Remodel: Day Twenty-Six (And then there was light. A lot of light.)

The electricians installed lighting today. And, wow, did this place get bright.

First, the bathroom got an LED glimpse fixture in the shower

as well as a vanity fixture.

The latter was difficult to photograph because of the angle but also the glare caused obvious problems. Suffice to say, it was centered above the medicine chest.

pendant? chandelier? chandelier composed of pendants?

Then, the LED glimpse lights were installed over the studio, and the vintage pendant cluster was hung with great care and lots of tweaking to get the length just so.

These photos are teasers. I am running to a board meeting and look forward to snapping some better shots when the scaffolding and protective covering is removed.

Remodel: Day Twenty-Five

The carpenters were here today. Lots of sawing happened. It was loud, but their results were transforming. Again, I took this photos late in the day, and the only light was from the flash on my phone. Not bad, eh?

Floor trim + dirty wall

Linen closet (that bottom section will have a door)

In anticipation of the electrician's work tomorrow, I picked up our light fixture at Architectural Antiques, where I was told, "The more we touch this, the more we damage it." Argh. Each of the lamp shades was covered in bubble wrap so I didn't take a look. Apparently, the crack got darker when the adhesive was applied. Emily at Arch Antiques is going to keep an eye out for a replacement shade, and I plan to enlist the help of a fellow UMN College of Design alum who is a lighting designer. It's worth a shot.

Remodel: Day Twenty-Four

Winners of the Third Event

Happy Monday. I spent the entirety of the weekend at the St. Paul Curling Club watching Simon and his three team mates participate in the Kyle Satrom Bonspiel. They had three six-end matches on Saturday and one on Sunday, which was regulation play. Their collective points qualified them for the Third Event championship, which was a playoff for 5th place, though I think Third Event sounds much more impressive. The boys won in a match against another SPCC team that they curl with each Saturday. It was thrilling, and I was so proud. Here are some photos:

Simon and Theo (r) watching, waiting as opponents sweep

Simon delivering the rock (Owen & Simon C. sweeping)

An adjacent team measuring. It's THAT precise!

This morning Larry popped in with the trim that will hide the drywall joints at the wall and ceiling. The goal had been to avoid needing trim for a cleaner, more architectural look, but it seems somewhat unavoidable. Larry specified the smallest possible trim, and I think it will look good, more complete. Larry also gave me an update on the week: electricians on Wednesday, plumbers, carpenters. It's all coming together!

Tile now with grout

Nick grouted the tile in the bathroom today, but didn't quite finish. Apparently, the tiles are beveled in such a way that several applications of grout are necessary. He had planned to stay until 8 p.m. to finish, but I'm glad Larry encouraged him to go home. John is sick and less tolerant than usual of all the work and workers and the house's state of disarray. Nick will return on Thursday to finish grouting, and fortunately has enough grouted where the plumbers can do their work, which involves installing fixtures.

Remodel: Day Twenty-Three

Nick stayed late and finished laying all the tile, but I don't have any photos to show for it. He'll be back on Monday to set the grout. That's it for construction reports this week. I plan to spend the weekend at the St. Paul Curling Club watching oldest son and his team compete in the Kyle Satrom Bonspiel. Sweep!

Remodel: Day Twenty-Two

Still more tile work today.

the long view from the door frame

almost finished tiling

racing stripe

Yet another plumber arrived today to install the new kitchen faucet set. Since I requested a replacement, I thought the set would more closely resemble the existing set. Instead, we got something that was really ugly and out of place. Argh. I told myself that it's temporary--as in two or three years temporary. As long as it works, right? It's come to that. About five minutes into the job, the plumber informs me that the valves are too rusty and are leaking. If I want the faucet installed, the valves will have to be replaced. Of course he should make the necessary repairs. For an extra $300. And, still, my overwhelming emotion is relief. On a roll!

Remodel: Day Twenty-one (and $1800 later)

Chez Shepard was an absolutely loud and colorful three-ring circus today.

Rico returned with a crew to do touch-up painting, especially over all the places where he repaired the drywall earlier. We will have to wait until the paint dries to know if we can call that phase of the ceiling work completed.

More tile was laid.

pool lane stripe : tiles on wall

Additionally, Tony from S&S Trees paid a visit. We have several trees on our property that need help: an ash tree receives biannual innoculations against ash borer disease, a sugar maple has fungus that indicates a hollow portion, and several volunteer trees are growing in inopportune places. These things we knew and were confirmed. We walked the property and talked about removing a volunteer mulberry tree that is growing in the shadow of a cedar. I would rather nuture the cedar, which is already mature. We talked about removing a lilac bush that doesn't flower, but has anemic foliage and scraggly suckers that render it super unattractive. And, we talked about pruning the existing canopy so that all our mature trees (an oak, the ash, and a newer maple that grew from a volunteer!) maintain their health. Tony is going to develop a multiyear plan to help us ease the expense. He's a great guy, really affable and interested in our neighborhood (he also manages our next-door neighbors' trees), and it was a pleasure to turn my attention to outdoor projects.

