Paint & Carpet

I emailed the homeowners today about some lighting and a couple other things and I reminded them about how this portion of the remodel can be kind of a low point. Well, the actual words I used were "boring". I wish I could say that the whole remodel process is all fun and games, but it's not. We know that around the drywall and paint phases the clients are a little bummed out. But - the nice thing is that things will start picking up from here.

And on this project we kind of have a "double whammy" (you like that?) - not only are we at the boring phase of drywall and paint, we also added new carpeting for the rest of the house as well as painting. Oh, and that also includes all new baseboard and trim in the secondary spaces. Basically it's just a lot of tedious work that can seem to drag on. And because this added work adds to the schedule it can feel even longer. I feel for them, but I'm also pretty jacked up about what the added work will do for the end result. They're going to be pretty stoked if you ask me.

Anyway, I do want to show a couple pictures of what's going on. First up is a shot looking at the pantry in it's new duds. It's not totally done, but you can start to get an idea of the massing accomplished by the color. Also, take note in this picture as well as the next one and you'll see what the painting process can look like when doors are involved. The painter has to lean them against the walls inside to avoid any dust settling on them that would affect the gloss paint.

And we also have all the furniture moved out of the back rooms for the carpet install - covered in that beautiful plastic. Yep, pretty fun, eh?

Now I want to give you a little info on the carpeting that will be going into the other spaces. There's going to be two different types of carpet - one is a broadloom and the other is a tile. They're both actually commercial products I was aware of from my past life as a commercial Interior Designer. For the hallway and the bedrooms we'll be using a Bentley Prince Street product as shown here:

And here it is from a little further back. The slate tile is at the entry and the carpet shown on the right will continue into the hallway. The exposed OSB flooring on the left of the slate tile goes to the kitchen area and will eventually have a chocolate brown cork flooring.

And here's the second carpet we'll be using. It's an Interface tile that will only go in the "Red Room" - basically the main living space off to the right of the entry that has a big red wall in it. Very nice space. Anyway, the carpet tile will be on a 1/4 turned pattern and will almost look like a basket weave pattern.

By the way, Interface is a crazy awesome company that is full of innovation and is pretty hardcore on the environmental tip. And not just a "green" company. And while I don't agree with everything they push . . . they're the real deal, not just another company that is looking for shameless promotion without results promoting real sustainability. If that's something any of you are into, check them out here: http://www.interfaceinc.com/

Oh, and you can check out Bentley Prince Street here: http://www.bentleyprincestreet.com/

Both companies put out some awesome product in both design and quality - very nice stuff. I hope you all had an awesome Memorial Day weekend, oh . . . and a big shout out to all the folks in our Armed Forces. Thanks for your service!

Did You Know I'm Famous?

Since the progress of the remodel is kind of in it's boring phase I don't have a whole lot to show right now. The owners decided to add carpeting and trim work to the hall and bedrooms so that's being worked on right now which doesn't really help my blog, you know? That also means the hall walls will get painted too. Too bad for me, eh? Ok, just kidding. I'm actually really glad they decided to go ahead with that. It was one of those adds that will make a huge difference to the end product but not everyone would go for it. It's funny, some adds I could actually care less about and some I feel pretty strongly need to happen for a successful outcome. This carpet, paint, and trim was definitely one I felt strongly about.

Ok, so what the heck was I talking about in the title? Famous? Yep, I'm a widely recognized designer . . . right here in Boise. Yeah, you totally know I'm full of it. But I did help out HGTV with a couple little one page articles on some interior design tips. It was really cool to do, and I figured since it's kind of slow I would post links to the articles so you could check them out. Here's the links for you:

This first one touches on some lighting:
http://www.hgtvpro.com/hpro/di_design_trends/article/0,,HPRO_20174_4618911,00.html

And this one is about getting great bang for the buck
http://www.hgtvpro.com/hpro/di_kitchens/article/0,,hpro_20172_3811949,00.html

Hope you like them. And by the way, I should be getting some better shots up sometime next week. Hope you all have a great Memorial Day Weekend!!

More Drywall . . .

I had to go up to the house yesterday for some "color picking" and noticed that all the drywall texture was finished. In fact it was still wet - they must have just left a little bit before I showed up. As you can see in the photos it's just one more step closer to a finished product and helps clean up the space. Here's a shot looking from the entry into the future kitchen:
And now looking from the pantry area towards the kitchen. You can see the pantry wall along the left side of the photo:
Now looking from the dining room towards the kitchen and pantry:
And here is the next step towards the finished product of the ceiling. Now remember in the last posting I said to keep an eye on this spot because we had a few different ceiling surfaces coming together in the same spot? Well this is that spot and you can see it's all blending together. Once the paint goes on you'll never know it wasn't this way originally.That's about it for today - not a whole lot to say about what's going on for this post. I think the pictures kind of speak for themselves really. Not sure what's going on next, I'll have to check the schedule. Oh yeah, they'll start painting tomorrow. That will be cool - color is the best bang for the buck in my opinion. I should have some shots of that next week.

Drywall Baby!!!

Alright, this is a great phase in the remodel. The framing is all done and the drywall starts going in - you can really see the forms taking shape because they have visual weight to them now. Very cool. Now, keep in mind that this is still a pretty "rough" state the project is in here. When I went up to shoot this pictures they had just finished with the mud so you can see the joints are still very dark and wet. Still - cool to see. Here, check it:

So the photo above is looking back towards the kitchen space from the small living area. You can see the drywalled (is that even a word?) portion of the pantry on the right of the photo here. As I'm sure you can figure out - the garage door and sliding patio doors are a great frame of reference.

