I thought this was cool – from a blog called V-spot .
The little holes in the sides make the thing sparkle.
Posts Tagged ‘value’
Replacing a Huge Deck with a Small Deck and a Big Yard in Oakland
Posted in Design Projects, tagged deck, landscape, Oakland, small buildings, value on March 10, 2012| 1 Comment »
This was a collaboration with Matt Hornby Garden Design and Construction.
It wasn’t hard to improve upon the existing decks and yard, but the budget was a challenge.
These are before photos of the deck and yard:
This huge deck on the second floor didn’t even have real footings!
So the idea was to make the upper deck just big enough for a couple to sit and enjoy the evening, and to make a nice big lower level deck. the structure supporting the upper deck and the upper deck itself will help to create zones for different sorts of outdoor living. There is also a patio and a lot of garden that doesn’t appear in the sketch model.
sketchup model of the multi-layered landscape design
railing sketch
Deck gone!
The middle post is actually not connected to the deck. It is for a pergola that will attach to the deck.
Now I’ll have to go back and visit to get some more photos of the finished project.
The Simplest Decoration
Posted in Found Objects, tagged decoration, holes, metal, patina, patterns, sparkle, value on March 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Removal of material in decorative pattern creates sparkle of light on plain steel chair back
A Very Basic Addition for Two Teachers and Their Two Kids in Richmond
Posted in Design Projects, tagged fibercement, houses, passive solar, Richmond, value on February 15, 2012| 2 Comments »
Sometimes the job calls for a very simple addition – bedroom, bathroom, laundry room, and family room all in less than 500 SF, plus a new deck on the south side. and energy efficiency upgrades throughout.
Existing Floor Plan
New Floor Plan
The roofline dictated the easiest place for the addition and the owners preferred a small master bedroom and a small study/ family room rather than a large bedroom. Adding a deck to the south off the kitchen and dining room seemed like an obvious way to fill in the corner (facing due south.) The fact that it has walls on two sides adds a bit of shelter from the wind.
The owners selected locally crafted light fixtures from Metro Lighting on San Pablo and many LED lights for the project.
Canivet Construction built the project on time and on budget (about 230/SF plus fixtures that the owner bought themselves.)
A Glorious View with Powerlines
Posted in Design Projects, tagged birds, humor, Oakland, value on March 27, 2011| 3 Comments »
It is often a challenge to think of good solutions for a problematic design puzzle on a tight budget. 
Like modern art!
Its not in the budget to underground the utility lines, so the plan is to install birdfeeders…..and with any luck the mess of wires will fill with birds of all sorts.
Portière in Cold Spring Harbor
Posted in Found Objects, tagged buildings on the water, Cold Spring Harbor, doorways, houses, interiors, value on September 21, 2010| 1 Comment »
Portière: a curtain hung in a doorway, either to replace the door or for decoration.
I visited my friend Duncan last week at his parent’s house in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island:
I learned this word from Duncan’s mother, Elizabeth Watson, an architectural historian. She has a these good examples of simple, utilitarian portière in her own house:
This architectural term comes from the French word for door, porte. Common in wealthier households during the Victorian era (according to Wikipedia,) curtains are still a great way to create privacy, mitigate drafts, hide a messy closet, subdivide a space, or create a cozy nook. Its much more affordable to put up a curtain than install any sort of door, and it is especially appropriate if you need a temporary or quick solution, or if you get excited about fabrics or a splash of color.
Here is a fancier example of Portière from the National Gallery in Washington DC:
I also found this drapery design blog with all sorts of examples of portière.
Shiny new tile tub surround
Posted in Design Projects, tagged bathroom, color, patterns, process, tile, value on August 31, 2010| 2 Comments »
I kept this elegant tub surround alive for a few extra years by patching it with fiberglass and epoxy, but I think it was time for an upgrade.
partially demolished, you can see both layers of old surround – fiberglass on top of coated masonite – with a european street scene in sepia….perhaps from the early 60s?
pacific tile putting on a layer of thinset mortar over the wonderboard (over building paper & moiststop at the tub lip)
the first row of tiles – cut to fit the curved tub
I don’t have any photos of the plumber at work, but he installed copper rough plumbing for this shiny new shower faucet. It has a modern take on the cross handle for the valve, and a nice curvy tub spout.
I would not recommend buying the cheapest shower curtain rod or brackets. I did, and I notice spots of rust already forming on the chrome.
The tiles are 4×4 white (0100) Daltile Rittenhouse Square with a god’s eye pattern in yellows and blues. Keeping the pattern in the middle meant that all my trim tiles and fussy cut tiles would be white. Extra ones when we ran out were easy to come by. It also made finding a recessed soap dish easy and repairs down the road possible. Affordability is another advantage.
We used bright white unsanded grout and white adhesive caulking to complete the clean white look.
Daltile white 0100 4×4 squares with a god’s eye pattern in blue and yellow
I don’t think I got a screaming deal, in part because I was in a rush, trying to reduce the inconvenience for my renters. The plumber was about $575, the tile setter $1300, the tiles, grout, caulk, and sealer, about $250 and the plumbing hardware another $375 or so. Call it about $2500 + a few more hours of carpentry work, sheetrock repair, clean up, and a dump run bring it to about $3200. I still have to repaint the ceiling on the lower level where we had to open it up for plumbing access.
Alameda Kitchen
Posted in Design Projects, tagged formica, holes, house surgery, kitchen, lighting design, metal, metal edgebanding, value on July 28, 2010| 4 Comments »
This is my first post. I wanted to share a few kitchen design ideas and, in particular, a partial, tight-budget kitchen remodel that I assisted with in Alameda, California. The client, it turns out, has a great design sense herself, but she needed a bit of help.
I was hired to do a partial, tight-budget upgrade to this kitchen:
This side of the kitchen we didnt change much.
I started by measuring and discussing her needs and visions for the space. She wanted to keep the half of the kitchen with the sink, but tear out a wall and add some new cabinets and a laundry area on the other side.
We did add a dishwasher…and the client took away one curtain ruffle
Can you see the metal edge banding on the counter top?
The lighting in the kitchen consisted of one big light in the middle. This used to be standard, but most people these days have a lot of different lights in their kitchens. I came to love this glowing orb. It is sort of like a sun shining in the middle of the room.
The Glowing Orb!
this is the laundry center…with folding counter on top
Another important feature came late in the design process. As was normal for 1898, the kitchen was walled off and disconnected from the rest of the house. The client didn’t think it was in their budget to make the changes necessary to rearrange the entire first floor, so we focused on making the kitchen nicer. Then we realized that it would be a pretty simple (low-cost) and easily reversible change to cut a window in the wall separating dining room and kitchen. This way food could be passed through and communication could happen without killing the formality of the dining room. Southern light from the kitchen window is an added feature in the dining room.
Happy client peeps through the new opening
Other features of affordability and style are the colorful plastic laminate counter tops with 50s style metal edge banding, the beautiful green Marmoleum floor (you’ll have to just believe me because you can’t really see it in the photos, & the open space for art that is available because the client didn’t squeeze in as many upper cabinets as they possibly could.
Of course keeping half of the old kitchen was a big cost savings. The new part looks different, but complimentary. Palimpsest architecture is the word for this sort of layering and leaving ghosts of the past rather than tearing out everything and starting over. . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palimpsest
Contractor: Guillaume Canivet
Cabinetmaker: Rusty Dobbs
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