The Floor is Flat

About five days ago, Teddy walked me through the shell that is our new home.  Standing in the center of the house, he pointed out where the fireplace will be between the living room and the dining room.  It was a small hill surrounded by the valley of the rest of the room. He said to me,"I am going to flatten the floor."

So, he went down into the basement with Nathan and determined that sometime in the distant past, the floor had been sinking.  Some well meaning, if incompetent person, decided to jack up the floor.  It worked, just a little too much. So, Ted and Nathan DROPPED the floor 2 1/2 inches.  You do that by putting in some temporary support in place of the improper floor support.  Then you dig a hole in the ground and cement a new properly placed support.

Here is Nathan in the sandbox. No, actually that is the box being readied for the cement. I think what amazes me is that Ted knew what to do and easily did it.  I guess that's what, "This is not my first rodeo " means.

A Light for the Dining Room or the Kitchen

We went to a farm to table dinner last summer at Todd's in Montford (Asheville).  Todd's is Jacob Sessoms' second restaurant (Table, the best little place on the east coast, our favorite, is his first).  Connie Coady, who used to work the bar at Table was there with her husband Alex Matisse (an accomplished potter) showing his work.   He is now also making these beautiful lights. 

Unlit

Lit

There are two sizes.

Small - 5" h x 8" w

Large – 6”h x 10”

Feel free to get your own.

Second and Third Floors, a Final Kitchen Design

Martha has created sketches for the second and third floors that we have accepted almost as is.

She was incredibly clever about the second floor. She flipped the bedrooms sideways, creating a master across the back of the house.  There's a really large walk in closet and an ensuite master bath. 
   Here is the way Martha thinks.  I looked at the drawing and asked her what the little box was in the large closet.  She said that it could be shelving or a closed cabinet.  She drew it because she wanted to have a sense of hallway as you move from the bedroom to the bath, not the feeling of wandering through a storage area.  She's right, and I never would have thought of that.
   We will also have a laundry room, big enough for side by side washer and dryer as well as a a folding area.
   The third floor is a nice open space with a small bathroom.  We will put in a queen bed and dresser, and I just asked Martha to add a closet, maybe across the back side of the room where now there are sky lights.  ( No sky lights; they leak).  The rest is all Dave space.  Guitars, wine books desk, whatever he likes.
   And, after many go rounds, we have a final sketch for the kitchen.  I knew this would be the hardest room.  It has to be functional as well as proportional.  Every time we would move an appliance--inside wall, outside wall, island peninsula, a new problem would be uncovered.
But, in inimitable Bedell fashion, Martha threw this one off this morning:

This one satisfies the contractor who wanted the stove on the outside wall.  It satisfies the client because it has lots of prep space (see also island) with the sink stove and frig in close proximity. There will be a wall cabinets on the outside wall on either side of the stove, close enough to the dishwasher to make for easy unload.  The client also loves the HUGE pantry that will have shelving that displays all the stuff--no peering into deep shelving or needing pull out drawers. C is my desk and filing.  a is a utility /back hall closet. We have a bar on the outside of the peninsula so that Dave and I can eat dinner there.  The island will be longer than is shown here. The long box on the inside wall is shelving and tall cabinets.
   The kitchen designer guy is coming next week to help us to pick out cabinets.

Tirk and Son Strike a Pose

Oh Schist

My brother Ted  renovated his kitchen recently.  As part of that installation, he used  local schist.   According to Ms. Wikipedia:
Schist is a medium-grade metamorphic rock^[1] with medium to large, flat, sheet-like grains in a preferred orientation (nearby grains are roughly parallel). It is defined by having more than 50% platy and elongated minerals,^[2] often finely interleaved with quartz and feldspar
   Ted's stone is mysterious dark green with creamy streaks and flecks of gold. He told me that Ashfield Stone (in Shelburne Falls now) cuts a number of varieties of this local beauty.
     We went to Ashfield Stone yesterday to look at possible counter tops for the kitchen and master bath.  We spent about an hour with Johanna, who explained to us how the rock was formed and how they cut the stone for use in countertop, floors, and furniture.  We got to watch them at work as well.
    Here are some examples.  I warn you that the colors are a little off because of the light reflection.

 This one is quicksilver.  It is actually much grayer than this photo.  From Ashfield Stone's website:
   When Ashfield Stone is sawn with the huge diamond tipped circular saw, there are two distinct layers that can be used in many dimensional applications such as countertops and flooring. Quicksilver is a lighter, Quartzite layer with marbled garnet patterns, trace silver blazes and occasional quartz veining.

