steel

Posts Tagged ‘steel’

Visit to Island Remodel Project

Posted in Design Projects, tagged British COlumbia, clean lines, color, fir, Galiano Island, green, green building, houses, Kable lighting, kitchen, lighting design, passive solar, remodel, simplify, steel, wood on June 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

My client for a remodel of a 1960s house on Galiano Island invited my family up to see the almost finished house. (a few details and exterior paint not finished yet)

The location is truly spectacular and I was very happy with the improvements that we made. Improvements included: on the practical side: tightening up the exterior envelope (including new fibercement rainscreen siding, all new windows, & insulation), upgrading to an energy efficient heating system, and adding a HRV, and then rearranging the interior extensively to simplifying and improve the transitions between spaces. The lower level was majorly improved, but it was a pretty straight forward rearrangement breaking it up into more usable rooms, guest suite, familyroom, office and storage. I didn’t include those photos.

The main event is the view to the south to Active Pass and all the way to the Olympic National Park 70 miles to the south. We spent many hours enjoying the view of wildlife and boats from the covered porch.

You can see some before shots of the house here.

View of the house from the water. we simplified the roofline and deck

View from the gate – Red windows and trim on this side to give it some personality from the road. New cedar entry porch with benches was a big improvement for easy access for all. (Old one had uneven stone steps down from driveway then back up several steps to the porch.) (I & AI added the ferns to the photo in the foreground, and strangely also a fish amongst the ferns)

BC Ferry Salish Heron with Mayne Island, Prevost Island, Pender Island, and The Olympics beyond

Long south side covered porch. We eliminated the non structural posts that went to the roof and did not miss them despite my concerns that it might look odd without some posts.

kitchen transition to living and dining room – vaulted ceiling to flat ceiling. This was a tricky structural bit for the builder because he had to modify the existing trusses and I am thankful that the owners saw the value in making the transition what it should be rather than the easiest way. Kitchen counters are Paperstone – made from recycled paper and both warm to the touch and acoustically dampening.

Livingroom – My favorite detail is the steel beam supporting the wood stove shelf

looking downtown the bedroom hallway – we made it more private but kept a slot at the top of the wall to let light through. Aimable recessed light at the end illuminates a painting.

Looking past entry toward kitchen – ceiling transition and four fir posts creating an elegant transition

Interior window detail – painted wood jamb on all 4 sides.

Relocated stairs to the lower level. (Old ones were in the prime real estate between kitchen and dining room.)

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Some More Snapshots of Recent Remodel on an Island in British Columbia

Posted in Design Projects, tagged Canada, clean, fir, houses, modern, remodel, simple, steel, transitions, wood on September 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »

My clients sent me a few photos last week!

This photo captures the four fir columns with foyer with slate floor to the north, bedroom and bathroom wing to west, living and dining to south and kitchen to the east. While most walls are simple painted surfaces, the four columns add some warm fir wood and organize the space.

The ceiling transitions from vaulted in the kitchen to flat elsewhere, and the wall between living and hallway stops short of the ceiling to allow for privacy and natural light beyond the wall. (Most of the windows are on the south side)

Living room with woodstove supported by an exposed steel beam and sheetmetal shelf… wood storage below.

Here are a few more photos: 1) Lower floor TV room – nice the way the TV disappears into the dark wall. 2) Primary bath curbless shower 3) Burnt orange Powder room with interior window to adjacent skylight 4) Looking in from the front door 5) Dining room 6) Kitchen – Kitchen features paperstone countertops and dark cabinets…a cantilevered island seating area and the best view in the house.

The initial concept was to remodel and possibly expand the kitchen, relocate the stairs down, fix the funky half wall between living room and hall….improve the primary suite, but we ended up doing a fair bit more. The sunroom was a bit too sunny with all those skylights, and it didn’t have any insulation in the roof, so we made some big changes there. (switched to high south windows instead of the skylights)

The big updates to energy efficiency are not evident in the photos.

There was a lot of good teamwork on this project between the very involved owners, the local builder and architect and myself.

Below are some before and after plans, then a few before photos.

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Posted in Design Projects, tagged houses, Islanders, metal, process, remodel, steel, structure on March 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Justin Prevadoros, the builder for our Galiano Island project, sent this great photo of his crew testing the steel beam that will span the living room and support a dual purpose hearth & bench.