Then a plumber arrived--independent from the remodeling--to address two plumbing issues that developed over the weekend. The sink in the boys' bathroom and the kitchen sink were backing up with water and a pipe under each sink was leaking. I had encouraged the boys to use the guest bathroom downstairs, but it never really sank in so their sink was always full of water and draining very slowly. Also, the workers are using the toilet in the boys' bathroom, and their tub (our only tub) has become a surrogate utility sink. MSP Plumbing sent a plumber to snake both lines and another plumber to replace all the galvanized (read rusty, holey) pipes under the sink. All. New. Plumbing. Woot? While they were at it, I asked to have a drippy faucet repaired but the controls were corroded and the entire set up had to be replaced, which meant another appointment.

Plus, Simon was home sick with a fever and required monitoring. It was great for him to witness the renovation work as well as what is required to maintain the house by way of other service calls. He has been operating under the impression that I eat bonbons and read books all day.

Despite the extra high level of chaos, I managed to have a really productive day. Since I was stuck here all day, I was able to get a lot of putzy work done. And, at the end of the day, I felt a sense of relief at having taken care of problems.

Remodel: Inspiration and Concept

Before much more of the bathroom remodel is complete, I want to talk a little bit about the inspiration and concept behind the final design.

First, inspiration. These are the design elements to which I was drawn while conducting visual research in magazines and online. The final bathroom design will have evidence of my four favorite elements.

1. Shower niche : This "indentation" provides visual interest, variety in dimensionality, and a clever place to place shampoo, razors, and soap). I particularly like the mosaic-lined version in the left image.

2. Wraparound : A design element that wraps around two planes. Here the wall tiles continue through to the floor.

3. Open shelving : In lieu of a linen closet, these narrow, deep niches hold towels.

4. Color : Blue or green or blue-green. My favorite shades, mid-century appropriate, and an fitting update to the previous blue iteration. Notice three of the four showers have an evident niche.

Second, in terms of a concept, I drew upon swimming pools as oasis--the color, the quiet, the subtle motion of water, the lane markers (take me back to childhood participation on swim team) of racing pools.

Remodel: Day Twenty

It's snowing!

We're at about the halfway point of the project. Yay!

Here's what happened today: Rico returned to do more work on the ceiling. Apparently, the ceiling was primed and painted yesterday, but some of the vault needed "patching" (for lack of a better word). So the repairs were made. I don't have a picture of the ceiling since it's hard to photograph without good lighting. Come on natural light!

And, more tiling.

More tile on the floor than yesterday

As he was cleaning up at the end of the day, the tiler commented on how well the blue-green paint matched the darkest color in the blue-green tile mix. I agree. The intensity of the wall color (of which you can only see a small corner here) makes so much more sense when you see it within the context of the tiles.

Remodel: Day Nineteen

The weekend was made a little more pleasant by the lack of plastic wrapping the interior of our house. We could breathe a little better for not being enclosed. On Saturday night, John and I celebrated by going out for dinner with some friends we hadn't seen since before Christmas. We had dinner at The Salt Cellar, one of St. Paul's newest restaurants. The CEO of John's company was also eating at Salt Cellar and treated our table to a round of cocktails and a bottle of wine, which was unexpected and generous, to say the least. The boys spent the night at Theo and Will's house (we had dinner with their parents). On Sunday morning, John and I picked up the boys and took them out for dim sum at Mandarin Kitchen, which, according to Dara Moskowitz, has "our state's most epic dim sum selection." I concur. We ate loads of dumplings--pork, shrimp, pork and shrimp in rice wrappers, wheat wrappers, and tofu wrappers; salt and pepper shrimp; sticky rice with all manner of protein; bbq pork steamed buns and bbq pork egg buns; squid; and more.

Mandarin Kitchen seats 300

Dumpling cart

clockwise from top: squid, sticky rice, jasmine tea

"This is the best thing I've ever put in my mouth!"

I can't wait to eat dim sum again.

And, now for remodeling news. Painting and tiling were on the schedule for today. 

Rico arrived this morning with the ceiling painter in tow. The painter was overwhelmed by the size of the vault and the amount of work that had to be done. He thought it would take him the better part of the day just to hang the plastic in preparation for painting, and he hoped he would be able to get someone in to help him. He wasn't quite in freak-out mode, but close. I thought it would be best to clear out of house so he could have the necessary conversations, and I wouldn't have to hear them. I also thought it might be fun to be surprised by the work that had been finished at the end of the day.
 

