Things are wrapping up at the house near Alberta Street. Ryan at Aspen Building has done a stellar job and his crew is knocking out a few punch list items prior to move-in.
The fir planks lining the balcony and entry porch were salvaged from an old garage previously on the site:
Simple detailing at the interior stairs:
Garage doors will get painted soon, and hopefully some landscaping will follow, but all in all I think it is looking sharp. Nice work guys!
Searching through some photos of my past projects, I rediscovered these custom open shelves. I thought it would be fun to share some of the inspiration and concept drawings. These were designed for a small media room, part of a whole-house remodel in NW Portland.
It is a 1922 house, but the clients wanted a more contemporary look for these built-ins. Ideally they wanted all of the shelves to be open (no cupboards) and able to accommodate a 42" flat-screen television.
Stephanie found this great inspiration shot, scanned from Martha Stewart Living:
I really love the mix of different cubby proportions in this photo. The short spaces are especially fun, and work great for stacking oversized books. Instead of Buddha as the centerpiece, we'd plan a wide space for the TV (Attachment jokes are welcomed in the comments).
The ceilings in my clients' space are shorter than in Martha's photo, so I wanted to play down the horizontal nature of such a wide built-in. I thought it would help to add in a few truly square shelf spaces at the outer edges. I'm quite happy with how it turned out.
A client sends along photos of a just-finished bathroom remodel:
This modest sized bath serves a family of three, and replaces a small bath which had a separate room for the water closet.
(plan before)
(before photos)
The old plan afforded a bit more privacy for the W.C., but we quickly realized this was worth giving up in exchange for a more spacious and brighter combined bathroom. For plumbing economy, the toilet was kept in the same location. Eliminating a window to the east allowed the shower to move to the tallest part of the room, replacing the cramped tub/shower.
(plan after)
A pair of new skylights fill the space with soft northern light, but are high enough to provide privacy from the neighboring houses. The homeowner tells me, "I really like stepping up on the shower bench and checking the outside world".
To keep the space uncluttered, a new linen closet was carved out of a nearby space (not shown here). Daily bath supplies will be kept out of sight in a custom beech veneer cabinet that is recessed into the short attic wall. Below this cabinet is a matching bench with a pair of deep towel drawers, also extending into the unused attic space.
Yesterday Stephanie and I took photos of a recently completed remodel in the Sylvan-Highlands area of Portland. I haven't seen her photos yet, but here are few from my camera. I am very pleased with how it turned out, and it is always satisfying to visit and hear what the homeowners think after living with the finished house.
I talk a lot about my love for contemporary design, but truly enjoy working on traditional homes too. Getting the classic details right requires great attention to proportion and scale, and these skills eventually serve me well on modern interiors. Plus it was great fun to design all of the custom brackets and mouldings involved in this kitchen.
I designed the cabinets to be true face-frame construction, with a rounded bead of trim around each door or drawer opening. Local cabinet makers McAllister & Hansen executed it perfectly.
One of my favorite details is this open shelf below the cooktop – great for storage and display of cooking essentials.
