649 6th

first in

We hired the first person today that will actually physically change the space. Granted we are probably already many thousands of dollars into the project but, PHYSICAL WORK!

We got a mason to come in and more or less redo the entire entrance and surrounding walls to the basement. Again, it was a bit of back and forth to find the right amount of socpe at the right price point. In some ways I think  I could have haggled a bit more but, it was shaved down as it was and I thought the next cut would be the one where they simply beign decrease the care and craftmanship simply to get it done.

Work should begin right away. I'll probably post some "before" pictures in the next day or so before heading to San Fran for a bit of a mini vacation. I'm hoping that when we get home work will be well underway... not holding my breath.

tool time

...I shipped 180lbs. of power and hand tools to New York. At  a total cost of $200 I think it is well worth it.

defining spaces

I've been in Florida over the weekend working with Holly to work out floor plans for the second and third floors. The second floor is not that far off from what Michael and I had been discussing. By moving to small swinging doors rather than the little "fussy" (as Dan calls them) double sliding doors the usage gets a bit more economical. Holly thinks that leaving the space open would be her first choice but, for resale, having another "bedroom" is important to me. Additionally, being able to go into the study and close the door holds a lot of appeal for both of us.

The third floor is where it gets tricky. We always had been talking about this space being rather open and spare. Once we decided to add an entire floor the options began to balloon. The difficulty with the space is that it is 15 x 24 (approx). If the bedroom is to have windows on both the front and the back it makes for a very long and narrow room once you put a bathroom and closet on the floor. Holly's plan is a bit closer to the golden mean. In this sketch you can see where she put the wall deviding the space. It makes for a good size master bedroom with closet and bath-- somewhat traditional, we may poke at a bit more. But, I have to say, I do like the balance and flow of the floor plan even if it's not exactly what we had imagined.

If we were to go with a lay out like this one for the third floor the Bathroom/closet configuration is still up for grabs. Here are a couple of other ideas she came up with.

mice on skates

It's been a few days since I've posted. We've been busy. We got the existing plans from the architect back on Monday. Since then we've pretty much been in design mode. Tracing and extending, cutting out paper blocks of "space" that get slid about until they all seem to fit.

The focus, as it has been all along, is on the second and third floors. The major hurdle on second floor was placement of the stairs. We want them to run straight up as an extension (with a landing) of the flight coming up to the second floor. The only problem is a chimney in the way. Solution: demolish the chimney. Currently it only has a the exhaust for the furnace running in a much smaller exhaust inside.

All the designs we made this week worked with the assumption that the chimney could be greatly reduced in size. If this isn't the case it will mean we are literally "back to the drawing board". We are meeting with the architect on Monday for our first "crit" and to answer some of the zoning/structural questions we have.

Thus far we are both pleased with where it is heading. I will make some scans of the designs and post soon.

fleshing out a floor plan

This morning we met with a mason to get an estimate on doing the repairs in the basement. We're hoping to be able o remove the street level storm door and soley have a metal door at the botton of the basement stairs from the street. With the repair to the walls we are also hoping that we can get some glass brick and perhaps a vent installed. Also, if we get the basement done before we move we can use it as storage rather than renting a space while the renovations are being completed.

After that we worked with trying to figure out the floor plan of the second floor and then we moved on to the floor plan of the attic. The image here is drawn on a paper sack. I think we're headed in the right direction just some of the proportions may still be off.

Next in our big Saturday line-up was a walking tour of Lowes. We found the demensions of the shower, we looked at window options and picked up a bit of other literature. The shower size we were planning on the bag actually is roomy enough. For finishing we found some bamboo flooring that is still the leading contender....I know we're way off from that stage.

Windows. The big question of the day. Are casement window significantly less secure than sash?

more frontal

I took Michael's sketch and traced out another. (click to enlarge)
See exterior shot for reference.
Notes:
Mansard roof on 3rd floor with 2 dormers, scallop shingles
Additional window on second floor, all floors windows are replaced with casements.
Detail overfront door
Wider siding

front sketch

Michael's sketch of a possible front for the house. (click to enlarge)
See exterior shot for reference.
Notes:
Mansard roof on 3rd floor with dormers
Peaked bay on 1st and 2nd floor
New awning over front door
Wider siding

using the neighborhood

On labor day Michael and I walked around the new hood and did a surey of elements of other houses that we particularly liked. Starting at about here in the photo album you can see what we came up with. There are comments on all, it's way at the bottom of the vertical shots, sorry about the scrolling-- wholly unnecessary.

 

until the hard work starts

We spent a good deal of time at the house yesterday taking photos. Unfotunately the blog software i am using is not loadng them in any logical order (or I have not found the right setting). They are all sort of lumpped together. Michael shot the panoramic cubist things with the notion of somehow stiching the shots together.

I originally was going to use the wide angle film lens simply to document the house. But with black and white and the lens distortion I couldn't stop myself from making them slightly creepy.

On the blog front. Please note that (by popular demand) I have now started listing the entries newest first on the page. I always feel like I'm reading backwards when read stuff that is constructed that way but, if you stop by periodically it makes it a lot easier to see if anything has changed.

service providers

On saturday we had an appointment with a contractor to give an initial estimate for the work. He never showed up. Last night we had an appointment with a second contractor. He never showed up (unlike the first though he did call after the fact).

I've been told time and again that contractors can be unreliable in terms of time commitment. At first I was all about crossing them off the list if they failied to respond. However, as my friend Kasia pointed out, if that is my M.O. I will never get a contractor.

On the design front the (I want to say kids but I know right after college I so desperately wanted to be taken seriuosly) architects that will be documenting the existing structure stopped by last night. They both seem nice and, based on no evidential proof, competent. I'm still curious to see the detail of the final output.

A quick story. When I was a kid my mothers brother was sort of a know it all. He designed and built both the house he lived in and my parents house. He was a fire inspector and knew every business person in town. Here's the part that always annoyed me. Without fail, if you ever built, planned, bought, or traded ANYTHING he would eventually chime in and tell you how if you had done it his way, or used his guy it would have been better or cheaper.

Here's the challenge. To be able to listen to the advice of friends, to let it influence decisions but, once something is done shut out the should'a, could'a, would'a commentary.