And now for the views of the completed home!

First of all, thank you to every single inspiring, supportive and incredible human being in my life who has helped me along in this process… I am incredibly grateful and could not have done this renovation without all of the generosity and talent surrounding me.

I am pleased to finally post the pictures of my settled home.. I moved in a few months ago and am feeling quite comfortable and happy in the new digs.  I still have a few things to work on (like hardwood floor installation where there is now temporary carpet, solar panels on the roof and possibly a wood-burning fireplace someday) and I *still* have caulking, trim work, painting both interior and exterior to finish, but the majority of this bear of a project is complete. I can’t wait to design a trellis for the front of the building, and work on the exterior landscaping in the spring, and of course there will always be the rearranging of furniture and artwork… for the most part, however, I am finally settled i here and able to refocus energies back into work, creative pursuits, travel and friends and family again.

Eli and Rae are cozy in Unit B, and just had a beautiful baby girl, named Matilda Isabel (Tilly for short).  They’ve installed a woodburning stove and are happy with this as their primary heat-source, along with their HRV. (heat recovery ventilation). Eli has great plans for the 3rd Unit we must build, which will give their family a bit of elbow-room in the coming years.  I couldn’t ask for better friends and neighbors to embark on this journey with me.

LIVING ROOM VIEWS:

 

 

 

 

KITCHEN VIEWS:

BATHROOM VIEWS:

 

 

 

 

 

 

HALLWAY, ETC:

tiling and floors have taken over.

So I have spent the last two weeks tiling the bathroom.  I got this great large format tile (12X24) for the shower and floor, and encased the tub as well.  It’s a molten, flowing dark brown, titled “volcano” which I think was a very simple solution to all the strange angles and surfaces, and really makes the cave-like feel come across.

I used river rocks (sanded flat for comfort) in assorted natural colors for the shower floor. The skylight well is a rather long hallway of bright chartreuse, with trusses arcing across in odd diagonals, from which I plan to drape lots of plant-life.  I want it to really feel like a fern-grotto of natural elements, from showering in a riverbed bathed in light to the concept of creating a symbiosis for the plants by providing tons of steamy goodness to keep em lush..

The lighting I chose was found at the Rebuilding Center, Portland’s coolest salvage yard…. and both fixtures had to be repainted and rewired.  You can see the Chartreuse walls (actually the color is called Antique Gold) is very bright and cheery, which should help me wakey-wakey in the mornings.

I’m thinking some sort of rad, modern wallpaper for this pyramid-shaped wall in the bedroom… but still no solid ideas.  Originally I was contemplating some sort of book-page wallpaper made out of some gorgeous vintage book with lots of intaglio illustration or something… still not certain.

The main room has concrete floors, which I had sanded down to their rough-hewn natural state.. and then I applied several coats of a clear matte sealer.  I’m liking how imperfect they are… ghosts of it’s former life as a church are still visible… the original pillars and rebar, concrete repairs, pits, cracks are all present and accounted for.

The Overhead-door is in!!!

So exciting to finally get that big piece of wall removed this morning and replaced with a fabulous new roll-up door.. letting in tons of natural light and giving a great transition between outside and in.. it will frame my future garden-patio nicely!

thinking about finish work next…

well, things have really transitioned over at the church.  I am contemplating surfaces and colors and treatments…adam still has yet to finish the siding, replce the soffets and trim out the interior, but his work is nearly finished. (for now)

finished priming the entire interior of my place the other day and it took 20 exact gallons. The skylight wells and 18 feet ceilings were a bitch.

today I plan to head over there and clean up a bunch of debris, and possibly start on some wall color.  I picked out a light grey for many of the walls and I’ll likely accent that with some color.

thinking I’ll postpone the wood floors for a bit, but these folks seem like a great local sustainable company to go with

meanwhile, there’s carpeting, concrete floor refinishing/sealing, lighting, hanging of doors, installation of the kitchen, sinks and of course a major tiling project in the bathroom.

