Moving In

Most of the punch-list is complete and the multi-phase move started today. There will be no marching bands or ribbon-cutting - just a gradual slide into the new/old house (or is that the old/new house). This rental house has been fine but with window AC-units, it is hard to control the temperature. Carrie decided two weeks ago that once a bed was in the house, she would be sleeping there regardless of anything else not being there. The bed frame was delivered yesterday and the mattress came this morning - so guess where we'll be staying tonight.

We moved a few things today - kitchen items, artwork, pottery, and my architecture books. Carrie wanted to make the kitchen operational. The art, books, and pottery are there to allow my partner Carole to come and tell us where she thinks these things should go. Since Carrie and I have differing opinions on placement, we asked her to do this for us - even before we started the house. Carole has impecable taste and has been staging for hospitality clients her whole career. Knowing that we might start moving in this weekend, she made me swear not to put anything on the wall or bookshelves till she could see it all. As directed, it is all on display around the living room floor.

The next phase of moving will be "musical-chairs" Monday. I've hired a couple friends to move a few pieces of furniture and many boxes that will come with us. Following that, they will move Ashley's stored furniture into the rental house. There will be several items that will stay in the rental house that she and a friend will be taking over on July 1. If you're confused, don't worry, I am too. It's a good thing that there is no time-pressure other than my impatience to be done with it all.

The final design item on the house is what I call the eyebrow. It serves no technical purpose but is something I've been kicking around since we started the project. Its main purpose is as a scale device and to help identify the entry better. It also provides a counterpoint to the vertical lines on the front elevation. At one time during design it was much larger, made of copper and was quite complex.

If I've learned anything over 30 years of architectural design, graphics, and writing - it's that when something doesn't feel right, boil it down to that which is essential and take another look. I think this process applies to any type of creative challenge.

When installed sometime in the next couple weeks, the eyebrow will be nothing more than a 5 1/2" horizontal line that will extend slightly past the light-colored trim around the door. A thin steel rod matching the interior stairs will be welded to a 3" plate - providing support at one end. The wood part of the eyebrow will be made from the left-over cedar trim boards and siding. To my thinking, it couldn't be any more efficient or elegant. I hope it works.

Walk Through is Tomorrow

After 7 months of construction, things are about to wrap up. Tomorrow is the "walk-through" where Carrie and I check out each aspect of the house and with the contractor, create a list of all unfinished items or details that need more attention. Having been in the house nearly every afternoon for the past month, I am certain the list will be very short.

We will also be receiving the final invoice too. Yeah!

Today the house was cleaned thoroughly so I decided to take a series of photos. They can be found on my Flickr site at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uklars/sets/72157624192680258/.

The one big remaining issue is the finish on the floors. The contractor was not happy with the way the stain took to the floor. There are several light patches that are quite noticable. It is my understanding that the floor finisher will be coming back on Friday to remove the layer of poly over the stain - then applying a new layer of poly with a stain additive. This may darken the entire floor area which would be a good thing - as long as the light patches are no longer noticable. I have faith that our contractor will see that it looks great before handing the house over to us.

Though the official hand-off is Saturday the 12th, Todd told us that it would be possible to move some items into the house as early as Tuesday - assuming the floors are dry and acceptable. There is no big hurry - but we may hang a few paintings and start the furniture delivery process next Friday with our bedroom set. After that, we'll have a gradual move-in over the following two weeks: moving the piano and some furniture from our rental house, the washer and dryer, the furniture coming from Mitchell Gold, and numerous boxes in storage.

It will be bittersweet to finish this project. On one hand, we are very eager to make use of the many cool features of the new house - like central air conditioning, a dishwasher, and a shower that you can turn around in. As for me, I will also be very glad to have no more decisions to make. After a while, it can become a chore.

On the other hand, I will miss the anticipation of coming by the house each day to discover what was done. For the past two years, I've held the design in my mind and then on paper. As with all projects I work on, it's very cool to see it come to form. There are always a few things that don't work out exactly as anticipated. Considering the complexity of the project however, I couldn't be more pleased with how things came together. The craftsmanship and attention to detail are superb.

Thanks to Michael, Todd, and everyone who worked on the house - and filled in the details where my design left off.

Exterior Lights

As you can tell from the images, the electrician wired the outside ground lights. For fun, I turned everything on inside the house and lit the exterior ones as well. It is striking for a photo, but a bit overkill for normal use. Once we occupy the house, it won't look this lit-up - as there will be shades to cover some windows and all the lights won't be on all at once.

The exterior lights serve a couple purposes - to light the house for special occasions and to also provide security illumination around the house. We are able to turn them on from a few places within the house - including the upstairs.