This one is crowsfoot.  Ashfield Stone desribes the stone in this way:
   Crowsfoot is a variegated schist that has been designated by the Marble Institute of America as one of this continent’s rare, exotic stones. This 600 million year old stone originally flowed out of ancient volcanos, cooled slowly, grew the wonderful crystal inclusions and than was pressed and folded in the crush of continents. It has a field of opalescent teal green or sea gray with varying sized bundles of black hornblende crystals (crowsfeet), feldspar, quartz ribbons and occasional cherry wood colored garnets. Every block we quarry is unique and therefore each variation is a limited edition.
   I think that Quicksilver will be the counter top in the kitchen.  we may use some crows foot as our fireplace mantle.

It's Lennox Avenue Yellow

Our new house will be the color of the house in which I grew up.

Iterations

We are back and trying to get the first floor plan nailed.  Martha  Bedell, our architect. has produced a series of sketches, and it's a bit like a Chinese menu.  A bit from here and a bit from there.
First came A or B:

 

Martha's first sketches create a front hall with a closet.  We want a gas fireplace, so the first sketch places it on the outside wall, the second uses it as a divider between the living room and the dining room.  I had also told her that I wanted my office in the kitchen.  She took me literally and divided the space.   What I really meant was that I wanted a desk in the kitchen.  I  told her I wanted an island as well as a peninsula in the kitchen. Also, she forgot the half bath.  So, back to the drawing board.

 

C and D arrived the day we got back from France. I had told Martha that I wanted the fireplace on the outside wall.    In D, Martha had reversed the layout of the the dining room and the kitchen because she thought the light in the kitchen would be better.  I didn't like it, so C won.

HOWEVER, Martha had a variation to show us.

  In C revised, she moved the half bath to the front hall.  She said we would need a back hall closet, and it takes the place of the 1/2 bath. We have a big front hall space with little utility.  And, this way people would not have to troop through the kitchen to use the bathroom.  It will have a noisy fan. 

But, looking at all these sketches, I realized that it would be nice to have a fireplace in the dining room as well as the living room.  (See B above) So C revised as modified by B gives you a plot plan for the first floor.  Simple math. Right?

Bathroom Tile

We spent an hour plus at the local tile store, trying to pick a theme for all 3 and 1/2 bathrooms.  We need floor tile and tile for the surrounds in the 2 showers and the bathtub.  I don't like tiled walls.



The first thought was to use recycled glass on the walls or floors.  I liked the blue colors, but I realized that a whole wall of these would be overwhelming.   I don't really like racing stripes in bathrooms, so these might be out. 

This one is sort of interesting.  It looks like barn wood, but it's tile.  I like it,  but it might be too rustic for the house.

I moved onto stone from here.  I  have been selecting stone floor samples from Houzz for my ideabooks.   This first one is ceramic tile designed to look like stone.   Nice color but a little phony looking.

This one is slate.  It has a nice blue cast to it and it comes in larger sizes as well.  

This is a very pretty subway tile to go with the slate--smaller pieces.  Its pretty expensive though .

This is also slate, and local too.  It looks a bit green here, but in living color , it also has a blue cast.  I pair it here with a plain white subway tile. 

This is simple, almost austere.  I think it would work for all the baths, and I wouldn't get sick of it over time.  Its a neutral palette for all our stuff.

Lower Kitchen Cabinets

I am going to have the lower kitchen cabinets painted blue.  The uppers ( not so many of them) white.  Here are two historical colors.  Do you have a preference?

 Van Deusen Blue HC-156

Buckland Blue HC-151

I am in France , part 2 (You Go Ted)

I am in France, Teddy is working

Dave and I left for La Belle France on Sunday to visit our old friends Harry and Susan. They live in the Dordogne.  Actually it is a research trip because Susan has just gut renovated her kitchen.  It was necessary to travel over 3,000 miles to do this.  It is very important to do excellent research.

While we are gone, Ted the destroyer continues to work.  Yesterday, I received an order from him. Pick the color of your exterior or be damned.  So, without even trying it on the house, I did. HC-4 , Hawthorne Yellow by Ben Moore. Authentic Yankee New England color ( get it, Nathanial Hawthorne? why it's yellow and not red, I don't know.)