House Remodeling Thread (long)

[Zen]

Tulip's kitchen is straight outta Second Life!

[tulip]

Ooh, yeah, and I want that Corbu sofa, too! (ain't going to happen). The floors sold me on the place. They are the original floors and show 70 years of life and character, but I like that.

The exposed brick is the furnace chimney, which is no longer in use because I replaced the gas furnace (old, poor repair, lots of $$ to fix, and not very efficient) with a new and efficient electric heat pump with a/c. I would like to keep the exposed brick ALOT, but my contractor says that they might need that for electrical...so we're going to try to work something out.

The peninsula will be cantilevered for a couple of chairs/low stools so that I can have company when I cook, or so that I can drink a glass of wine and survey while someone else cooks! I haven't looked into the price of glass tiles. I hope to find some salvaged/overstock something. I'm definitely a modernist, so plain tiles will suit me fine.

The cabinets will be bamboo and will provide texture. I don't have nice pots (but they get the job done), so no pot rack. They will stay hidden in a drawer. The counters will probably be Paperstone, but I might have to rethink that because of cost (oooh, that darn limiting factor keeps coming back!)

The house needed alot of work when I bought it, and I've already replaced the HVAC and water heater to make it livable. I've never lived in a place that I had a hand in designing, except for gardens, of course. This is my design (with the help of my architect dad) and I'm really looking forward to LIKING my home. After this, and if I have any money left over (doubtful), I want to knock out another wall in the living room...but that will have to wait until next summer at the earliest. Maybe by then I will have picked up enough demo/construction skills by osmosis that I could do it myself with some help. That would be cool.

[Aggie_Ama]

I am liking the changes, I would love to have the patience and a willing counterpart to do stuff like that. I got the man to agree to paint our dining room and actually be excited about the accent wall color, victory was mine!

My mom has an island with barstools similar to your counter. It is the gathering spot when she or my dad is cooking. Usually a beer or glass of wine and wonderful conversation is shared. I think you will be really happy with that.

Do you have a habitat home shop? We have one here, proceeds benefit habitat for humanity and you can often find great building materials at good prices.

[tulip]

I am my own willing counterpart, so that helps.

I expect the counter/bar will become a lively place when I have friends over. I do have a Habitat Store nearby, and I look forward to checking it out soon.

[IFjane]

Tulip - I am just catching up on TE. Haven't been here for a very long time & I've had a ball reading the updates on this thread. Love what you are doing to the kitchen!

Have you checked out Best Tile? 7490 W. Broad. I was down there a couple weeks ago picking up the grout for my new slate floor & left a puddle on their floor as I was looking at their glass tile samples! Gorgeous stuff.

Can't wait to see all the "after" pics. -jane

[Xrayted]

Just an additional thought when you are tracking down large appliances... Lowes, Home Depot, etc usually have a day of the week where they put out the stuff that may have a slight blemish or something. (contractors come in and buy them up to save money) They are usually still in the box and work just fine. I saved 50% on a great refrig. and they delivered it for me. Exactly what I was already looking at, in the right color (black). I never did find the blemish. Call around and talk to the guy in charge of the appliance area and find out what day they do that. You can get incredible deals on higher priced stuff.

Where I used to work, we had a small unit on the pipes. I have no idea what brand or anything. It was electronic or something. Worked great. Not a hot water heater, per se. It was just a small box that wrapped around the pipes. It is apparently used in Europe a lot. Much more efficient and space saving as it was right under the sink. My former boss was a real cheepo so it couldn't have cost that much up front either. Like this style. https://www.etankless.com/product_n.html I think they can be put in whole house or at individual spots. My boss had them in his house. He preferred the individual ones because it was instantaneous.


Yeah, I caught that brick too after the wall was gone. It would be great if you could keep that. I like wood and brick together. Very earthy. How are you planning to match the flooring where the wall used to be or am I seeing that wrong?

Keep up the good work and I'm looking forward to your updates.

[tulip]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Jane, I will go to that tile shop when the time comes; I had not heard of it.

I already bought my appliances--the cabinet maker needed me to do that before he started his cabinet-making. I went to the Sears Outlet and got all GE Profile at 30%-50% off. My dishwasher is a Bosch, and it was 30% off. They are ALL in my livingroom at the moment, which is getting a little old, frankly.

The on-demand hot water heater was $4k, so I went with a very efficient tank hw heater that was $800. If the difference had not been so huge, I would have gone tankless, but that was just too much! I figure that the tankless can only go down in price in the coming years.

The floor will be patched, but most of it on the left side will be covered by the counter peninsula. Work continues on Monday! Whoo-hoo!