New Ideas, More Demo, Some New Framing, and Power!

It has been a busy few days. The electrician installed our new main breaker box. We upgraded to a 200 Amp Box with lots of room for different circuits and breakers. The power company allowed us to keep the box in the same location that, while it is not the most attractive spot in the back yard, keeps the line coming from the pole out of the backyard airspace. Next we need to get the cable and phone company to move their lines to the same spot.

After speaking with Mr. DeRocker on Monday morning, I made some changes to our prior lighting layout, and thanks to his advice, we both feel much better about the plan. The electricians were at the house on Tuesday and removed all of the old outlets, switches, and wiring. Tomorrow they will start to lay in the new lighting and power setup. I am still a bit concerned over the California code required recessed compact fluorescent lights in the kitchen, but Abbey has given me some cautious optimism about the color and look of the new fluorescent lights. We shall see!

The new lighting plan and discussion also led us to a new plan for the front of the house. We are going to move the front door out of the living room (and gain back all the space plus a new window) and now have it in the front of the house. Here is a picture from the inside of the new placement.

It will create a sort of entry way between the kitchen and the living room and the change made us both very excited. It was like a missing piece of the puzzle. Now the challenge is choosing the windows and door in the next few days, and being sure that we like the style so that we can eventually match the rest of the windows in the house. You can see the new door position on the new electrical layouts below. One of the images is a placement and distance layout. The other is the switch circuit and type layout.

Today I helped Javier (our carpenter and plumber) to install the new floor joist in the bathroom. The drains throughout the house are nearly complete and tomorrow he is going to start putting the new copper piping. We will probably be getting our new Tankless Water Heater sometime next week.

Time for dinner and then off to bed. Stay tuned!
-G

Free kitchen cabinets!!!

Yes! We got free kitchen cabinets....well, sort of. More on that in a bit.

First, the roof is finished and passed the final inspection! No more leaks!

The old giant dumpster was officially overflowing and was switched for a new slightly smaller one. The upstairs was cleaned up and the black spray paint removed from the windows. And there was a ton more lathe and plaster removal in the kitchen, including exposing the other beam on the living room side of the room. We also finished reframing the kitchen floor and closed in the big side window.

Now, about that kitchen...

Ok, so it's not the strongest cabinetry and I would not try putting anything hot down or spilling but our free kitchen was an important step in the planning. The LA Film School just got a bunch of new furniture and all of the giant cardboard boxes that the stuff came in was available for pick up for free. So what do you get when you have an idea, a bunch or cardboard and a lot of packing tape?

A free kitchen!

This was a great experiment as we were able to modify the design and move around the space exactly as it will be. We already decided to get rid of the multi level island and some of the cabinets over the fridge. With the real size and space laid out we could also see how the light came into the room and figure out where we want our lights and outlets.

I was also able to construct a mock bathroom this weekend so we could finalize our design since the plumber and electrician star on Monday.

Last night I also made the light switch and outlet layout.

Off to bed now...very tired. More to come soon!
-G

We have a BEAM!!!

Yes, the beam is in and the wall is totally down! Today we installed the 4x14" solid wood beam to replace the load bearing wall and open up the kitchen.


The roof is not quite complete yet. One more day. but here are a few more pics of the front with better light and color.

Stay tuned for the latest bathroom design changes and electrical plotting.
-G

Ode to a throne

One of the fun things about buying a fixer upper is grappling with all the decisions that one needs to make. Its like a giant jigsaw puzzle that is constantly changing. Gregg and I are struggling with the layout of the downstairs bathroom and the kitchen, which needs to be determined in order to have the electric wiring and plumbing started now that most of the lath and plaster has been removed.
Unfortunately, the gift of visualization that my father has skipped my generation - but Gregg has the gift. He tries to compensate for my lack of ability by acting out how to best use the space given certain bathroom layouts. We spent the better of an hour this morning with Gregg pretending to sit on the toilet in several different placements. This is a very dedicated finacee.
A small triumph today, I found one piece of the puzzle that makes up the bathroom. These are VERY IMPORTANT quality of life decisions! What toliet, you, your friends and loved ones shall be placing yourself upon for foreseeable future. After many searches, I have found the perfect item.

It is water efficient (a Los Angeles code requirement - 1.28 gpf provides significant water savings of up to 3,200 gallons per year without sacrificing performance), big enough for a 6'4" man (we are talking about comfort height my friends), asthestically pleasing (as far as toilets go), available in 5 colors, but by far my favorite piece of marketing information regarding this beauty is the following: "Class Six flushing technology provides tremendous bulk waste flushing performance and best-in-class bowl cleanliness"

You had me at bulk waste, in the event Gregg and I ever have Celeste and Babar over for dinner.

All the product specifications a girl could ever wish for!

It also has a complementary pedestal sink that just might fit!
Product specifications here

Roof nearing completion, and some new space on the way!

It has been a very busy week. Our dumpster finally arrived last Thursday and every day since has had lots of back breaking demo material removal. The 40 yard bin is nearly full and we are cramming the last bits into every corner!

The good news is that we almost have the back yard back!

The roofers have been at the house every day except the weekend and expect to finish tomorrow. Stay tuned for the final before and after comparison photos.
For now, here are a few shots of the shingles going on. We love the color and the "3d shingle" look.

Over the weekend, we were both at the house doing more demo. On Saturday we tackled the old hedge in the front. We tried to find a way to trim it back and save it, but it was neglected for too long and had to be sacrificed.

And Abbey found windows on the side of the house under the massive vine growth!

We also spent three hours at home depot on Saturday night meeting with the kitchen department to further plan our kitchen cabinets. Here is a sample of the direction we are heading. It adds a little more detail to the renderings that I made earlier.

From the peanut gallery, just a little message from Abbey. I don't like to brag that much, and don't think its very becoming at all, but I shall brag about Gregg for a spell. For any of you that think determination and elbow grease won't amount to much, my future husband managed to remove a cast iron bathtub from our home all by himself. I don't think I can convey the fortitude this required. I think the thing must way 500 lbs at least. The best part was that he also found a use for the extremely ugly stair rung dowel thingies and created my second favorite quote of the house saga so far - "I moved it like the Egyptians moved their blocks" (please try to imagine both of us in ventilators, huffing and puffing, and you can tell just how proud Gregg is of his accomplishment even through the respirator). Yes, he is quite cute, handy, and is all mine ladies!
On Sunday Gregg cleared all the debris from the bathroom wall demo and moved it all to the dumpster trash can by trash can. Then the old and extremely heavy cast iron tub came out. Meanwhile Abbey was hard at work in the kitchen taking down more of the plaster wall and removing more of the subfloor.

Also, over the past few days we have been prepping the kitchen for the new beam to replace the load bearing wall. Last week the new footings were framed and today the cement was poured. Tomorrow the new 14 inch beam will go up and the old wall will be gone!