Skim Coat

Once all the walls were patched, we were left with a predicament of having a bricolage of existing orange-peel wall texture alongside the new smooth dry wall. The only solution was a change-order that called for the drywall guys to skim coat over the orange peel. This is a labor intensive process to spackle over the hideous texture. In process:

All the guts…

So it’s been awhile since updating, and a lot has transpired, mainly all the guts of the house. All the rough electrical and plumbing work has gone in, and that required a lot of walk-throughs with the GC and subs to cover exact outlet, fixture locations, etc and trying to vaguely follow LA codes. We’ve still been lucky in avoiding major mishaps through all of this, but one significant hiccup involved Kohler drop in soaking tub in the main bathrm, a luxury I absolutely insisted on. What I really wanted was the Japanese ofuru tub:

Traditional Ofuros are usually circular, but most importantly they’re soaking tubs- tend to be more narrow but much deeper, some allowing you to soak up to your chest. Not being able to afford these we went for a Kohler soaking tub. Trying to insert a bit of luxury is difficult since fixture product lines try to discourage mixing of high and lo brow. We wanted to design a tub/shower combo with this soaking tub. Wall mount trims(shower/faucet/handles, etc) are cheaper than deck mounted ones, which are the go-to method for filling a deck mounted soaking tub.  But wall mounted faucets are never long enough to reach the rim of a deck mounted tub. Having run all aorund town trying to ficure out the most cost effective method to fill our tub, I finally found a cheap Kohler Purist deck mount faucet on ebay leftover from someone else’s project. Now we’ll have two separate water supply pipes, one to the deck mount, and one to the wall mount shower head. Once the tub is in, we’ll be posting images of this hybrid tub/shower, wall/deck mount system.

2 bedrm+ 1 ba becomes 1 bedroom + 1 1/2 ba

For our new floor plan, we will be adding a 1/2 ba where our laundry room once was. The main bath will be enlarged, but only by cannibalizing the closet for the front bedroom. I’m under the impression that bedrooms can only be considered as such if there’s an accompanying built-in closet. Since that’s gone, I wonder if an Ikea wardrobe counts?  Here’s a view from the bedroom straight into the bathroom

And a view from the bathroom….

Buyer Beware

When going to open houses, it’s always a bit nerve racking to wonder what’s behind those freshly painted vintage plastered walls. How much dry rot, termite damage, or mold may be lurking behind coats of new paint? So far we haven’t stumbled upon anything upsetting, but this past week, there has been discovery of dry rot once the bathtub came out.

With that discovery, we have a change order on our hands at about $250 for new floor joists to be replaced. Not too bad, so far….

Corbu’s 5th Commandment: Free Plan

Perhaps not as ideologically grounded as Corbusier’s 5th decree of a Free Plan, we now have busted open all unecessary partitions in the living areas. For such a small home, we decided to let the house breathe and circulate with passive breezes and multi-functional zones. With the lateral partitions out, the trussed beams started to sag a bit. Construction guys will be putting in new headers for support.  Death to walls!

Sam Maloof

Not that I know too much about the world of wood working, but I did want to post some pics of Sam Maloof’s extraordinary work which I had referenced earlier.

I have to get down to to the Sam Maloof Foundation sometime. A while back, we were searching for rocking chairs and I came upon this amazing little history of rocking chairs over the centuries.

Go Electric

The electrician has just switched out our existing electric panel from a 100 amp to a 200 amp panel. The extra juice will support central air/heat ($5500 for equip. and installation) and load from a garage studio/office.  Not that we exactly needed the amp upgrade, but because we needed extra circuits, a new panel would have cost an extra $1k, and to do a 200 amp wouldn’t be much more. City of LA will be inspecting the work Tuesday and sign off. We can move on and begin the real work soon thereafter. But while we’re on the topic of electricity, some treasures I’ve found while looking around for chandeliers and pendant lamps, all for those with thin budgets.

Remodelista has some great examples of DIY rustic chandeliers:

Simple as it can get, a perfect stick, paint, bulbs, wire, and hardware.

Then there’s Lindsey Adleman’s DIY chandelier, you don’t buy, you download instructions, brilliant!  But definitely check out her other machinic yet effervescent designs.

And there’s an excellent DIY design by Jean Pelle, which you can also purchase pre-assembled via his store on Etsy for $350: