When you’re the [adventurous/cheap/masochistic/stupid] type of person who embarks on a custom home building/remodeling project you look for other people going through a similar experience. The Blog Revolution has been great for connecting do-it-yourselfers with each other, at least over the Internet.
I check the following blogs, forums, and sites quite frequently.
For help, inspiration, design ideas, [...]
The Bathroom Sink
The bathroom sink issue may have been solved. It’s not nearly as beautiful or elegant a piece as the Lacava one.
What do you think — two IKEA kitchen sink cabinets surrounding a center cabinet with drawers?
With a nice white kick plate, a custom Caesarstone countertop and some undermounted sinks we’ll have a decent [...]
But I’m going to use this post to compare different home theater in-wall speaker and A/V receiver options.
Speakers
Basically we need a good-sounding, reasonable cost, and reliable set of speakers for the studio/presentation room. I’m not sure what the configuration will be, but I think we’ll end up going with something medium-end with a [...]
So here are our options for insulating the house:
Fiberglass batts. Basically the standard Pink Panther Owens Corning insulation.
Spray-in foam. All the rage in the home-building industry.
Recycled cotton insulation. All the rage in the green home-building industry.
As you can imagine, the greenest option (cotton) is the most expensive, the laziest option (spray-in) may be even more, [...]
There’s a lot left to be figured out for the studio. As I sit here I’m almost stricken by a Tony Soprano-esque panic attack when I ask myself: “Where do I start?”
First thing is to get some 14/2 or 14/4 wires. I also need to make a decision on in-wall and in-ceiling speakers, like today!
Here’s [...]
After sweating it out in the attic on Sunday I remembered a product I had seen somewhere when I was searching for attic stairs: Attic Dek.
They are a little pricey at $45 for an 8-pack of 16×16″ panels, but they seem to look and work a lot better than plywood!
Amazon link here.
Sorry about the lack of pictures. I took them yesterday and meant to get them up, but alas, I had to do work for Agnes first! They’ll be up tonight or tomorrow — including a tour of our [scary] back building.
Anyway.
Here’s the vanity we’ve decided on for the master bath.
The only thing is that it’s [...]
I’ll update with some pictures later this evening (if I can), but I just wanted to shout on the mountaintop that we have actual, like, pipes in our house.
Our tub and toilets were delivered a few days ago and when I stopped by the house yesterday evening I noticed that a lot of work had [...]
Agnes has taken to writing out lists in marker and taping them to the wall in order to keep track of her myriad of tasks and projects related her business. Occasionally she’ll even make a list for me and tape it next to hers.
Sadly the computer-based lists never seem to work for her or me. [...]
Link to original article
May 9, 2007
The Minimalist - A No-Frills Kitchen Still Cooks
By MARK BITTMAN
THE question I’m asked more often than any other is, “What kitchen equipment should I buy?”
Like cookbooks, kitchen equipment is a talisman; people believe that buying the right kind will make them good cooks. Yet some of the best cooks I’ve [...]
We’ve decided.
Here are our flooring and choices for the kitchen, bathrooms, and tile for the shower.
Going from left to right, the grayish porcelain tile will go in the downstairs half-bath, the cork will be the flooring for our kitchen (floating floor), the spa-like textured white porcelain tile and light blue glass mosaic for our shower.
As [...]
Countertops
We got a decent quote back for CaesarStone countertops yesterday. CaesarStone is similar to the Silestone and Zodiaq quartz countertops.
About the price of granite, but I think CaesarStone is a much better product for a few reasons:
And it looks nice.
This is the color we’ll probably go with, “Blizzard.” It’s kind of a white with [...]
Well we’ve come to the more difficult part of the process.
In the next few days we’ll order our sinks, toilets, tub, and shower heads.
Since Summer 2007 is approaching fast we’re considering hiring out for the tile work for our shower. At the moment we envision a marble and glass shower stall, but we may go [...]
Click here for the latest slideshow
A lot has been done since the last update. Most of our windows are back from Terry Hayes. His crew is in the process of scraping the trim and frames and replacing the ropes with chains. It’s nice to have windows that actually open.
Our master electrician, Jaren Ashe, has us [...]
February 3, 2007 Update
Click here for the slideshow: BEFORE & AFTER!
It’s hard to believe it’s already February. Since we started this process in mid-September of last year we’ve been spending almost every free weekend and some weeknights completely at the mercy of our 85-year-old house on Dellwood Avenue in Riverside.
We’ve managed to fill and send [...]
Agnes must have this Washer/Dryer:
LG Electronics WM2487HRM 4.0 Cu. Ft. Front Load SteamWasher Wild Cherry
LG Electronics DLE7177RM 7.3 Cu. Ft. Front Control Electric Dryer, Wild Cherry
————————-
Oven:
We want this one:
Jenn-Air® Gas Downdraft Slide-In Range
JGS9900BDS
But we’ll settle for:
Jenn-Air® Gas Slide-In Range
JGS8850BDS
or
Jenn-Air® Gas 5.3 cu. ft. Free Standing Range
JGR8775RDS
————————-
Microwave:
Jenn-Air® Pro-Style® 1.6 cu. ft. Over-the-Range Convection Microwave
JMV9169BAP
or
Jenn-Air® [...]