, we have 65(!) yards of concrete in for this two-story addition. The concrete will need to cure, and then as soon as the forms are stripped, I'll show the finished product. Check back in soon!

New Project! Rustic Modern Master Suite Addition

2010-09-12T09:50:00.000-07:00

I am so excited about this new project -- we just broke ground, so it's in the very intense beginning phase, but I know it's going to be amazing! The house is in a great location, nestled into a hillside under a towering grove of redwood trees. These are the "before" photos of back and the side of the house, with story poles in place showing what we're going to build.

The goal is to remove a deteriorating and poorly insulated master bedroom and garage, excavate into the hillside, and add on a new two story addition that will encompass a garage, laundry, bathroom, mechanical, and storage room on the ground floor, and master bedroom, master bath, writer's studio, and kids' playroom on the second floor.

Notice the tiny backhoe ready to get started! We have already performed all the demolition and excavation, so we're left with this massive hole.

To give you an idea of just how steep lot is, in this photo, I'm standing in the back yard and looking down toward the front yard. Yikes! We built safety fences all the way around the site that you can see in the background.

We've just begun drilling for piers. We have a total of 12 piers, going down 12-15' into bedrock to anchor the new foundation to the hillside. On the back wall where the black tarps are now, will be a 11' high concrete wall.

The design of the house is rustic modern, so that's what I'll call it from here on out. It combines elements from the natural surroundings, like stone and weathered wood, with contemporary finishes, like steel and glass, to make the home seem like a cozy extension of the forest. I'm starting to see more and more of this style in the wooded areas of the Northern California hills. You're going to love it!

New Tar Paper Star

2010-08-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

I am such a fan of the site Fun and VJs, run by Anita in Brisbane, Australia. She has a Queenslander house, which, to be honest, I'd never even heard of before reading her blog, but now I know it is a lovely architectural style native to Queensland in Australia, developed in the 1840s and still in use today, characterized by verandas, raised living spaces, and corrugated metal roofs. VJs refers to Vertical Join timber, locally referred to as tongue and groove.

Anita's sow's-ear-turned-silk-purse is our latest Tar Paper Star, so check out her site and read more at the Tar Paper Stars link above.

Paint Colors at the Cottage

2010-08-15T10:46:00.000-07:00

I've had a lot of questions about the paint colors used on this house, so I thought now was a good time to download for all of you working on your own cottages.

One thing to note is that the ceilings are the same as the wall colors throughout. This is a new technique we're seeing lately that really makes the woodwork stand out. I was afraid that going away from white ceiling would make the rooms feel smaller, but it actually has quite the opposite effect.

Kitchen Cabinets & Trim:
Benjamin Moore Int RM 02, Super White, satin finish.

Kitchen Walls & Ceiling:
Benjamin Moore 463, Woodland White, flat finish.

Stair Woodwork:
Benjamin Moore Int RM 02, Super White, satin finish.

Stair Walls & Ceilings:
Benjamin Moore HC-173, Edgecomb Gray, flat finish

Bedroom Cabinets & Trim:
Benjamin Moore Int RM 02, Super White, satin finish.

Bedroom Walls & Ceiling:
Benjamin Moore 1577, Artic Gray, flat finish.

Child's Room Cabinets & Trim:
Benjamin Moore Int RM 02, Super White, satin finish.

Child's Room Walls & Ceiling:
Benjamin Moore HC-171, Wickham Gray, flat finish.

Exterior Trim & Fence:
Matched to Marvin Window clad color, Stone White, semi-gloss finish.

Exterior Shingles & Siding:
The exterior is not painted, it is covered with integral color HardieShingles and HardiePlank Siding in Boothbay Blue.

Door Trim:
Matched to Marvin Window clad color, Stone White, semi-gloss finish.

Front Door:
Benjamin Moore 538, Vienna Green, semi-gloss finish.

Good luck to all of you out there in the painting stage. You're almost there!

Modern Kitchen Fun

2010-08-08T20:54:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post pics of this kitchen for a while. I just adore the way it all came together. This is another great design by Lorin Hill Architects, of the English Tudor house fame.