And these next couple photo are looking from the kitchen towards the pantry, small living, and dining area. Notice how all the drywall ceiling planes have to come together too. I'll show you a close up picture soon. You can also see that we've taken the popcorn texture off the original ceiling now.

Here's a shot looking back at the kitchen from the dining space:

Now here's a great shot of all the ceilings coming together at the corner of the pantry. Watch this space later on to see how clean it will be. I'd bet money (well, not really) our guys will make it all seamless right here.

Well, I think that about does it for today. Sorry - not a whole lot of things for me to say, and at 4:15 on a Friday I'm not nearly as "witty" so . . . yeah, you all know how that is right? Right. I hope you all have an awesome weekend - and to all the Moms out there - Happy Mother's Day!!!

Some "yada, yada"

That's right - as the title of this blog suggests, it's not just about interior design and remodeling. There's also some "yada, yada" - and you're about to see what I mean. No, that's not a threat or anything. It's just that interior design and remodeling are not the only interests I have. Now I don't plan on posting anything and everything that interests me, but every once in a while I'll see something worth throwing on here.

For example, . . . today I went up to the client's house to discuss some flooring transition details and on my way back I saw something that caught my attention. Here's what I had to pull over and take a few pictures of:

Yep, I'm a total car nut and this gorgeous Acura NSX is not a regular site in Boise. I've seen a few of them here and there, but this one really stands out. That thing is freaking awesome! Very tasteful modifications to it too. Whoever owns that car - nice work. And if you ever want any design services . . . I'd be happy to give you a discount on my fees if you give me a ride. Yeah, I know, I'm a generous guy. Alright, I better get back to work!

Pretty Boring

I wish I could sit here and say I have some really stunning stuff for you to check out - but I don't. The reality is that when I went up to the house today it didn't look much different than the last time I was there. Which, by the way, is something that we hear from people at about this stage of the remodel. See, right about now is when the work being done doesn't really get seen so it seems like nothings happening. You know . . . stuff like wiring, plumbing or gas line rough in, etc, etc. Later this week we should be seeing some drywall going up and that will get us back to some "wow" fun.

Anyway, here's a couple pictures for you to see what I saw. First up is a shot of the can lights going in.

See how insanely exciting that is?! Actually though, I'm one of those weirdos that likes seeing this sort of thing. From here I can visually fill in the blanks and get a gut check on how the space will feel according to the light layout and its interaction with the cabinetry. The spacing and layout of the lights will do exactly what I planned them to do. Ha ha ha!!! Sorry, this is too fun. Anyway, if you look closely at the line of the drywall in the ceiling, you should also be able to see the locations of the three pendant lights that will be going over the peninsula. Here's a better shot of it:
On a side note, right before starting construction we determined that doing the typical door jamb and casings (trim) would not be the best direction to go. We decided that in the public areas it would be more appropriate for the modern design direction to have a very clean drywall detail using "L" metal. Well, to make a long story longer . . . that means we have to alter the wall construction to deal with the existing doors. It's either that or take out the whole door assemblies and then re-set them to allow for a flush drywall termination. So we decided to fur out the existing stud walls 1/2" to allow for this detail rather than messing with the existing doors. Here, check it out:

What I'm talking about is the OSB strips set on top of the studs - see? Yeah, yeah, pretty exciting stuff, eh? Well, don't say I didn't warn you. Right about now, some of you are thinking this is cool, and some are bored to death with this stuff. Oh well, the one's that are bored probably left a long time ago.

Evil Adhesive . . . .

Yesterday I met with the clients, the electrician, and our PM (project manager) for the electrical walk through. That's where we all meet to make sure all the electrical items are totally dialed in before the electricians start their rough-in (wiring). Now, typically I go through the lighting design thoroughly in the design phase to eliminate any changes at the walk through. Any changes usually equal more money. Well, not usually - always. So . . . I really want to avoid that for our clients. Well, and for me - I really don't like feeling stupid :) In addition to that, I feel the lighting design is so important that you don't want to be doing it "on the fly".

To sum up the meeting, we went through the plans and discussed things like exact locations of outlets, pendant lights, switching locations - you know, "fun stuff". We ended up realizing we needed to add a couple outlets in order to satisfy code requirements - not a big deal. We also decided we would do a plug mold at the underside of the cabinetry along the fridge wall. This will allow us to avoid putting any outlets in the solid glass slab backsplash. I know that may not make a ton of sense to some people, but you'll see what I mean when it's installed and how it impacts the space. Just keep it in mind for future reference.

We also noted that the sub floor had all been installed for the future cork flooring. Here's what that looks like:

See how nice and clean that is? And no, that's not crime scene visqueen in the middle of the floor there - just plain old construction visqueen for dust protection. It's on break right now.

And finally, what this post was initially for - the "evil adhesive". So, what the heck am I talking about? Well, when I met with the clients they mentioned that the night before they ended up leaving their house and staying at a relatives home due to the smell of the adhesive used for the sub floor installation. Here's the culprit caught red-handed:

I hope the way I'm treating this doesn't seem to make light of the situation because it's intention is no such thing. The intention of posting this is for full disclosure and transparency. See, since we do this stuff all the time, the smell and the off-gassing is almost like smelling roses if you work at a flower shop. Hmm, maybe a bad analogy there. Anyway, the point is that we overlooked the possibility of it negatively impacting the homeowners. And in retrospect I wish we would have thought of it rather than inconveniencing them. Now fortunately they told us about it instead of keeping it to themselves. Many people will actually keep quiet and then we loose the opportunity to learn how we can be more sensitive to our clients needs and improve our service.

So what's the lesson? Well, speak up and make yourself heard! A good remodeler will actually care about you and not just getting the project finished. Wow, that sounds sappy. Oh well, if the shoe fits. See ya.