649 6th

DIY CAD

A lot of the early design work for our house renovation was done in Microsoft Paint. Pick your scale, eg 1 pixel = 1 inch, and start pushing those pixels around like a desktop Lite-Brite. Compare the work above to the picture of the real McCoy in previous post, and you'll see that for a simple tool it could be very effective, even accurate. 

These days, I've moved on to a newer generation of digital tools. Inkscape is my favorite vector graphic app, and for the money (it's free!), nothing beats Google SketchUp for 3D design. Not the smoothest learning curve for either of them, but if you can make it to the first plateau you'll have begun to appreciate their potential and power. 

doing the two step

forward, one step back. Sing it again.

You take one step forward. Detailed the design for chimney-side shelving on 1st and 2nd floor, so the metal fabrication can go to same guy that'll be doing the dining table frame. Will speak to several other elements in the house: vertical supports will be same guage, shape, material and finish as the dining table; shelves will be 5/4" oak just as the stair treads will be. Simple clean design.

You take another step forward: got the finished and unfinished cost estimate from wood cabinet manufacturer.

You take one step back: and we'll be seeking another estimate. Nearly double our target. Probably has to do with street front location and neighborhood shop. Toby remembered we had a different outfit make the kitchen cabinet drawers. Let's see what they have to say.

carcass

We drew out the dimension of the table pedestal today. We're going to have it fabricated out of square tubing, more than likely two inch, but we may go one inch if the fabricator thinks we'll get the rigidity necessary to support the longer of the two wooden table tops.

We still need to sketch out the wall mount bracket, we"ll have them made at the same time. The wall mount holds the table top that's not in use as hanging art. There will be two tops; one day-to-day at 38.5x48, the other "formal" table will be 42x96.

when is 1/2 enough?

Quick break from cabinet design to say hello. Tomorrow we'll get the scanner going and share some sketches.

Question to the readership: 1/2" or 3/4" plywood construction? 3/4" will be ultra sturdy, and for the dimensions, eg 4' x 6' closets and 8' run of bookshelving, will be good proportion. The kitchen cabinets are also 3/4"; felt then and still feels now like the right weight, but can't stop myself from wondering otherwise.

gladiolus

A few more pointy-headed words about the paint color on the third floor.

The idea was Gladiolus bud. The outer most walls were just slightly to the green side of white followed by yellow and orange respectively-- like the way the color striates along the side of the flowering bulb facing up to the sky (or in this case the center bit of wood that forms the peaks of rafters).

It's slightly more subtle than I intended, but in hind sight that might not be such a bad thing either.

bathroom counter

At the end of my vacation I showed the beginnings of the structure that forms the bathroom counter and sink combo. Drawing inspiration from the expanding Danish bench we got for the living room we wanted to integrate the danish slat idea while working with the cedar sauna references the bathroom is using.

The construction was fairly easy. I used 1/4 inch threaded rods with large washers and lock-nuts to bind 36" 1x6 western cedar slats and 6" spacers together. For the first time ever I also got to break out the forstner (or Forstnerboher, if you will) bits!  They were part of the tools my dad gave me and I had been eager to find an appilcation for them. I needed to drill a wide flat bottom whole to conceal the hardware inside the front fascia board; they worked like a charm in the soft cedar.

I left the front and back slats off to shape the center boards to receive the sink. When done the sink appears to hover 1/8" above the boards...oh the details. I'm very eager to get the brackets up in the bathroom and see what it looks like in place, but that means getting in the last bit of grout and caulk (sigh).

garden plan

How many ur-designs can one have? Michael made this sketch for the garden one night this week. We're trying to move away from the hard lines we have in the rest of the house. Drawings like this have been abundance since day one. Sometimes it good to single out a particularly nice one for the blog to give all that effort its just due.

day 12: two man gang

I've said it before I'll say it again, it's amazing how much work you can get done when you have more manpower. Today was Michael's first day of vacation, and we checked a bunch of stuff off the list. I really like the days when the white board get's full of detail. It's normally accompanied with a flurry of activity.

The white board has a colorful depiction of a possible garden lay-out. I was reading way back in the blog today and realized that sketches like these turn up from time to time. One day even the outdoor space (now workshop) will be finished.

Today went like this:

1) Ordered screens for all of the windows. We didn't have cats when we they were installed, now we do. Nuff said.