The house is classic mid-century modern, but a previous owner had poorly installed a cheesy Home Depot kitchen without permits. At the "encouragement" of city officials, that room was torn out and the resulting kitchen has changed the whole feel of the home.

The slab cherry cabinets and white granite lighten the weight of oversized pot drawers, and the orange accent wall (including door and trim) adds an element of playfulness while slyly downplaying the galley layout of the space.

Large rectangular floor tiles give the feel of stained concrete and heat registers run through the cabinet toekicks keep the floor area clear. Period light fixtures from the underground favorite Schoolhouse Electric Company top off this great mid-century kitchen makeover.

Antique Lighting Restoration

2010-07-25T10:16:00.000-07:00

Stop! Don't throw out those old fashioned light fixtures that have been with your house from the beginning of time, bring them up to date with new shades and wiring. You'll support your local artisans for less money than buying all new fixtures, and the style will read true your home's architectural roots.

The original gothic light fixtures at our English Tudor home were rewired to bring them up to safe and modern wiring standards by the folks at Sue Johnson Custom Lamps and Shades on Solano Ave in Berkeley. Better still, they crafted these gorgeous custom shades that showcase hand-selected leaves of native California plants set in mica. The seams are stitched fabric and the result is stunning.

If yours are already gone, scour your local antique stores and architectural salvages for period lighting and have a lighting restoration company bring it back to life for you. So much more soul than buying new!

Tar Paper Stars

2010-07-17T19:11:00.000-07:00

See that little TAR PAPER STARS link above? It will take you to a brand new feature I'm excited to introduce. The plan is to showcase one builder site a month that deserves a little blog love, and by all means, suggestions are welcome! Even though this month is already halfway over, it's never to late to introduce Meryl Rose of the Picardy Project. She's based right here in beautiful Oakland, CA and has a great site where she documents the restoration of her storybook home. Go there now!

Cottage Complete!

2010-06-27T14:12:00.000-07:00

At last, all the finishing touches are complete on our Little Blue Cottage and I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. Check out the photos below, and as always, if you have any questions, be sure to shout!

SUMMARY

BEFORE: 2 Bedroom, 1 bath, Single Story home

AFTER: 4 Bedroom, 3 bath, Two Story home

DURATION: 10 Months

EXTERIOR

Front of House - Before

Front of House - Current

Front of House - Before

Front of House - Current

Back of House - Current

KITCHEN

For more on this kitchen, see the 360 degree video here.

BEDROOMS

STAIRS

During Framing

Jack Backus Architects, Oakland, CA

BUILT BY

Mueller Nicholls Builders, Oakland, CA

Woo-hoo for our first complete remodel from start to finish here at TPC! So... what do you guys think?

Making It Home with Gumwood Moldings

2010-06-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in a remodel, changes to the outside of the house can create unforeseen design dilemmas on the inside. In the English Tudor home we've been restoring, in order to build the addition off the side of the house, we had to eliminate this classic leaded-glass bay window from the dining room wall and add a new door that would lead out onto the back deck.

This posed a challenge on the interior because the bay window trim tied into an intricate weave of beautiful original gumwood moldings and doors that add tons of charm to the dining room. (Also note how you can see where art was hung on the walls for years!)

We knew that getting new trim to match would be impossible, so our carpenters carefully took apart the window trim piece by piece and, with a few scarf joints, tied it back together again, framing the new door to the deck on the right side and mirroring that distance off the corner on the left side.

Add in sconces (shades to come), a little linseed oil, and voila! What bay window? Also, for all you wallpaper fanatics out there, you're probably already familiar with the many gorgeous patterns from UK based Villa Nova Fabrics. This is their grass cloth style wallpaper from the Florence Plain collection in Cayenne. Love it!

Reduce Reuse Recycle - Mix Old and New in Your Remodel

2010-05-22T19:33:00.000-07:00

It's easy to want to start fresh when you're remodeling, but saving a few select pieces will help tie the new space to the old and may even save you some money. Here are three examples of reuse in our classic English Tudor:

1. Bathtub This cast iron bathtub was original to the 1921 house and still in great shape. Given the high cost of tubs, this was a perfect candidate for reuse, and it's right at home in the new vintage style bath.

