Sunday, November 25, 2007

Furniture (9/16/07)

Project date: 9/16/07

Info:
Dining room set: Sam Levitz
Chandelier: Home Depot
Track lighting: Lightingdirect.com
Couches, chair, armoir: American Home Furnishings

With flooring done and walls painted it was time to move in the furniture. Now that we had a formal dining room, we could get a huge dining room table set (seats 8) and matching China cabinet. Yes, I actually had China to put in the cabinet. It was my grandmother's set from Okinawa, which my mom gave to me. We stopped by the Sam Levitz store on the other side of town and this set was on sale. It was the only set that I found that I liked, so we decided to go for it. There's no way this kind of furniture would have fit in our old house. So now I get to have "grown up" furniture.

China cabinet:

Dining room set:
Here's another interesting "before and after" set of photos. The angles aren't quite the same, but you get the idea. The previous owners had an entertainment area where we now have a formal dining room. The table and chairs in the lower right corner were directly across from the fireplace (which is now gone) and sat right in the middle of the traffic flow.

Before:

Now:



I still have to paint the window wood black and put up window treatments, but even without that it's much better. To the right of the dining room set are 2 walls that we installed track lighting above. I'm going to hang 2 large pieces of art on these walls. I'm just not sure what they'll be yet. On the wall that is the furthest right we will also get a small serving table to put against the wall.


On to the living room. I never found an entertainment center that I liked. But I really liked this armoir. So we got it to put the TV inside. This thing is huge! Good thing for high ceilings. It was purchased from American Home, but the piece is handmade in Mexico.


With the doors closed:



Side view:


Next to the armoir is a sitting chair and small side table:


And across from that wall are the 2 large couches. Each couch sits 3. Most of the time they sell a couch like this and a smaller couch that seats 2. But we had the room so we just got 2 of the larger couches and shoved them all the way against the wall. This keeps the center area open for traffic flow. Now the entire living room, kitchen, and dining room have unobstructed traffic flow right through the middle. If you can't tell, I'm all about the traffic flow.

Upper kitchen cabinets, counter tops, and sink (9/11 - 9/16/07)

Project date: 9/11 - 9/16/07

Info:
Cabinets: Home Depot rose maple
Counter top: Dupont Zodiaq engineered quartz (from Lowes)
Knobs and drawer pulls: Top Knob from ImprovementDirect.com

Zac installed the upper cabinets and we were finally able to move the refrigerator. Once the cabinets were in, the counter top installers came out and made templates of the lower cabinets. The counter tops would be cut at the factory. The backsplashes would be cut and installed onsite once the counter tops were in. The installers also took our sink so that the factory could put in the cutout.

The countertops we chose were engineered quartz by Dupont. It looks similar to granite (most people ask if it's granite) but it doesn't require the treatment and care and feeding that granite does. Pretty much once it's installed it's good to go. No sealant required.

The knobs and drawer pulls came from Top Knob from ImprovementDirect.com. We had over 80 knobs and pulls to install!

Engineered quartz counter top, and the drawer pulls we chose in an oil rubbed bronze finish:


Before countertop installation:




After counter tops. The pony wall also had a matching slab of quartz installed over the top. You can also see the black baseboards that we started to install. Black baseboards will go in all of the downstairs rooms.
Zac also installed under-mount lights in the pie-wedge shelving. These are on a switched outlet with the ceiling fans and lights.
Another before and after sequence with countertops:

The sink we chose is also from ImprovementDirect.com. It is a Kohler sink and faucet set. The sink is black porcelain and the faucet set is oil rubbed bronze. The divider between the sink halves is lower than other sinks to allow the handles from pots and pans to overhang when soaking. The sink was also installed under the countertop so that there's no lip in between. The undermounting also makes the sink a bit deeper. At first Zac wanted an asymmetrical sink, but I convinced him otherwise. This one came out pretty good. The drainage hardware is also in oil rubbed bronze. In the photo you can also see the matching window sill that is also in engineered quartz.


