Visualizing the New Place

Let me say it aloud: demolition is done. There is no going back now.

Once the lathe and plaster were gone, exposing the "bones", Justin called for an inspector. We were on pins and needles, but he delivered the opinions we wanted to hear. Justin and his crew working from John's plans and specifications will make a better structure than we had before. We have approval to proceed with all our design elements (re-sizing windows, shifting a door and removing of a little bit of wall) with one minor qualification (we need to have a new header where that bit of wall used to be). Woo-HOOO!


So about those design elements . . . My mom has had some trouble visualizing what will be where, so I made a little not-to-scale drawing to post here. The old plan is at the top, the new plan is at the bottom. Hope you can see it. Do I need to make it bigger?
Basically, the kitchen and the breakfast room trade places and a new peninsula sporting the range and a range hood divide the two. The idea was to eliminate the pass-through nature of the old kitchen (which had two doors and a big arch), closing up the space between the sink counter and the stove, to create good workflow, more storage and real ventilation. I think this kitchen will be a destination.
The casual dining area will be nice, too, with lots of storage (for small appliances, dishes and stuff including my tool box in a very handy spot). There will be a book shelf near an internet port near new tall windows in the spot that gets great bounce light in the late morning.


In the bathroom, the idea was to make a place that would be comfortable for my Mom and by extension for me when I get to my "golden years". I had hoped for a nice, Greek-style soaking tub and a shower but that was prohibitively expensive. So I went for a beautifully-spacious and easy-access shower where the tub used to be and a linen closet where the shower was. There will be a tall glass panel for natural light. Note how the toilet tucked into the corner is not the first thing you see when you walk through the door. The wall opposite the door will be 5/8" multicolor travertine tiles surrounding the big glass panel. I think it will be eye-catching.

The service porch/laundry room is basically the same but spruced up and sporting an on-demand hot water unit instead of a big old water tank. You might remember the window between the bathroom and service porch - that will transform into the beautiful glass panel. The under-stair storage areas (front and back) will be freshened-up, too.

* BTW * it just occurred to me that you might post comments. I just discovered that Phill did weeks ago on the question of the dual fuel range. I call that discovery timely as I am really coming down to the moment of truth on the Bosch range. Thanks for the encouragement, Phill.

Re-Construction

Demolition continued on Wednesday with the extraction of the bathroom floor and the removal of the old plumbing and electrical. John made this picture and called it Pompeii.

The crew discovered that there was a long crack in the second floor bathroom drain. No wonder my bathroom so often smelled bad.

Tomorrow reconstruction begins

Demolition Day 1 and Camping in the Dining Room

At 6:15 this morning, I was standing in front of the refridgerator packing its contents into three big ice chests. Last night, I worked at transitioning the last bits of my kitchen, bathroom and service porch/laundry room into either storage or temporary facilities.

Over the weekend, I outfitted my "formal" dining room with a galley kitchen - without the sink and oven. I'll get a photo when I can be in there in natural light. I made a little dinner tonight and it was like taking your new camper on a test trip. So far I've found everything I needed. But I had to retrieve from shallow storage a bucket for waste water. That wasn't so bad.

At 6:30 a.m., Justin, the contractor, and Nathan, the foreman, and a couple of guys and a couple of women arrived in company t-shirts and jeans and hit it. Forty-five minutes later, they had moved the refridgerator and I was putting the ice chests away in the garage. They had also ripped out most of the cabinetry, the moldings and some of the windows and had started beating up the walls with sledgehammers. The toilet was disassembeled on a tarp on the patio. The washer/dryer was re-situated out there, too.

But wait, one of the first things they did was seriously seal off the construction site from the living quarters. When I got home tonight it was clean and once I put some collected leftover items away, I was ready to assemble and eat dinner.

John documented the demolition activity. The lead photo above is the stranded kitchen faucet; ceramic tiles, formica counter, stainless steel sink are all gone. Below, Nathan and one of the guys knock down half of the lovely arch between breakfast nook and kitchen. That arch and the coved ceiling had to go to make breathing room in the new kitchen.

There will be NO laments for that pink tile. It is out of here. We decided over the weekend that the front closet needed to be re-habbed. From the closet (which is under the stairs), you can see through the old kitchen to the breakfast nook. The bright light in the back is the front window, from which the window frame and glass were removed to evacuate all the debris.
This is looking through the front window, through the breakfast nook and the old kitchen to the service porch and my red back door.
I love this crew. They are punctual, really courteous, efficient, clean and they smelled good (at least at the beginning of the day).
The weather today started off with a nice marine layer and the threat of rain (there is a hurricane trying to make it to Baja). It turned hot and humid, though. And the air quality has been very bad because of the fires (Station and his cousins) in the San Gabriels.
There will be more demolition tomorrow - the plumbing, electrical materials and the old bathroom tile floor await.
So far, so good, on the dry rot, water damage and insect activities fronts. John and I are cautiously optimistic. The removal of the shower pan lies ahead.