2) Cut the tile for the bathroom floor. This was the first time I used the "tile king" blade. Wow, what a difference, cuts like butter. I highly recommend spending the few extra dollars to step up from a composite stone blade.

3) Built the plywood box cubby at the base of the tub. It'll be lined in same cedar as the walls. Wondering how well this particular application will hold up in a dampish area.

4) Mixed up a batch of thinset, taped the Hardiebacker seams and installed the remaining floor tile. We ran just short on thinset and will have to finish last two pieces in the morning.

5) Demo'd the front entry. This is final vestige of the previous occupant's work. A victorious moment.

6) Installed an electrical outlet in the last wall to be finished in the kitchen area. Tomorrow we pop on a couple of pieces of drywall and checking things off the list continues.

After it was all said and done we cracked open a fine bottle of wine with a good stinky cheese. Not bad for a day's work.

day 7: bathroom lighting fixtures

This morning I got up bright and early to head into the big city. Ordering the remaining lighting fixtures was the goal. I convinced my friend Greg (who's on summer break from NYU teaching, nice for both of us I know) to tag along. After placing the order and shopping about we ended up at Jerry's in SOHO for an early lunch. Ah brings back memories-- in my new job I will be back downtown. It's funny to see how the neighborhood has changed and not all for the worse. But more on that in second.

The lighting showroom of choices has become Lighting by Gregory. I'm not sure why other than my friend Domenic recommended them, that and they always have what we want. The sales people know their stuff too. Ask for Vanda she'll have you out of there in a jiffy.

The lighting order (get it, Greg standing in front of place called...) went a little something like this:

1) 6' two tube, flourescent fixture and ballast. Nothing fancy here. It will go behind the drop cedar ceiling in the bathroom for fill. It's NOT a 70's drop ceiling I promise; it will look good. They gave us two regular tubes with the purchase. I'm going to see how they do and consider switching over to full spectral.

2) 2 24" Bathroom vanity lights. They will have chrome bases to match some of the other finishes. I say "some" as we have a big surprise coming in a week or so...

3) 2 small halogen spots and bases with chrome shades.Three separate parts; six pieces in all, probably 15 for the entire package, not bad. Many months back we got the cable lighting system for the dining room (I was eager to jump the task line once again). While the bathroom lights might seem like a lot it's far less than the gagillon little pieces that need be orchestrated to make the other room work.

3) 3 bookshelf lights for the second floor. They will mount near the ceiling on the soffits and point downward onto the books.

4) An industrial looking half difused have reflected flourescent fixture for the kitchen. They're still checkng availability on it so I don't have a photo just yet. Nothing really that out of the ordinary.

It was great to head into Manhattan and be able to take advantage of a neighborhood like bowery/chinatown. I've talked about it before; the ever incroaching luxury mushroom phenomena and the disappearance of the small shop owner. For some reason "lighting fixture row" way down on Bowery is practically unchanged. Of course with the pricing for fixtures and the volume they turn over, not that surprising. When I first moved to new York in 1990 I lived in a loft on Bowery I would give the address but (after checking the mail slot) it appears that the bitter old hippies that I shared it with are still firmly ensconced. At least some things are slow to change down there.

One thing I will say. Not all of the change is bad. Maybe it was because of yet another crisp cool summer day, but there are new places and architecture that sort of caught my eye. I'll be glad to back in the hood

the bathroom design

Talking to plumber the other day was an eye opener. Seems obvious now, but to hear him say he'd need the faucets to do the rough plumbing made target date for this seem suddenly much further away. We'd been a bit picky with the faucet selection and hadn't quite gotten around to actually placing an order -- for the white custom finish trim plumbing that had quickly become something of a lynch pin in our plan.

That's when I threw myself on the mercy of Catherine at Faucet.com. She'd been incredibly helpful when we placed the fixture order and had given us several suggestions regarding faucets. I found what I was looking for on Newport Brass's online catalog, but was jammed against a looming deadline and the aforementioned white finish. Then it occured to me that the plumber only needs the rough valves right now and that Catherine might be able to fill my order in sections. Sure enough -- the stocked, rough valves are on their way by express delivery and the order for custom finished trim pieces is being filed with Newport Brass. It'll be about 6 weeks before I know how well the design plan holds up to reality.

Fortunately, the toilet won't be out of commission for nearly that long.