When I was going through the pictures I found one that was pretty close in view to one of the original pictures of the kitchen from the sales listing. Even with an undone window it looks much better! (Our kitchen isn't dark, it's just how the photo came out). I will have to try to repeat the "before and after" view once the window treatments and remaining lighting are installed. We also need to install the crown molding pieces on the tops of the cabinets.

Original kitchen (photo from the sales listing):
Kitchen now:

New metal roof installed (8/20 - 8/25/07)

Project date: 8/20 - 8/25/07

Info:
Material: Standing seam steel, 24 gauge w/ kynar finish in copper metallic
Installer: Roof Options, Tucson, AZ
Time to complete: Garage = 1.5 days, house = 1.5 weeks

The roof was one of the projects that absoloutely had to be done this year. All quotes during the home inspection stated that the roof could not be repaired, and a new roof needed to be installed. We had plans from the very beginning to go with a metal roof. We shopped around and got quotes from different roofers in town. The quotes varied by $10K - $20K. One roofer wanted to rip the old roof off down to the plywood, then install the metal roof. Another would only install the roof and wouldn't do any repairs. They actually wanted us to take down the old cooler jack. Sorry, if I'm spending thousands of dollars to have people crawl around on my roof I want ALL the work done, even the repairs.


Finally we settled on Roof Ops. They've been installing metal roofs for several years and had the most experience. The president of the company came out and said "I've seen this roof before." Sure enough, a call to the office revealed they had been out a few years ago to measure and quote the roof work. Needless to say, a few years ago nothing was done. Roof Ops quoted all repairs for the roof and fixing the drainage issues. The house and garage only had one layer of shingles, so according to Roof Ops it was best to not disturb the roof, do the repairs, and install the metal roof right on top of the shingle roof. Once we got the quote (which came in lower than all the others) we decided to go forward with the work.


The week before the work started the panels arrived. Good thing the backyard was big enough to store it all. A total of 4 rattlesnakes were uncovered by the roofers in the yard during the roof installation.



Flashing was installed and fairings were put around things like the chimney to divert water (which should have been done originally). Then the entire roof was covered with a layer of protective blue plastic. This was nailed down directly on top of the existing shingle roof.



The flat panels were then installed. The panels are standing seam. The first panel gets screwed down to the roof on the seam, and the next panel overlaps the seam to keep water from getting to the screws. The panels are then clipped together. All of the cutting of the panels, bending, and drilling of holes for vents happened on the ground. The roofers then hauled the panels up for installation. Once the panels were on, drainage covers were installed over the seams.



The last part of the roof to be completed was the cupola at the top. The roofers left one metal panel on the main part of the roof off so that they could still walk up to the cupola to install the cap. New attic vents were also installed. Once the cupola was done, they installed the last metal panel. It's pretty much impossible to walk on a metal roof once it's done.




Before and After Photos
Side view of garage before:


After:




Front view of garage before:

After:


Front of house before:

After:

Side of house before:

After:

Back of house before:


After:

Another view of the front after. The small peaked front porch was also done in the matching metal roofing.

We highly recommend Roof Ops if you are thinking about installing a metal roof in Tucson. This is one of the improvements that dramatically improved the look of the house and garage. Not to mention, now we don't have to worry about storms causing leaks and ripping more shingles off.

Tile flooring complete (7/17 - 7/23/07)

Project date = 7/17 - 7/23/07

Info:
Tile: Ilva Porcellanato, Chrome (14" and 18") made in Argentina
Pattern: Pinwheel
Tile purchased at: A World of Tile, 7255 E. Broadway, Tucson, AZ
Tile installed by: Custom Tile Works, LLC, Tony Pedigo

The centerline around the house was laid first to make sure everything would line up. Talk about one big puzzle! This is why we paid a professional tile installer.



And here is the completed floor. Many people that see it think that it's slate. It is actually porcelain, so it is very robust. The tile installer had to break out the heavy duty tile saw just to be able to cut the tiles. Per the recommendation of the folks at "A World of Tile", we went with the pinwheel pattern. This works well with the round house and doesn't cause the railroad track look that the original white tiles that were laid out in straight rows had.
Living room:

Kitchen:


Laundry room:

View of living room from above (sorry about the dirty camera):

And this marks the end of my massive update to this blog. Sorry that it has taken so long.