Original Location

2. Closet Doors These beautiful original gum wood closet doors were re-purposed as, well, closet doors... but in new pocket door locations. The holes from the old hardware just add to the charm.

Original Location

3. Sun Room French Doors The pair of French doors leading from a small bedroom to the sunroom were eliminated, in favor of a wider opening. The glass-paned door is seen throughout the home, so we reused them in one of the new bedrooms to speak to the vintage architecture. Sure, it's unconventional to use glass doors for a closet, but in this case, it really adds charm and character to an otherwise standard bedroom.

Original Location

So get our there and reuse, already! It's good for the earth, the pocketbook, and oh-so stylish.

Reviving the Sun Porch

2010-05-02T11:04:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest features of the classic English Tudor we're working on is this beautiful enclosed sun porch. The vintage bi-fold windows accordion and all slide to one side of the room, making the room feel like it's inside the cedar tree.

Unfortunately, the 90 year old windows were allowing water to get inside the walls and rot the structural posts, as well as rotting the window sashes and sills.

We had window companies look at replacing them, but no one was sure about how to rebuild these windows and have them function in the same way. The prices were incredibly high. We developed a plan to rebuild the windows ourselves. We had ASAP Custom Windows make the new wooden window sashes, then our guys carefully took apart the jambs piece by piece and milled new parts to the exact sizes of the old that would work with the antique hardware.

It was a very technical and complicated project that was great for the house. The sun porch is still bright and airy, the new bi-fold windows are solid with proper flashing, and they function better than ever!

The Left Coast Lifter! Bay Bridge Construction Monster Crane!

2010-03-28T17:57:00.000-07:00

My trouble with the now not-so-new S-curve of the Bay Bridge isn't the radius of the curve itself, it's that they stuck this amazing crane, dubbed the "Left Coast Lifter," right beside the bridge requiring me to exercise every ounce of restraint I can muster not to rubberneck. As luck would have it, my friend and mentor Chris has a sailboat that we took out for the express purpose of getting a closer look at this beauty.

As we approached the Bay Bridge construction project, the sheer size of this crane is overwhelming. For scale, the white curved structure in the background is a preview of the new Bay Bridge.

Here are the stats:

-Built by Zhenhua Port Machinery Co. Ltd. (ZPMC) in San Francisco's sister city, Shanghai, China exclusively for the construction of the Bay Bridge
-30 stories tall
-Boom can lift 1,800 tons (that's 3,600,000 lbs, or a community of myself and roughly 29,000 others about my size)
-And best of all... it floats! It lives on a 400' long barge that was constructed in Portland, OR

The crane is used to lift pre-manufactured bridge sections into place. The steel you see here is temporary. It's used to hold the deck in place before the self-anchored suspension system is installed. We cruised passed the dinky helper cranes,

and on to a great view of the new San Francisco Bay Bridge construction.

Rumor has it that this incredible piece of machinery will be for sale once the bridge construction is complete. You know, someone has a birthday coming up...

For more info on the Bay Bridge Construction, including killer 360 degree videos of the action, check out the official site, Bay Bridge Info.

Designer Spotlight - Mary Jo Fiorella

2010-03-21T16:42:00.000-07:00

From foundation to fabrics, Mary Jo Fiorella is taking the design world by storm with her bright, minimalist, eclectic style. Having recently completed construction of a beautiful kitchen and bath renovation she developed, I thought now would be the perfect time to spotlight her aesthetic and get her take on design in the new economy.

Tell us about how you got into residential design.

I completed design school at FIT in NYC in 1985, Yikes! While in school, I worked for an international lighting design firm. Upon graduation, I went to work for Mancini Duffy in One World Trade Center, NYC. For most of my career I have done corporate interiors. In the last 7 or 8 years, I've really enjoyed residential design. I think doing both has made me a more rounded and overall better designer.

What don't you like about the business?
These days too many people think design works like they see it on HGTV. Good design doesn’t happen in 2 days, and it does cost money, often lots of money.