Monday morning, pre tile installation

I spent much of the day at Dunn Brothers, making phone calls, sending email, reading a juicy novel (The Girl on the Train). John and I had a healing, nourishing pho lunch at Pho 79. I picked up Simon from school and took him to Dunn's so he could do his homework. We headed home in time to intercept Winston from the bus at 3:30, and much to my surprise, there was no plastic. The painter was gone, and the ceiling looked painted, but since the paint is Ceiling White, it was really hard to tell if the ceiling had simply been primed or if it had been painted. We would have to ask Larry in the morning.

The tiler laid some tile, which was pretty exciting to see. Have a look:

End of day : tile progress

Remodel: Day Eighteen

TGIF

All the plastic that hung from the ceiling is down for the weekend. Amazing what a difference that makes. I mean, the house is as dusty as all get-out, the off-gassing is giving me a headache, and equipment and supplies clutter most areas of the job site, but to be able to see throughout the house makes a difference.

The ceilings look beautiful and are ready for priming and painting on Monday. Getting closer.

I started cleaning surfaces in the kitchen. Just a cursory pass for now. Larry has someone coming in on Tuesday to clean. Not sure what that means but I'll do a more thorough cleaning after that, and an even deeper clean once the project is completely finished.

Happy weekend!

Remodel: Day Seventeen

More sanding today.
What a mess.
Fine dust everywhere.

Nick, the tile guy, came to prep the shower and make it watertight but said he won't be tiling until Monday. Then Ashley, the designer, paid a visit with Larry. I tried to stay out of the way so they could have their conversation, but I wanted to eavesdrop. I had a suspicion that something is amiss.

Here is a sneak preview of the Modwalls Brio 3/4" glass mosaic tiles.

Surfside

Linen

My suspicions were confirmed when Nick talked to me about a peculiarity with the tile. The glass tiles have some natural pitting that "catches" the grout and causes the tiles to look like they have white flecks. He showed me a picture of a multicolor (red, black, yellow, white) backsplash he had installed recently. The owner was unhappy about the white flecks that showed up on the darker tiles. I agreed that the effect was less than desirable. And, it's too early to say whether her efforts to clean the tile helped. John and I had such a hard time deciding on tiles that I'm willing to live with some random white flecks. Also, I think that in combination with the white blend, which is the primary tile in the bathroom, the white flecks won't stand out that much.

The drywall guy finished the sanding in the main area of the house and then did some vacuuming.When he looked up from his work, his face was white with dust. Frightening. I regret not taking greater steps to create a healthier work site. Still, it will all have been worth it, even if I develop asthma or an environmental illness, because that ceiling is beautiful. Tomorrow he'll work on the front porch and the boys' hallway.

The internet is fixed. The repair dude didn't even need to come into the house. The damage was all on the "street level" at the junction box. Yay for technology.

Remodel: Day Sixteen

A week has passed since I checked in here. For the most part, I have been busy adjusting to life without the internet. This isn't a voluntary status, either, rather one imposed upon us. On Saturday, our laptops and sundry wi-fi-dependent devices stopped connecting. Century Link was unable to provide a diagnosis and offered to send a technician to our house, but the first available appointment was for the following Saturday, February 7th. Seriously? Six days out? Okay, then. Since then I have been making regular semi-daily trips to Dunn Brothers to check and send email. And, just today, I spent half an hour on hold with Century Link in an attempt to bump up our service call, and I was successful! So, tomorrow, from 8:15-12:15, I will wait patiently for the repair.

While posting entries has been thwarted, there hasn't actually been much to report. It feels like the progress has been slow, but the truth is in the pictures. Follow along!

Concrete floor added to shower

The remainder of last week and all of this week, so far, has been about the drywall. After the drywall was installed on the ceiling, on the fireplace, and in the bathroom, all the seams were taped and the screwheads covered in mud.
 

Fireplace chimney edged by metal

Metal edging on the shed dorrmer

On Monday of this week, Larry left a message that the bathroom was on schedule but that the ceiling was  taking longer. You can see why in the photos. The vault is quite an expanse. The next step here is to skim coat the drywall, then sand it in preparation for priming and painting.

Skim coat

Monolithic

Boys' hall

The bathroom is coming along nicely. The painter primed and painted all walls, including the vivid blue-green accent wall. I'll post a photo, but since there is no light, the color is far from accurate.

The color is vivid even if not accurate

John is frustrated by the plastic. It has evoked a claustrophobic feeling in all of us. So I wrote my first note on Larry's legal pad and asked when it might be coming down. His response was that the old plastic could come down as soon as the sanding was done on Friday, but that new plastic would go up for painting on Monday. A reprieve would be just fine.

Nancy on the plastic-shrouded peninsula

In other news, our vintage light fixture should be rewired by Friday. According to the schedule, tiling should happen this week so maybe tomorrow?