Entryway

If you've ever wondered what "pin piles" look like (and you probably haven't)... well, here they are:

These "pin piles" saved us from having to put a 4' by 4' concrete footing in our finished basement.  Actually, I think we would have needed two footings.  Since our structural engineer never actually visited the property, he assumed that these footings wouldn't be an issue.  Well, they were.  The "pin piles" ended up being a great solution (even though they required more engineering, their own inspector and special drilling equipment), and finally, they are in and they have passed their special inspection.  We can start building the new entryway!

The entry should be finished this weekend.  Electrical will go in next week.  And now, we're just a couple weeks away from drywall.

Goodbye

Today, we said goodbye to our exterior siding (at least in the rear) and our front porch and stairs.  One by one, the old windows are also coming out and making way for new, much larger, ones.  We're donating the old windows to the Re-Store in Seattle (they say the value is about $75/window) - along with our original interior doors, our fireplace mantle and our cabinet pulls.  We'll have a tax donation of about $2,000 and hopefully someone will want our "junk."  It was easy to do.  The rep from Re-Store took a tour through the home and made a list of what they wanted, and then we "blue taped" the items so the workers could set them aside.  The Re-Store picked everything up and then they emailed me a tax receipt.  Easy, breezy.  

It took about two days to get rid of the porch and front steps but they are finally gone.  We'll be adding a new front porch to the home, along with a larger, interior entry area (with coat closet and bench).  The new entryway will actually pop out, towards the street, giving us more living space inside.  Our yard in the front is essentially useless so we aren't losing much of importance - maybe a large shrub and a little grass.*

Quinn is just so excited to be back at the job site!

* Weeds and moss. 

Progress... and more progress!

I hadn't been inside the house for a week, and wow, a lot of progress was made.  I kept driving by waiting for the roof to go up... but as it turns out, the roof was delayed until next week and so they took a hammer to the inside.  More like a sledgehammer.  No bathroom, no kitchen, no bedrooms, no walls... just memories and dust.   

The wall is now gone between the kitchen and Jules' bedroom.  Our kitchen will be located in the same location as before but the dining room will be moved to the back of the house where Jules' bedroom was located.  With the walls gone, it feels much more open.

This photo is looking from the living room into the new dining area.  We removed the original brick fireplace to create flow and openness.  Finally, the house doesn't feel like a 1940s box house - it's starting to feel like it was built in this era.

Here is a photo of the former main bathroom.  The tub (and everything else) is gone and it will be converted into a funky powder room.  IMHO, powder rooms are the place to go nuts.  So we will.  Pretty much anything goes.

This is a photo looking from the new living room/entry area across the home and into... the powder bath.  (Yuck.)  I really REALLY did not want a floor plan where you could see into the bathroom from the main living space.  We originally created a little "nook" off the powder bath so that you could not see right in, but at this point, we're not sure that the nook is the answer.  We're brain storming ideas so that we can keep the open floor plan without a line of sight into the bathroom.  Hmmm...

Overall, I am very pleased with the work.  The team of 6 is working hard and gettin' it done. 

Up, Up and Away

Yep, that's a second floor!  This is a drive-by photo from a friend of mine.  (Thanks, Liyah!)   It was very exciting to see the new developments.  We are able to see the scale of the house now that the 2nd story exterior walls are nearly complete. 

The shape of the back of the house is also taking form.  We've cantilevered out about 3-4' in order to gain a bit more floor space upstairs and so that we'd have a covered area for the BBQ.

We really wanted to avoid another "modern box house" so our architect came up with a few creative concepts and they are starting to take shape in the photo above:

(1) We decided to split our roof line and make it about 2' higher on one side.  This also allows us to show off our funky, angular soffits.  Love 'em or hate 'em, we promise that they will be unique.  I really don't think we've seen another house in the neighborhood with this type of soffit.  Our contractor tells me that they will take a long time to construct - but (hopefully) well worth the extra effort!
(2)  The depth of the back of the house will be slightly greater on one side than the other, meaning that it will push further into the yard on one side (on the 2nd story).
(3)  Also (slightly hard to see - and explain), the "belly band" raises up about a foot in the middle of the house.

The front entry of the home will look very different as well, but they won't start on the new entry until the roof is underway.  Roofing package gets delivered next week!  

Progress

When I walked up to the house today, there were visible signs of an addition.  If you look closely (below), you can see the 2nd story overhang starting to be framed out.  That is part of the floor of the new master bedroom.  Eventually, the front door will move to make way for the new "entry" area.  One of my complaints about our house was that you just open the door and walk into the living room.  In the new house, there will be a short walk-though entryway with a coat closet, before reaching the living room.  It should feel a lot more welcoming.  

Here is a picture of the framing for the 2nd story addition (below).  This is inside the living room.  We intended to raise the ceiling from 7'6" to 8'3", but the demo team realized that our house "tipped" about 3" towards the street over the years.  So, effectively, it was 3" shorter on the street side.  In order to even everything out, they added another 3" to the living room side.  Yay!  Now our ceilings will be a foot taller.  This 3" "tip" ended up to be a blessing in disguise.

Kitchen demo has begun... the 80s cabinets are gone!  And so is that awful grayish-blue tile with gold flecks.  Good news all around.