Our Inspiration

About two years ago, Ben and I came across some photos of a house in Vancouver, BC - the Kerchum Residence.  We loved the windows, the extended soffits, the clear cedar, the lighting, the roof line, the zig-zag steps...  The house looked modern and welcoming, and seemed to fit comfortably into a Pacific Northwest neighborhood.

Our Inspiration: the Kerchum Residence

We printed the above photo for our architect (Michelle Linden - Atelier Drome LLC), and asked her to convert our outdated and inefficient 1940's box house into a much larger and more open space that looked similar to the Kerchum Residence.  And she did.  She understood the importance of creating something modern, yet timeless; and interesting, but not interesting enough for our neighbors to hate.  

From the beginning, we knew we didn't want to end up with a predicable, traditional/contemporary design. And although Craftsman homes are stunning, they cannot be created in 2013.  Period.  That's a type of home that was born when it was supposed to be born and cannot be recreated.  Sorry, Mr. Redmond Ridge, you are not a Craftsman.  

So, without changing much of the original footprint (but for adding an entry), Michelle was able to create this:

Very Kerchum-esque.  

Our 3 main goals for the remodel are: (1) to add more square footage for the kiddos to roam; (2) to create a better space for entertaining; and (3) to define a comfortable and private guest area.  We love entertaining so we want our new home to be fun and interesting for guests; we're already planning a room that will make most of you stand there and stare and think, what were they thinking.  Keep staring - then talk about it in the car on your way home.  It's much more interesting than talking about whether the kids ate a good dinner for the babysitter.   

   

Roof comes off! And the rain starts up...

After just one day of prep work, the roof comes off!  The goal is to beat the weather and get the house weather-tight as soon as possible.  And we've really got to hurry because the weather report calls for 2-3 inches of rain over the weekend and 30-40 mph wind gusts.

(Ben is wearing this shirt because he wanted to match the tarps.  Ha!)

The job site is messy, but from the outside, there is still some resemblance of our beloved home.  The inside is a different story... the doors are gone, the fireplace is gone, it's dirty... really dirty.  It's starting to look like a real project.  That's a good thing.  Ben and I are relieved that the process of the construction loan is over (yes, it finally closed and funded, or so we're told - though we've yet to hear from the "Renovation Draw Specialist" who should have contacted us days ago).

Our biggest problem currently, according to our contractor, Robert, is the upcoming winds.  Surprisingly, my stress level is low (and no, I haven't been popping Xanax - I save those babies for cross-country flights).  I have yet to tell Robert that my lifelong motto has been "when you fail to plan, you plan to fail."  I sure hope he's got a solid plan for this weekend wind storm!

Our second biggest problem: we have 16 wine glasses and a large box of alcohol (accidentally) left in the garage and blocked behind this amazing pile of roof rubble.  Ironically, in our pre-remodeled house, we never had enough room for a dinner party with 16 people so we never had a need for 16 glasses (exceptions to every rule: Volksgiving), but in our new Madison Park rental house, we actually have a table that could seat 16 and now we only have 8 glasses.  Oh well, we probably couldn't convince 16 friends to drive all the way to Madison Park for a dinner party anyway.

Groundbreaking!

Official Groundbreaking!*  Wednesday, September 25, 2013

* These photos were actually taken awhile back when our structural engineer asked us to verify the size of our footings.  Quinn and Ben dug about 3' down but never did find the footing.

The real "groundbreaking" wasn't groundbreaking at all - it was chimney breaking.

Chimney is gone! 

The roof should be coming off soon.  Just in time for the inch and a half of rain that is predicted over the next two days!

The Beginning

 A Blog about the Volk Remodel Project

“Do you have a blog?”

“We want to see pictures.”

“Why aren't you writing a blog?”

"Have they started yet?"

I never thought I’d be blogging about this but I think there is an unwritten rule that you are suppose to blog about your first great family vacation and your first big home remodel project.  And I'm no rule breaker, so here it goes...

I'm the first to admit that until about a year ago I didn't know the difference between a "blog" and a "blawg" (honestly, I thought they were interchangeable).  But now I am fairly certain that this will be a blog.  And I’m writing it so that I don’t ever forget what it took to make this happen.  I’d certainly rather be writing about food and wine, or travel, or restaurants and entertaining… but this seems to be an interesting way to document an interesting adventure.

I have to say, Ben is WAY more excited about this project than me.  He's artistic, handy, creative, hopeful, and much more able to enjoy the process of spending money.  He’s also very busy.  I’m a planner, a scheduler, a details person, an organizational guru, a micro-manager.  So that basically leaves me in charge of, well, just about everything at this point.   Nah, not really, just the (less) fun stuff like the construction loan, the builder’s contract, and the budget.

Builder’s contract signed, check (and actually, a surprisingly pleasant experience compared to what people have told us to expect.  Thank you, Blue Water Construction.)  Budget planning, check.  Construction loan… oh sh*t.  Apparently, a construction loan needs a “mortgage advisor,” a “processor,” a “pre-underwriter,” an actual “underwriter,” a “construction review team,” numerous "managers" (to expedite the process when needed), and the list goes on and on, and that doesn’t include escrow assistants, title officers, traveling Notaries.  As far as I can tell, we’re headed down the home stretch, but who knows… we’re pretty sure “they” don’t even know how to get to home plate.  It’s a work in progress and it’s been painful.

One thing that has helped: wine.  Lots of it (including a nice bottle of Leonetti with dear friends).  

We've had a lot of good times in this home.  But it's time to say good-bye, for now.