Come On In

I promised Delia that I would get some pictures up for as a house tour. We got the appraisal out of the way this week and I grabbed some interior shots while everything was clean. There is still a mountain of little things to do (house numbers, mailbox, etc.) but as far as Studio Build is concerned, we are done.

Come on in.

 

The living room has a southern exposure. Combine that with the tall windows and we get really nice sun.

 

All set up for Christmas.

 

 

We have a good sized guest bedroom/office/multipurpose room opposite the bedroom wing. The old Howell table is a place holder for a built-in desk to be added in the near future.

 

Leawood only allows attached garages. The pergola is how we attached it. Since this room doesn't have any overhang the pergola provides some nice shade. Come summer I think we will especially appreciate it.

 

 The kitchen looking back towards the garage door. The cabinets were repowder coated and turned out really nice. The countertops are all concrete. We have a new gas range ordered and can't wait to get rid of the old electric unit. The walnut pantries on the other end hold the microwave and garbage/recycling on one side and have full-depth pull out drawers on the other. I don't have a picture but the laundry room is right off the kitchen. It has the washer, dryer, slop sink, deep freeze, and a bunch of shelves.

 

The den is opposite the kitchen island. The hall heads down to the kid bedrooms and bathroom.

 

Looking back from the den. That center wall was moved a foot picture left. That really opened up the kitchen along with removing a wall section that was about at the end of the island.



 

The master bathroom has two matching vanities and opens into the master bedroom.

 

That's one big bathtub.

 

The concrete insert pieces in the shower are each single pours and were by far the most complicated pieces in the whole house.

 

The view from the master bedroom. The hobo camp needs some attention next summer. The shed is CMU and brick like the house but the shake roof has seen better days.

 And we have a wall of closets which are already almost full.

 

From the den you head past the second bathroom. We also opted for a big bathtub here too.

Bedrooms 2 and 3 are identically sized. The rest of the house is cork and tile. Here we went with marmoleum which was left over from the new IKEA. 



 

The other bedroom is currently Winston's playroom. 

 

One parting shot sitting at the island. The roe circle house was very much open with all the spaces connected. While much bigger and definitely a 50's ranch, we've managed to achieve a similar feel in this house too.

The yard is bare and pretty chewed up at this point. Come spring when things look better I will post a walk around outside.

Merry Christmas. 

It's Official, We Are In

It's been a long haul and things aren't completely finished yet, but we are in. We got moved out of the apartment the weekend before Thanksgiving. It's going to take a few posts to get caught up on the progress and general state of the house.

 Winston posing by his new kitchen. The floor in most of the house is a random pattern cork. Cork was the right choice. It is period correct, quiet, and warm.



 

The garage is filling up fast. Here's a shot of moving in the convertible. It's almost as big as the old garage and much taller. While not much now, eventually it will get insulated and drywalled.

For the kitchen we had the original metal cabinets powdered coated. Sam managed to find some of the only NOS bakelite backer plates to replace the cracked and damaged ones. 

The countertops and other concrete pieces are in. These are platinum grey with a moderate gloss. 

Here is a good shot of the lounge the night before moving in. The near light is the salvaged one and the far is a Nelson bubble lamp. 

Our bedroom has a wall of closets. Sometimes you can't beat IKEA. The doors are pretty cool. They have a wave texture. 

Now there is some closets. 

 

These were the last two and most complicated concrete pieces. The shower storage and window are both single pieces of concrete. There wasn't a whole lot of clearance for either and the molds had to be just right.



Now that we are in and the project and semester are winding up, we can get caught up on pictures and general goings on. Stay tuned for a finished walk-through. 

Now We're Cookin

Time for a very quick project update. We spent the last few days in California and boy a lot has happened. What's that?

 

But a garage under construction of course. It's only slightly smaller than our last garage.

 

The cork installation has started. We went with a two color random pattern.

 

Kitchen tile is in.

 

Bathroom tile is underway.  

 

We even have one loan light fixture installed.

Finally Some Color-Grey

Living/Dining room

 Kitchen/Family room

 The current state of the back.

Progress, Progress, Progress

I really need to bring the camera to work and download pictures. Life without Internet got old months ago. The house is progressing rapidly now. Trim is finished. The interior paint is finished. Kitchen cabinets are set. Tile starts next week.

Winston loves to go over to the house to see his lawnmower. It should be an easy transition since he has been at the house a hundred times so far.  

 

This is where the ice maker will live, very cool. The original cabinets were powder coated turquoise on the bottom and white on the top.

Progress

 

Most importantly the garage walls are poured and they got the floor in before the rains started. We have a break in the weather tomorrow and the rest of the garage should go up quickly.

Winston supervised in the bobcat while

 Mom dug out the old tree stump.

Plugging Along

So far so good. We have been fortunate to have crews and subs available pretty consistently to keep this project moving forward. The Studio Build guys have been all over it and we should be turning a corner shortly. The rough plumbing is completed and the floor is getting replaced today. I stopped by this morning and the HVAC guy was finishing duct work and getting ready to set the AC and furnace.

It was a big blessing in disguise that the old concrete tile roof was shot and had to go. After pulling it off no amount of repair was going to stop the leaks. Now we have a nice new 50 year roof. All of the facia was rotten or missing and we went back with hardiboard, so no worry about rot in the future. The flat roof section had sagged and leaked where it joined the sloped roof. It is now pitched out for positive drainage. Combine that with a bunch of new roof vents and it looks like a new house.

The front porch had dropped 6 inches from some very old termite damage. It got jacked up and is held in place by a new tapered column. Fortunately there was a brick ranch just down the street with tapered columns so we didn't have to go far for inspiration.

And a view of the family room from the front yard. The blocked out window space is where the new second bathroom is going. 

Next Few Weeks:

- Interior Plumbing

- Electrical

- HVAC

Sometimes It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better

The project is in full swing. We don't have internet at the apartment so the posts are a few and far between. The past few weeks have brought lots of demo and things are starting to go back together.

The house had an original drywall that was finished with mortar. It was solid. The demo guys didn't appreciate the craftsmanship.

 

All of the walls have been demo'd and reframed. The floor is cut up to run new plumbing. The main stack was cracked so everything had to go. We moved a wall to make the kitchen bigger and vaulted the ceiling which will really improve the space.

 

The kitchen cabinets have gone to powder coating so the only things in the guest bedroom/office are the appliances. From the outside you would guess that it had originally been a two car garage and they just walled off one bay. That wasn't the case. As you can see there is three feet elevation difference between the garage and the rest of the house, strange.

 

The roof was in really bad shape and we are getting it replaced. The flat portion in the back was waterproofed with soldered tin. No amount of patching was going to fix that.  

 In the next couple weeks it will start coming together with the roof, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, and insulation all happening.

Meanwhile Back at the Ranch

To say it's been a busy spring is an understatement. We bought a house, sold a house, moved into an apartment, had massive water damage, had to deal with an insurance settlement, and had to get a construction loan. We should be able to close on the construction loan today or Monday and are on the brink of actually starting work.

In the meantime I get to keep mowing the new yard. It is big enough we got a nice commercial mower so every weekend won't just be mowing.

 

The interior of the house is empty and very rough at this point. The kitchen cabinets have been removed will soon be sent for powder coating.

 The trailer project went on a bit of a hiatus this spring and is now back on track. The table is in an mounted.

It drops down to make the bed. We got a pretty slick removable hinge and folding leg setup from vintage trailer supply that made life much easier.

Insulating is underway in preparation for skin.