Monday, February 11, 2008

Wrapping Up Design

Herman and I have been exchanging e-mails over the past two weeks to tweak and fine tune the drawing that will be used for permit application. He is coming out to The Dump tonight so that we can bang out the last few details and wrap it up.

In preparation, I took blue masking tape and taped out where some new windows will be going. What seemed fine and dandy in a 2D birds-eye view is not so ideal in application. I discovered that I had estimated too large for the windows that will flank the fireplace, so, with the help of the tape, I have re-scaled my expectations there.

I also taped out where I'd like the architectural feature of the fireplace to go (trying to add more vertical interest instead of the short and squatty fireplace I presently have. I also taped out where a 40" flat panel TV will go. Y'know, I have to make sure it will fit and look good.... :) It's a bit high at the moment given how close the couch is (hey, the room is small), so I'll adjust it downward and can easily go smaller based on the tiny viewing distance.

Forgot to take pics of my tape masterpiece, so I'll try to do that tonight.

Monday, February 4, 2008

First House Guest and Inspiration

Big brother Tom is in the midst of a kitchen remodel himself, and we've been chatting regularly about it. A Southwest fare sale popped up in early January, so I booked a ticket for him to come visit and help me plan my kitchen.

We got down to business on Saturday--went to Quesco to drop off the drawing for kitchen planning, picked up the list of stoneyards from the Countertop store and trekked on up to a stoneyard in Brisbane. After about two hours of browsing, I found it--the kitchen inspiration I had been seeking. It goes by the name of "Kashmir White":

It's an overall light effect, with the ability to tie in darker elements. I love the white, gray, green, red, black potential of it. I was on the fence about the direction I wanted to take the kitchen, and I think this Kashmir White will lend itself to straddling the contemporary/modern that I'm embracing elsewhere in the house with the more classic look that I can quite let go of completely.

We went to a few other places looking at stone, tile, flooring and appliances and all in all, I feel really good about the information I have gathered.

To top it all off, Tom pried up some linoleum in the kitchen and found oak under it! Yeeee-ha! I'm really hoping it's not totally thrashed so that I can keep all the existing oak in The Dump. That will save me another round of indecision...

Friday, February 1, 2008

Christmas all over again

So, here are the goods. Signs of real progress. I'm so excited, I can barely stop looking at it to type this post.

This is the drawing of The Dump in its current configuration that I received two weeks ago:

They also sent one that had a lot of walls removed so I could go wild and crazy if necessary, but I really didn't want to go down the avenue of a wild and crazy reconfiguration. For the most part, I like the layout of The Dump--it needs to be optimized, not overhauled.

And here is the current plan (click on picture to view it full size):

I have a few tweaks to do before I'll consider it final, but it's really, really awesome to see it coming together.