It’ll be a busy summer.

neighborhood development articles & a new PDC Grant opportunity

interesting new articles out about the goings-on in our hood; one is about the recent nearby redevelopment of Williams and the other is about reinventing the bike corridor.  it will be interesting to see what happens in the future for Williams.. I think the focus on revitalization will continue…

Also we are hoping to apply for this new PDC Grant opportunity for our water recovery/toilet flush tank system and possibly solar panels… sadly it’s a reimbursement program, so we still would have to come up with the funds initially somehow…

PDC introduces Green Features Grant for the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area

Green Features Grant Program

Portland Development Commission

An open house to introduce the Portland Development Commission’s (PDC) Green Features Grant Program is scheduled for June 3, 2010 from 6:00-7:30 p.m. at the Shaver Green Community Room located at 375 NE Shaver St.

PDC is seeking proposals from businesses in the Interstate Urban Renewal Area that are interested in implementing creative sustainable business practices and “green” building features. Grants are available for up to $25,000 for eligible businesses for property redevelopment, historical rehabilitation and applying creative means of implementing sustainable property improvements. Funding is through tax increment financing, and therefore is limited to real property improvements.

This grant is intended to generate interest in sustainable design and practice in Portland’s neighborhoods. The grant is being targeted to small, emerging businesses that typically may not think about sustainable options or have the ability to cover the incremental costs associated with emerging technologies. The grant seeks both need based applicants looking to cover the incremental costs associated with sustainable building and those desiring to adopt more sustainable practices.

A total of $200,000 is available for fiscal year 2009 – 2010. Grants will be dispersed on a reimbursement basis. Reimbursements will occur after agreement between PDC and applicant as to work to be performed and verification.

Green Features Program Goals

The Green Features Grant is intended to encourage neighborhood-based business and small to medium-sized wholesalers and manufactures to implement creative sustainable business practices and green building features. Program goals are to encourage small to medium-size businesses to:

·        Think innovatively and strategically how sustainable features can be included in their business model;

·        Introduce sustainable features to demonstrate cost-savings or reduce environmental impact;

·        Demonstrate the potential of sustainable features to increase productivity;

·        Integrate conservation and efficiency into business operations;

·        Contribute to Portland’s environmental, economic and social goals.

Preference will be given to those projects that, in addition to meeting the eligibility requirements:

·        Have a high likelihood of implementation

·        Demonstrable energy savings or resource conservation

·        Use local or recycled products

·        Increase neighborhood livability

·        Can demonstrate increased productivity

·        Show cost-savings

·        Have a measurable environmental impact

·        Leverage private resources

·        Have high-visibility

·        Lead to job creation or retention

For more information contact Stephen Green, Project Manager Portland Development Commission at (503) 823-3231 orGreenS@pdc.us

Joleen Jensen-Classen

Public Participation Manager

Portland Development Commission

222 NW Fifth Ave.

Portland, OR 97209

(503) 823-3352 desk

(503) 823-8057 cell

jensen-classenj@pdc.us

Follow me on Twitter:  @PDCJoleen

drywall heaven

So the sheetrockers we chose for this enormous job were stoked… 18 ft ceilings requiring scaffolding and lots of uneven edges and odd little nooks and crannies.  They estimated it to take a few days, to start last Tuesday… but when i returned from my Mexico vacation yesterday i assumed I’d stop in to find it completed, but to no avail. The mudding and taping has not even begun, and its already taken a full week.  What a huge job!  It set others back as well.. I’d lined up a tiler to do the mud-set shower pan, but he’s been postponed until later on this week… and the roll up door can’t go in until the sheetrockers are done. Thankfully, we are able to borrow the scaffolding for painting the interior this month.. which I plan on tackling myself.  I called Metro and they have 79 gallons of our recycled exterior chocolate brown in the ready … but we won’t be able to deal with that until the siding goes up… hopefully  soon.

Things are moving at a snails pace relative to how fast i would like them to.. but all good things come to those who wait… Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is the Church of Tam, i suppose

pics from today with the rock nearly done:

New Videos!

this is a new video tour of the downstairs:

this is a new video tour of the upstairs loft:

Street of Eames modern home tour

Today Eli and I went on the awesome modern home tour that featured 8 homes both recently built and smartly renovated which encompass the mid-century modern and (Charles and Ray) Eames’ design aesthetic.

It’s called The Street of Eames. many have sustainable building practices, so its really nice to see the integration of great design, Eco-friendly materials and technical innovation. Every year this tour sells out right away, (only 1200 tickets are sold), so I was quite pleased this year I finally managed to get in.