How do you work around this mentality?
I try to bring good design to the masses. I'd like to take the target approach if I find a client I'd like to work with. I do what I can to work in their tight budget. At least they realized they "NEED" help and will have a better outcome than if they had done it all on their own.

What do you think is your biggest strength?
This is difficult. I love space planning, working the puzzle to make things better for the clients, but I also love love love colors, fabrics, tile, furniture, accessories, art, and pulling it all together.

Let's talk about this kitchen. It has such a great mix of colors and textures! What is your favorite piece?
It has to be the backsplash. It's just beautiful. I also love the table I had built to fit the long window seat.

Everyone loves that backsplash! Can you tell us more about it?
It's a custom tile from Waterworks. You select your stone, and a percentage of how much of each color you'd like. They do strike-offs for approval. It's a long process, but worth it in the end. You also send them your elevations so they can work up how the mesh sheets will come in. It's a random pattern and you won't see any "tile" lines.

What turned out differently than you expected?
Nothing much. If you look at my original sketches, the final product is right on with the intent.

Let's move on to the bath. This bathroom has some of the best use of tile I've seen. How did you gather all the pieces together to make this work?
The client is very much inspired by blues. Knowing this, I went in that direction. I started with the color scheme and followed with the architecture.

What was the direction from the client on this bathroom?
To brighten it up, make it more contemporary, but keep in mind the architecture of their home. I think it all ties together very well. There is still a traditional element in each renovated space, like paneled cabinets or traditional crown molding, and the cherry floors and baseboards are in every room. The colors are similar to the other spaces as well. The home is filled with warm and cool grays, blues, and greens.

What about that waterfall stripe in the shower?

I just wanted a simple graphic punch of color with a change of texture as well.
Overall, when you enter the home, you can't help but smile. It really is a "Happy" home.
___
For more information or to contact Mary Jo Fiorella about your upcoming project, large or small, visit her website here.

If you just can't get enough of this project, take a look at the 360 views of the kitchen and bath.

Scheduling a Kitchen Remodel

2010-03-14T18:52:00.000-07:00

Whether you are planning a wedding or planning to tear apart your house, a good schedule will help you stay on task and ensure that materials arrive as you need them.

Here is a sample schedule for a medium sized kitchen remodel that was developed using Microsoft Project, but you could just as easily use a calendar. The key is to build the build the entire event in your head before you do any of the real work. Break out each task and take your best guess at how long you need to complete it. Ask each person and supplier along the way how much time they'll need for their portion of the job.

Keep in mind that the planning phase of a construction project can take just as long or longer as the building phase. If there are major changes to the exterior of your house (i.e., new windows or roofline) you may have to go through your city's Design Review process which can add six weeks or more to your permit time.

Construction should be sequenced in such a way that you are not being held up by any one item with a long lead time. The items with the longest lead times are cabinets (12+ weeks) and windows (6-8+ weeks). Because you'll need to know what appliances you're using in order to purchase your cabinets, focus on appliances, cabinets, and windows to start.

Your plumbing fixtures need to be on site during rough plumbing, which is very early in the remodel, so focus on those next. Tile, depending on where you order it from, can take 6+ weeks to arrive, or you may be able to find something that is stocked locally. All finish grade wood, whether it's hardwood flooring or crown moulding, should arrive to the site at least 2 weeks before you plan to install it because it needs to acclimate to the humidity of the space tp prevent it from swelling or shrinking after it's installed.

The more items you can select and order ahead of time, the happier you'll be. Prevent decision fatigue! Use your schedule to prioritize the decisions you have to make to keep stress levels low and have some fun with your new kitchen!

DIY Bathroom Design - Part 2

2010-02-13T16:57:00.000-08:00

I'm going to jump right in to Part 2 of our step-by-step guide to planning the design of your bathroom remodel.

4. Flooring

There are many options for bathroom flooring, but the best choices are sheet goods and tile. Sheet goods can be vinyl or linoleum. Linoleum is usually ugly, but it's inexpensive and practical. There is an aesthetically superior alternative called Marmoleum, which is a natural linseed sheet product with a jute backer. It comes in a wide array of colors and is earth and asthma/allergy friendly.