As the landscaping gets placed, I may move some of the ground lights away from the house a bit. They are LED and use very little electricity relative to the wattage they put out. Their color is very true. The electrician told me that there is about 18" of extra wire to make adjustments. Right now, the two on either side of the Japanese Maple are just a bit too close.

The ground lights have 6 very small LED lamps within each fixture. There were similar ones with only 3 or 4. I researched these as best I could but couldn't find any lit examples of the ones I selected. The catalog was written for electrical engineers but with some help, I was able to understand most of it.

Atlantic Electric (the store that I bought them from) had them installed outside their store and told me to come by at night to look at them. However, each time I went by at night, they were never turned on. With nothing to serve as a real-life example, I just crossed my fingers that the light levels would be what I hoped for.

Week 31

Again this week the progress was most visible on the outside. The masons put the finishing touches on the sidewalks and walls, then set the paver blocks for the parking area off the street. There will be a concrete strip that contains these pavers - there mostly to define the pavers and signal that this zone is not part of the public street.

Seldom will a car be parked there and I anticipate the wall will be used mostly by bikers who occasionally take a break at the top of the hill to make adjustments or catch their breath.

Some time after we move in, the stone circles from the driveway will be removed and a layer of asphalt will be added . Todd suggested we do this replacement after the move so the move itself won't damage the surface. That makes sense.

The most asked question about the property renovation has been about the three stone circles in the driveway - and if they are to remain. I usually joke and say how much we have come to love them - but quickly say that they "unfortunately" will be removed.

Landscape workers spread topsoil and mulch today as they finished final grading and seeding. The only question today was whether to put mulch along the wall as I indicated in a drawing. The landscaper suggested not doing so at this time - leaving it grass.

For now, that's the way we'll leave it. With the summer nearly upon us, it's unlikely that the grass planted today will survive through a typical Richmond summer - unless we water it generously. Plants have a much higher survival rate if planted in the fall; when they have all winter for root growth. I may re-transplant selected plants back into the front yard over the summer but most landscaping will start in September. Knowing that I love to piddle with plants, there will be no end.

Before the renovation project began, I moved many front yard plants into a "nursury" in the back and a few other at the edge of the front yard. Now that the outside construction traffic is over, some will move back.

While Carrie and I were checking out the house tonight, a young couple and their two kids stopped by to inquire about the bluestone walks. They are planning a patio and were curious to learn the name of the stone. Unfortunately with so many selections made over the months, I can no longer remember anything specific. For future reference, we'll make a list of material choices and contractors who installed them in case we ever want to make changes or need maintenance.

The kitchen received its final touch last week as the glass countertop was put in place. It cantilevers into the dining room about 10" and is anchored through the granite with stainless posts. This is a small detail overall but it really adds some sparkle to the space and keeps the kitchen connected to the dining room.

Today, part of the handrail to the basement was put in place. Todd and I had a couple conversations about how it was to connect at the top. For now, we have a plan but if it doesn't look right or is rejected by the building official, we'll try something different.

As one of my Hanover friends likes to say: maintain "rigid flexibility".

First Impressions

This weekend was a time of family celebration as our daughter Ashley graduated from VCU with degrees in Music and German. That brought both sets of Granparents as well as my sister and one of Ashley's cousins to Richmond.

They have all been following the construction progress on this site and were finally able to see the house in person. My dad (who built an addition onto his house when I was a teenager) follows the blog closely and said he felt like he had already been there after seeing all the plans and photos.

The progress this week has been very obvious to anyone driving by. The stone wall along the street and the sidewalks are finished now. The piles of dirt from the excavation were removed. This certainly cleans up the first impression of the house. We are both very happy with the wall and the steps. The only hardscape items that remains are the single parking spot and the cobbles that edge the landscape zones. The walls are a nice way to extend the architecture to the street (and) the front sidewalk allows visitors to approach the house more directly.

Now that the hardscapes are in place, it will be a lot easier to imagine and plan for the landscaping suggested by Preston. This evening, I took pictures from the windows to see where we might want to plant taller plants or trees. I don't want to block the views from the house - but frame them with plant material. It would also be nice to have a tall tree somewhere between the street and house. Streets always feel better when trees canopy the road.

I altertered the hardscape plan that Preston created a bit in order to save some money but the basic concept is there. He suggested that the sidewalk from the driveway approach the front door from a greater distance than it was before. Also, the sidewalk from the street is shifted away from the porch. I did not want visitors to walk in a straight line to the front door. There is very little symmetry about the house and it wouldn't be consistent to do that with the walks. Besides, paths are less interesting if straight.

Just as the landscape is easier to conceptualize when the house and hardscapes are in place, there are two other things that I've been waiting to finish until now. The first is the eyebrow over the front door. The second is the privacy treatment on the windows.