Here’s an article about it.

they do not allow picture taking inside the homes, but I got a few shots of the exterior views…

At the Yeon House:

amazing old wisteria growing at this home built in the 60′s.. but newly upgraded to a sleek modern  aesthetic.

Eli sitting on this rad chair… spongy colorful foam material made by an italian company called Quinze and Milan. This was at the 14 house.

The woody, wonky floorplan of the Storrs house:

More “pouf” Chairs by Quinze and Milan at the “White” house… these guys had a great indoor pool and a laundry chute dumping clothing directly from the bedroom closet to the laundry room below.. an idea I am TOTALLY stealing!

These panels at the 14 are lit from behind. we likey.

Cool way of handling the driveway at the “Z” house… I’m pretty sure I’m going to cut up the driveway for a similar look as my side patio.

This “Z” house in NE had the most awesome Floorplan… a central core stairwell fed into rooms all around, with the option to close any room off with huge slider barn doors, or leave em all open for optimal life and light.

Another gorgeous design in NE called the Park Box house, a duplex.

I absolutely loved the Rummer house, which was the last one we looked at, in Beaverton.  Robert Rummer is the original designer who basically did Eichler lookalikes in the 60′s, here in Portland.  Sadly I didn’t get pics of the favorite… an absolutely gorgeous, cozy, open floorplan surrounding a central courtyard, impeccable selections of appliances, fixtures, colors, yard, fireplace… and on and on.. a comfortable, modern and gorgeous integration of the outside and in.

Insulation, electrical, and plumbing

So all the plumbing and electrical is pretty much done. We got a new service entrance and have rewired the whole place, thus soon we’ll be ready for insulation and then drywall.  I’ve been varnishing doors (found some great ones at the rebuilding center, and one I bought new…) all of our windows have arrived and are also ready for installation.  I hope to go over there tomorrow for a little clean-up action, as well as to take some new pics and video.  The huge balcony window in the loft bedroom is really something…. the skylights, roll up door and big windows in general were a great design decision.. all that natural light is going to really make the place more open and connected with the great outdoors.

As for the behind-the scenes stuff, we found a great real-estate lawyer named Rebecca Tom to help us with our legal division of the property into two condos.  There is a ton of paperwork, and it’s incredibly expensive, but I know in the long run it will be more beneficial to each side if they are individually owned.  The new plat proposal and related condo documents have all been submitted to both the county and city for approval, and we are shooting for a unit purchase date of June 1st. Eli is meeting with his loan guy tomorrow so he can get that ball rolling, and hopefully get a preapproval that matches the value we’ve all agreed on for Unit B (based on roughly half of the purchase price plus construction costs.)  T-minus 55 days and counting!!!!

Skylights! Plumbing! Furnace! Oh my!

well, we finally got the skylights delivered and installed today. So awesome!!!! They are on the north side, so that the solar panels can go in on the sunnier south side someday.. (that whole face of the roof will be ready to accommodate those as we are able to afford them.)

There’s one operable one nearest the kitchen (of three) in the main livingroom, and one in the bathroom.

The bathroom one is really quite striking as it’s ceiling is lower and has a much longer of a channel of light coming in. Originally I’d envisioned this to be directly above the tub, but the existing arrangement required placement directly in the center of the bathroom. Still, it’ll be a great place for a bunch of hanging plants.

Before the cut:

After the cut:
Also got my 96% efficiency furnace installed in the workshop/back room, and ducted throughout the rooms. sorry it’s sideways. I’m feeling extremely pleased with the price we got and am so glad we did the research and got estimates.

Boy is it going to be a challenge to heat the main room… those are nearly 20 foot ceilings! Fans will be essential.

The plumbing for the kitchen and bathroom is nearly done as well.

Soon the tankless waterheater will go in, and after this and the venting is all done we will be ready to focus more on electrical, insulation and sheetrock in the weeks to come.

Here are some views of loft bedroom which turned out much smaller than I’d anticipated.. oops! going to have to figure out some clever built-ins instead of the massive walk-in closet I’d hoped for (again, sorry it’s sideways…. wordpress photo uploader doesn’t like verticals.)

The bathtub: (and a sideways pic of the wall enclosing the bathroom)

THe stairs up to the loft:

And finally, the stunning views from the loft: (too bad it won’t be left open)