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Rooflets

Posted in Design Projects, tagged awning, metal, powdercoat, rain protection, roof, steel on August 19, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Melissa Macdonald Metalwork fabricated these two nice powder-coated steel awnings for us. They will protect the big window and backdoor from the weather. Hopefully, they will install the third one on my house soon. Photos by John McBride

Rooflet Rooflet 1

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More Photos of San Mateo Modernization

Posted in Design Projects, tagged house, house surgery, modern spanish eclectic, San Mateo, steel, steel moment frame on August 22, 2017| Leave a Comment »

This was a dated Spanish Eclectic house with minimal connection to the yard and lots of little rooms. We tore out most of the walls on the main floor. This required adding a steel moment frame that we left exposed, finished with gun-blue and wax. Living room, dining room, and kitchen flow together and all enjoy a view out big doors to the deck and yard. The owners exercised a lot of restraint in their selection of interior finishes and materials. Upstairs we added an open plan, light-filled master suite with vaulted ceiling and updated the other bathroom and bedrooms. A radiant heating system in the floor was added throughout. Now it’s time to fill the white walls with art and break it in!

Built by Accolade Construction, Engineering: AJ Miller & Associates,

Photos by Open Homes Photography

Avila Front

Before Shot

Entry Hall

Living/ Dining

View through main floor

Kitchen

MAster Bath

MAster Bedroom

Master Suite

Master Bath

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Progress in San Mateo

Posted in Design Projects, tagged modern spanish eclectic, process, San Mateo, steel on January 24, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Exposed steel in the main living area (living, dining, kitchen)

No roof yet, but the exterior form is looking great

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More Rainy Days on the Jobsite

Posted in Design Projects, tagged Berkeley, cedar, copper, copper pipe handrail, decks, houses, roof deck, steel on January 5, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Copper Handrail, cedar fence & gate, Copper gutter and downspout above

Cedar slat railings above and below, energy efficient wood-clad windows and copper gutter and flashing.

Here is a before shot:

Back of house before

In addition to lots of improvements on the inside of the house, this project makes vast improvements to the interface between the house and the yard. Such improvements then inspire the client to make big improvements to the garden itself – A new stone patio, pathways, and many new plants.

The roof deck above is built strong, ready to hold the most practical kind of living roof – a vegetable garden in pots and planters!

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More Exciting Construction Shots

Posted in Design Projects, tagged awning, process, roof, steel on November 6, 2015| 1 Comment »

The first three shots here are showing the site work for a new little ceramic studio. We are saving that little citrus tree and the foundation will angle around it. This will create an interesting interior space with a cozy sitting area on one end and a wider studio area at the other. The lot slopes down to the right and we are adding a retaining wall along the property line to level the lot. The concrete walls will be board-formed and hopefully look very nice.

Formwork for retaining walls

This is John McBride, hard at work. Oscar and Jose behind working on the excavation for the footing.

McBride Construction at Work

Here you see a new 3/16″ thick steel awning recently installed. Gonzalvo is installing the lag screws. There will be another similar awning over the doors above. I tried to talk the owner into painting them bright blue or fireball orange to match their front door, but she chose a more conservative and very classy grey brown. Kind of like wrought iron.

This is a different job. They have just installed that 3/16" Steel Awning. Very Heavy. (Thanks for the photo Steve Coleman)

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Diamondback Rattlesnake Bridge in Tucson, Arizona

Posted in Found Objects, tagged bridge, color, colored concrete, desert architecture, diamond, metal, rattlesnake, steel, Tucson, turquoise on February 28, 2012| 2 Comments »

On a recent visit to Tucson, Arizona I saw this cool bridge for bikes and pedestrians over East Broadway Blvd . (If you zoom into the map and switch to satellite you can see the extent of it. It was designed by Simon Donovan. I also liked the bright blue bollards and railing. This particular color looks just right in the Sonoran desert, but Im not sure why. You will see the identical color in another post later this week. The painted steel mesh skin really looks like a snake – kind of like a dry, discarded snake-skin. The shadows created by the crisscrossing steel are also quite nice.