housy stuff

[ilanarama]

Here is a little of the promised picspam for jereeza and tofty and aubrem, and everyone else who is curious about our remodel project. (catbear, you would not recognize the place!) Pictures are links to bigger pictures on flickr.

Yesterday we moved our bed and dresser into our new upstairs bedroom yay! And last night we slept there for the very first time.


Darn, you can't see any of the stairs. But I lovingly stained and polyurethaned all the stairs and the stair rail and the posts and the balusters and OMG it took FOREVER. Also all the window and door trim you see. The double doors go to a deck, the single door on the east goes to nothing at the moment, but we are hoping to put a small wrought-iron balconet out there.

I also want to show off our gorgeous upstairs bathroom (which is around the corner ahead and to the right in the left picture above). I designed the shower tiling pattern and our tile guy did it. The frameless shower enclosure cost way too much. The mirror's from Mexico.



Things are not quite finished yet, but you can see they are getting there!

Comments

[triestine.livejournal.com]

Nice work! (And oh, the view...)

That really is a gorgeous bathroom. How does that frameless thing work?

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Heh, I tried to take a good view picture, but mostly you just see tree branches and the neighbor's roof. But if you squint past it you can see the La Plata mountains to the northwest and Perins Peak to the southwest.

The shower enclosure is made of really thick glass, and it's got these little nearly invisible attachment thingies holding it to the tile.

[triestine.livejournal.com]

Ah, that I can see - I was wondering about the way the doors open - or slide, I cannot tell well...

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

The right shower door swings. There's a nice clear flexible seal between, so there's no water spilling out on the floor.

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous work! (You should take a vanity closeup of the stairs, though- those of us who have been through wood rehab with every door in the house appreciate views like that!)

I don't think I've ever seen a frameless shower enclosure- it's very elegant-looking! Also, I notice more terracotta-y colors up here. Am I remembering correctly that your kitchen highlights those colors, too? I love terracotta/peachy tones, too.

I want the mirror!

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Hee, I will take some closeups of the wood trim. The stairs were seriously a major project to finish, but wowie, they look so pretty.

The shower enclosure is so totally elegant! But you would not believe how much it cost. However, we had the rest of the shower all done by the time we discovered that, and the standard cheap enclosures just wouldn't have looked right.

Yeah, the kitchen is black-and-brown granite with terracotta floor tile and peach walls. Britt and I both really like the natural browns and reds shades. I'll have to put those photos on the web - I don't think I ever did.

[catbear.livejournal.com]

i don't remember an ... upstairs. there was a main floor, and a basement. what is this upstairs you speak of?

snazzy tilework; and yeah, i know just how fiddly it is to apply a finish to 3D objects... good on you for seeing it through!

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Hee! NEW UPSTAIRS YAYE!

I dont know if you remember the oddly shaped back room, where my office was (and Britt's office in the long skinny room next to it. There was no foundation under that - it was a 1950's addition - and we knocked it off and put a somewhat larger and 2-story addition in its place.

[catbear.livejournal.com]

oh, cool! our house has a foundation-less addition from the 50s also, it is the kitchen. I don't think we're going to tear the whole thing out, but we're certainly going to gut it. I've never seen, much less been in, a more poorly designed kitchen.

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

I don't remember whether we'd already redone the kitchen when you visited. That was our priority - a bad kitchen makes for bad vibes all around.

[aubrem.livejournal.com]

Really, really nice. I like especially the outdoorsy/Colorado feel to the whole thing. Natural colors, lots of light and red colored wood, tile. I'm sure the house fits in very well with its surroundings.

Beautiful design with the tile. Is the sink counter open underneath? Very nice uncluttered look. I think I'm going to show your shower pic to my husband - we're starting to think about a bathroom remodel.

Also, is that a window in your bedroom wall or a sconce or artwork?

Have you posted a pic of the front of your house? I'd be interested in the overall look of the house. Super nice job - I bet you feel good.

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

The sink is open underneath, but only because Britt hasn't yet built the vanity in. We need the storage, so there will be drawers there. I should take another photo of the shower stall so you can see the floor tiling as well. I love it, but I do warn you that the glass enclosure was custom, and with installation was > $1000.

Everything you see is window (other than the obvious sconce over the stairs). We haven't gotten around to putting art up yet!

I don't think I've posted an exterior photo anywhere on the net, but it looks a lot like laurelwood's! :-) It's a 1927 Spanish Eclectic style bungalow. Lots of arched windows mirrored by interior arches. I will try to post more photos, I just need to get around to taking them and putting them up!