The Calendar

Saturday August 29
Meet to sign the contract.

Monday August 31
Dumpster arrives. (We slipped on this a little. The dumpster arrived on Tuesday about 8:00 a.m.)

Tuesday September 1Demolition to begin. Good bye lath & plaster, Ikea cabinets and Builder's Emporium vanity. Vinyl floor, you're out of here.
Farewell my bathtub, my coved ceiling, my arch.

Friday September 19 (and maybe earlier)
First inspection that will allow us to define window details and decide whether/how to remove a little bit of wall.

Shopping at APD

The Kitchen Hood

First it was a Broan, then it was a GE Profile, back to Broan. There was a brief interlude when John and I considered assembling an empty hood, lights, filter and inline fan. Then we were back at Broan . . . or GE.

This evening, Judy suggested Zephyr. It was a little above my price point, but upon comparison . . . the fan was much quieter . . . the draw was stronger . . . the coverage was greater. Zephyr was better in the elements that really count. So now I think it will be a Zephyr hood with a glass canopy and a powerful but quiet fan.

What's she got under the hood?

It will be a slide-in stove, for sure, nestled into an engineered-stone countertop on an oak-finish cabinet. Which stove is still up in the air. I loved the KitchenAid until Consumer Reports nixed that on reliability. GE has great ratings but I don't like the burner grates or the knobs. Frigidaire looks pretty good. Judy suggested Bosch.

I remember Bosch - they made really great sparkplugs back in the '70's when my boyfriend maintained my VW fastback and his camper van in cut-off 501's in the parking lot behind our Orlando apartment. They might still make sparkplugs, but they also make good-looking ranges.

I checked out Bosch. Sounds great in the reviews (if you overlook the burnt-out electronic control panels reported in consumer reviews on the web during the fall of 2008). The slide-in stove is dual fuel. A gas cooktop and electric oven give me pause. Some say its the best of both worlds. I don't know - I've always cooked with gas.

Hmmm. It's a dilemma in a beautiful stove, with sturdy burner grates, powerful burners and nice heavy burner caps. The oven is spacious with a window and two oven lights. There is a warming drawer.

If you have an opinion - post it, please!

Tile Day

Imagine big red porcelain tiles glazed with an almost gritty finish. They are sort of a terra cotta color and have a nice variegation in color. Next to our oak swatch - beautiful.

Today we visited Discount Tile on Venice and Classic Tiles on La Cienega, with an eye to tile "sets". There is probably a name for those - like tile scheme or something.

John is really on the lookout for the coved base tile that will prevent moisture and rot from collecting in the corners. I'm with him on the mildew front - none of that, thank you very much. And he really likes cap tiles with dimension - the ones that become little shelves.

At Discount Tile, we found the red floor tile and looked at tons of wall tiles, including some great subway tiles. For awhile, the travertine patterns sucked me in but I think I'm past that now. They had the coved tiles in a variety of colors (phew).

Then over at Classic, we found 5/8 inch squares multi-colored sheets with red, taupe, brown, yellow, cream. That has to figure in the shower. So here is where I stand at the moment and this is far from firm:

- red floor for the bathroom floor and shower,
- variegated tiny tiles up to about six feet on the west wall with the glass blocks,
- glazed ceramic taupe subway tiles on the side walls also six feet,
- glazed ceramic cap still undetermined,
- glazed ceramic taupe coved base tiles all around.

After tiles - glass and lights. More on that later.

Tepid Tub

Yesterday when I stepped into my tub, it was not hot. So, I ran more hot water and that was not hot. Fortunately, it is July and the June gloom has gone and a tepid tub can be considered "refreshing".

Today, John shared a few phone calls with our excellent plumbers (Jo-Mi of West L.A.). My 2007 water heater needs a new thing (some pilot-ignition-gas controller deal). Under warranty, it will cost about $90 in labor to repair. I'm willing to spring for that to tide me over until a new tankless heater is installed and there is a spacious shower to host all the hot water.

Tomorrow, the contractor and the cabinet maker will be here at 8:00 a.m. Jo-Mi will arrive sometime later than that and by evening, I can be soaking again.