While there is no need for additional shelter from rain, I've always had in my mind to place a scale device like a trellis over the door. This would also add a horizontal line across the front face to counter the strong vertical windows. It will extend about 3 feet out and wrap around the corner.

The window treatments will be necessary to give us some privacy at night. For the front bedrooms behind the large bay windows and the living room window, we have pre-wired for motorized shades over this area. Since the windows wrap around three sides, we will need 3 synchronized motors on each floor.

One of the important design ideas was to face the bedrooms toward the view knowing that this was also nearly due east. We are up above the treeline on the other side of the river so we can see the sunrise very low above the horizon. Having the orange-red light coming into the room in the morning is very cool.

To better understand the interior visibility at night, I turned on all the lights and took a series of photos at dusk. Even with the protective film still on the glass, you can generally tell what is visible inside and what is not.

Unless it's very cloudy, interior spaces are not generally visible from the outside. Even with the lights on inside, the light level is so much brighter outside you have a hard time seeing detail. Light levels typically found inside a house with lights on will vary from 30 to 100 footcandles. Outside levels on a sunny day can range from 100 footcandles on a cloudy day to 10,000 in bright sun. No wonder that during the day, lit rooms will appear dark from outside.

What the images do tell me is that some well-placed landscaping will create some privacy for the living room from those driving down the road. That window is 28" above the first floor and the floor is 6' above the road. Because of this geometry, the street view of people seated in the living room is mostly blocked already. This information may impact our strategy for window treatment in that room.

Details, Details

After a couple days of rain, work started back in earnest. The folks from Stonee Masonry are in force working on the street wall and the sidewalk. They are laying the bluestone in a mortar bed and have almost worked themselves to the driveway now. The stone on the retaining wall will be 24" high. Most of the area between the street and the wall will be planted - with one space paved with concrete pavers in the middle. This should be a very nice addition when finished.

Inside, the wood doors are being re-hung with the lever hardware. The brushed nickel finishes are now going in around the house. This includes the exposed light fixtures, the door hardware, and kitchen appliances.

One of these light fixtures is a little different from the norm. It's the dining room light over the table. It came as an 8 foot metal beam that is to be bent to the desire of the owner. To make this happen, I created a drawing at full scale showing the "s" curve that would be interesting and would also spread the light evenly over the table. Five pendants will hang from this beam. Todd took my drawing and created a pegboard that would help him fashion it to that shape. This can be seen in the adjacent image.

Also showing up yesterday are the caps on the railings. These provide a lighter touch and contrast well to the black metal and darker floors.

Perhaps the most anticipated arrival today is in the kitchen. The appliances and cabinet door pulls are going in. These have been stored in our rental house garage since February. Todd and someone from Clines showed up at the house this morning to gather them and begin uncrating and wiring. By noon, the microwave was in and the dishwasher was about to go in. I suspect they will all be in-place by the time I go home from work.

This weekend is a big deal for our family as Ashley graduates from VCU. Her grandparents and my sister will be coming for 3 days to see her get the diploma and celebrate with us. We had originally hoped that the house would be complete for this event, but the weather over the past 6 months didn't cooperate.

Nevertheless, it takes little imagination at this point to see how everything will be at the end.

Floors and Hardscape

The yard is officially a mess. However, the hardscapes are going in and will add another architectural layer to the project. The wall along the steet will be covered with stone to a 24" height. The top of wall and sidewalk will be bluestone as seen in the photo on the right.

Though not required, I wanted to create a more formal/urban connection to the street. Somehow it just seems more neighborly. To accomplish that we will have 3 sets of two steps that rise from the street. The wall sits back two feet from the property line and will accomplish two things: making the usable area of the yard easier to maintain (and) creating a single parking space in the right-of-way. That one parking space will be outlined with cobbles and topped with gray concrete pavers. The rest of the area between the wall and street will be landscaped in a way to restrict additional street parking.

It is already too hot to install landscaping, so we'll wait until September to start that. At that time, we'll being to move some of the plants that were pulled away from the house during construction. These are currently stored in our back yard and along the side of the front yard. They have held up ok during this time. The contractors will do their required seeding of bare areas for erosion control measures, but that will most likely be temporary until a permanent stand of grass can be developed.

Inside, the floors are sufficiently dry to walk around. There will be one more coat of poly to go down once everyone is finished inside. The deep color changes the way you perceive the space a bit. There is much more contrast with the walls now and the reddish color expands the spectrum slightly from just the oranges and browns. Our furniture and artwork will further expand the range of color.

To see the most recent set of images, go to my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uklars/sets/72157623940837893/