If you can afford it, the best floor for looks and durability is tile. Tile can be ceramic or stone, and comes in every color, shape, and size imaginable. Take your cabinet and countertop samples with you when tile shopping. If you are planning to tile the shower surround or walls, you'll want to make sure all the tiles work together. In our Little Blue Cottage, the kids' bath on the left has 4"x18" Maioliche Vesuvienne Bianco tiles, which are only $4.95/sf at Import Tile in Berkeley. The master bath on the right has floor tiles from Walker Zanger. The large tiles are 12"x12" shetland gray stone and the accents are 5/8"x5/8" lagos azul mosaic.

Notice that nowhere did I say that carpet is an acceptable choice for a bathroom floor. Do I need to reiterate? Never put carpet in a bathroom floor. Ever. Hardwood is also not a great choice. It's definitely not durable enough to hold up next to a shower, although it can sometimes fly for a powder room. Engineered wood is better than actual wood (it moves less), but neither are good.

5. Tile

This step is only if you are not going to use one of those prefabricated drop-in acrylic or fiberglass surrounds. Grab your heavy bag full of samples and head to your local tile store. You are looking for field tiles (the ones that make up the large span of wall), accent tiles like a border or inside a niche, and caps for the top.

Here are two examples from our Little Blue Cottage. The kids' bath has white 3x6 subway tiles from the Tile Shop in Berkeley. These are a great deal at $3.68/sqft. There is an accent strip also in white near the top and the shampoo niche is done in Ann Sacks penny round mosaic in sky matte.

The master has gray/green glass 3"x6" subway tile from Import Tile and the same tile, but in a longer 1 1/2"x9" size for the shampoo niche.

Large tiles are fine for a bath floor, but you'll want a smaller version (around 4"x4" is ideal) for the floor of a walk-in shower. The grout lines serve as extra traction for safety and allow the installer to get the proper slope to the drain. Unless you've successfully installed tile before, this is a job best left to the pros. Get samples of all the tiles you want to use and have your tilesetter place the order. They'll have a better understanding of the square footage required, and also of what trim tiles you'll need to make to the design a success.

Design Your Perfect Bathroom Remodel - Part 1

2010-01-31T14:39:00.000-08:00

Bathroom remodels are tricky to get right. Limited by a small footprint, every piece need to serve a purpose and blend with the other selections to keep the room from feeling too busy.

Here is a Part 1 of a step-by-step guide to planning the design of your bathroom remodel.

1. Layout

Think about function. Do you need a bathtub? Do you have the space to have a separate tub and shower? Many people now are moving away from tubs in favor of walk-in showers. If you are not a soaker, and already have a bathtub in the house, consider the ease of use, especially in older age, of a walk in shower. Do you need two sinks, or will one suffice? Do you need storage for linens, towels, and products? How much?

2. Cabinets

The bathroom vanity is the most dominant piece in the room, so it's best to let this piece set the tone for the design. Do you want a painted or stained vanity cabinet? Custom or off the shelf? In the kids' bath here in our little blue cottage, we started with the Pottery Barn Classic Double Console in white.

We then added a custom laundry chute cabinet with extra storage for towels above, designed to match the vanity.

The chute drops down to a hamper in the laundry room directly underneath this bathroom.

3. Countertops

Countertops and flooring are of equal importance in a bathroom remodel, but since you have far more options in flooring, it's best to select the counters next. The Pottery Barn vanity above came with a Carrara marble top, which made this selection easy. If you went with a custom cabinet, you'll need to pick a stone. A lot of people think stone is only shiny granite, but there are tons of options out there, from marble to soapstone to travertine. If you go with granite, try a honed finish for a softer, more matte look. For a great bargain, shop for stone remnants from your local supplier or fabricator. Often, they have pieces left over from larger projects that you can get for a steal. Always take a small sample, you'll need it to take it with you when you're shopping for tile.

Coming up next -- selecting bathroom tile, sinks, shower fixtures, and accessories.