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

Really fantastic, especially the bathroom, which is looking beautiful! How long has all this been taking? We had some major renovations done last year (including knocking out walls and things) and it took...um...almost all year *G*

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Oh my GOD, you don't want to know. We bought the house in March of 2003, and immediately began knocking out the kitchen, which was horrid, as well as replacing all the infrastructure such as heating and wiring. (The wiring and plumbing was all 1927 vintage. The house had been a rental for the past 20 years, too. The kitchen, for example, had one (non-grounded) electrical outlet, from which the renters had powered everything via a power strip. Yeah.)

The wiring, plumbing, heating, and kitchen were done by December 2003. In summer 2004 we hiked a lot, and Britt got a lot of paying work, so things slowed down, but we added insulation (there was NONE), replaced some windows, and hired people to sandblast the river rock fireplace (that had been unaccountably painted dark red) and refinish the living room walls. When we left to do the boat thing over winter 2004-05 we had the old addition knocked off and a new two-story one framed in (see comment to catbear above), had the old first-floor bathroom (the only one at the time) ripped out and a new one built (it's lovely, but not as nice as the new upstairs one!).

Since we got back work has been progressing. The addition is now nearly entirely finished. Right now, Britt and the two guys we hire are installing the new floor in our old bedroom. Basically, we just have to put the new floor down in the front part of the house and do the finish trim, and it's done. Amazing.

We did all of the first part of the work ourselves. When Britt started getting computer work, he figured he was making more money than it would cost to hire someone, so we got a guy in who is retired and works fairly slowly but steadily - he has a young assistant, and he acted as our general contractor on the major stuff like excavating and framing the addition, but mostly it's just the one guy. But Britt and I still are doing most of the finish type work, because he likes doing finish carpentry, and I can stain and paint and cut trim for free, so.

[saramwrap.livejournal.com]

Your bathroom makes me insanely jealous. There are generally two rooms that I care about in a house: kitchen and bathroom. :D

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

I'll have to photograph the kitchen, which is awesome, and the other bathroom, which is also very nice but not nearly as cool as this one.

[guntar.livejournal.com]

That looks amazing! I really, really like it. Can I move in?

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

NO NO NO MINE ALL MINE!

Besides, it would be a heck of a commute for you.

[yong-mi.livejournal.com]

The bathroom is byoo-tee-ful!

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Since you've seen my bathroom, you might possibly be able to understand how completely overwhelmed with bathroom envy I am right now. It is absolutely gorgeous, so clean-lined and warm!

Also, I agree that you should post pictures of the stairwell and kitchen. Before and after, if you have them--I have the feeling that I am going to be memory-ing these posts for inspiration!

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure I have some before photos of the kitchen. The stairs of course used to be zero before. But I might have a photo of the raw plywood and OSB stairway. (Actually, they are not completed yet - when I look to the side from my desk I see the raw edge that has not yet been covered with trim.)

And, you have so many possibilities ahead of you now! Not that actually doing home renovation is fun - well, parts of it are fun, but it is a lot of work. Bask in your home ownership for a while first.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Wow! I can imagine how much time the stairs took - first the stain then the polyurethane. All the little nooks and crannies to get into, while trying not to leave big drips. The bathroom looks terrific, too. You lucky homeowner, you!

Meant to say happy fanniversary this week. Meant to say a lot more, but Eric's back at basketball so that cuts down the free time a lot.

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Actually, I did all the little pieces before we assembled things. It was just raw plywood and OSB with no rails, and I did the stair treads, the kicks, the balusters, the posts, and the rails...see, I know all the words, now!

I took a shower in the new bathroom for the very first time this morning and mmm.

[adjudicated.livejournal.com]

Ooo, very beautiful! I love your Mexican mirror.

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Thanks! There's a great store here called Artesano's that imports stuff from Mexico. The copper sink came from there as well, and we're contemplating buying our dining room table from them.

[venivincere]

You've done beautiful work in your home! It's lovely! Do you have much more to go?

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's getting close. The new flooring has to be extended to the dining and living rooms, and there is still more trim to be done, and the upstairs bathroom vanity needs to be built (you can see it's just a bare sink right now). And then we need to buy furniture and get rid of our crappy yard sale stuff. But so, so close.

[venivincere]

Woo hoo!

[littleamerica.livejournal.com]

Are you going to do rugs? Runners? Blue? Brown? Something loud?

Enquiring minds, etc.

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

We have a few Navajo rugs to put down which are gray, brown, and white. Also some more colorful faux-Indian rugs. But basically just a few area rugs here and there. We both prefer the look of the bare wood.

[bowdlerized.livejournal.com]

Ilana, these pictures are gorgeous--and I'm not normally the kind of person who gets really into this type of thing. I love the shower!

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And I tried out the shower for the first time this morning. Mmmmmmm.

So if you come out west to visit you have a place to stay!

[sambushell.livejournal.com]

Glorious.

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

Thanks!