Truss Me

2010-01-17T14:07:00.000-08:00

In construction, everyone has an opinion about whether it's better to frame roofs with trusses or using conventional stick framing, Here's mine: Trusses are smart! They are installed on 24" centers instead of 16" centers, which means fewer trees cut. Additionally, a complicated roof might take weeks to stick frame whereas trusses go up in a matter of days, which means less labor and lower project costs.

On our English Tudor remodel, the eaves of the original house were decorated with elegant rafter tails. For the addition, rather than make each rafter tail and plant it onto the outside of the house, we took one out of the demo pile and sent it to the truss company. They replicated the detail on extended legs of the truss itself so all we have to do is trim, caulk, and paint. Done!

Usually, the biggest argument against truss framing a roof is that with all those cross braces in the way, the attic can't be used for storage. However, in this remodel, the roof pitch was steep enough that the truss designer was able to cleverly box out a sizable area that will make a great platform for the Christmas decorations.

With the roof framing up, we can move on to shingles and windows. Yay!

Spectacular Kitchen Design

2010-01-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

Here are the first glimpses of the kitchen and family room remodel in the little blue cottage. Compare to the before photo here. The box beam ceiling turned out great! The walls and ceilings are painted the same color and the cabinets and trim are Benjamin Moore Super White.

You get a good shot of the floors here. They are 5" wide ebony stained oak, and the mahogany island is stained to match. The cabinets are beaded face frame with inset doors and furniture-style (open) kicks at the sink and island. They're hand painted on site to get the traditional brush stroke finish. More details on the cabinets to come in future posts.

The backsplash tile comes from one of our Bay Area gems, Heath Ceramics. These are from their Dimensional Collection, 3D designs from the 50s-60s that have been revived into production. The color is called Pisces.

Want to impress that dwelling-obsessed cutie you know? The Heath factory right here in Sausalito, CA opens for tours Fridays at 12:30pm and Saturdays and Sundays at 11am and 3pm.

Crane Spotting

2010-01-03T15:16:00.000-08:00

The Bay Area is a great place to be for the girl who loves cranes. There are the iconic cranes at the Port of Oakland that look like Star Wars At-At Walkers and the giant blue crane that was built specifically for the Bay Bridge repair. Big cranes, small cranes, I love 'em all. My dream construction project involves a crane on a barge. So when we switched from a traditional stick framed roof to a truss roof at the English Tudor house, a special added bonus was delivery by crane.

The Green Door

2009-12-27T20:42:00.000-08:00

Gotta love this lime twist on the classic craftsman red door. This is a nice and wide Simpson 7860 three panel, six lite front door with matching Simpson 7260 sidelights. I think those sidelights to the left and right of the door looked better in white, but after much debate, we were asked to re-paint them to match the Boothbay Blue of the shingles. The thought was that the door looked too wide with that much white on each side of the green.

The header crown is stepped above the center door, a small detail with big results. This trim style is repeated on the adjacent front windows.

The inside of this front door is so fresh and so clean in white on white. The small windows bring light into the entryway, while their height maintains the privacy from the busy street out front. The trim is the same as the pocket doors here. All in all, a fabulous front door, inside and out!

Second Story Addition

2009-12-20T18:38:00.000-08:00

The second story is up! This floor is the master suite addition, guest bedroom, new guest bathroom, and a remodeled kids' bathroom.

The challenge with every home remodel is the intersection of new and old. On the first level, that trouble spot was aligning the floor of the new structure to the precise height of the old (which is, of course, not level) because we're going to have hardwood that patches in to one continuous floor surface with no transitions.

On this level, the challenge is a long hallway that starts in the old house and bisects most of the length of the new. The old section of hallway is not completely parallel to the exterior walls. We can't angle the new hall to match or you'll see crooked cuts in the bathroom tile floors, and a jog in the wall just won't do.

We decided to cant the front exterior wall out 3/4" to loose some of the angle. That much can be absorbed by the plywood and stucco. Then we framed the new hall walls parallel to the exterior walls and a hair wider than what we need them to be so the sheetrockers can float more mud at the joint of the two sections to give the impression that it's always been one long fabulously straight hallway.