House remodel

This post isn’t about sustainable living in the strict sense: No rainwater catchment, or organic gardening/forestry, or chickens, etc. But it IS about sustaining ourselves—via a house that keeps us sane and calm while we lead our Terribly Happy life.

We knew when we put in an offer on this property that the house needed a major remodel. We accounted for it in our long-range budget, and were fortunate that the inevitable hiccups we encountered did not bring us significant fiscal pain (at least, no more than we were expecting).

We worked with Rainbow Valley Design & Construction, one of the premier outfits in this region. While they aren’t the cheapest, they’re really good, and we are really happy with the results.

Rather than go through too much step-by-step, I’ll provide mostly before & after shots, with occasional in-progress photos.

First, the floor plan. The upper diagram shows what we started with; on paper it's hard to tell just how user-unfriendly the west half of the house was.

The lower diagram shows what we ended with. It looks so clean and simple this way! Of course, it wasn’t. I avoided much of the havoc because I was in San José so much of the time, but Beth had to live with it constantly. She enjoyed it, for the most part.

On to the before and after pictures, with some explanatory text.
The view from the front door (location A on the floor plan).

We squared off and raised the strange curved arch between the two front “rooms” (partly to protect my head, but mainly for aesthetic reasons), and removed the top half of the wall between the sitting room and the kitchen.

The view from location B, not far from A.

We closed up a door leading into the master bedroom (and had the Tulikivi masonry heater installed; see separate post). Otherwise, the only changes to the east half of the house were cosmetic: painting, refinished floors, new bookcase.

The west half of the house was completely gutted, down to the exterior walls.
• Many interior walls were removed, with new ones built elsewhere.
• Most doorways were filled in, and several new ones were added.
• Many windows were filled in, and new ones added elsewhere.
• The pantry sink was removed, the water heater was moved, the guest bath was moved, and the master bath was redesigned, involving lots of plumbing work.
• All the interior walls were insulated (so was the floor, finally; what were people thinking?!).
• And some other stuff happened.

Including—how could I forget—a complete reconstruction of the kitchen.

From location C (door to sitting room) (yes, these are exactly the same view):

From location D (SW corner of kitchen) (not quite exactly the same view; unmoved doorway to front of house outlined in green):

Changes to the kitchen included (incomplete list):
• Arch removed, low ceiling raised.
• N wall (with master bath) moved N by five feet.
• Doorway removed/added in W wall; window in W wall of kitchen removed
• Island added w/propane line to rangetop and hood that vents through roof; oven is separate, against exterior wall.
• Old brick chimney and wood-burning stove were removed.
• Upright refrigerator removed; chest freezer modified w/simple thermostat to be a chest frig (works great!! saves energy, keeps food at constantly cold temps much better than any upright; ask us if you’re interested in details).
• A bunch of other things happened, but this list is long enough.

Some other shots before & during the remodel.

Old wood-burning stove and chimney: These, plus the visible walls and door, all were removed.

Some asbestos in the flooring. Sigh. Pricey hazmat removal required.

A makeshift kitchen in the front rooms. Using a campstove indoors for several months isn’t exactly recommended (“don’t try this at home” …. ooops), but it worked out OK. Beth lived with this the whole time; Richard was in a small apartment in San José most of the time, with a small kitchen (and nearby Thai restaurant).

Various stages of tear-down and re-framing walls and doorways.

A tiling master craftsman at work on the shower in the master bathroom, and the finished product: A little over the top for our humble place, but quite an eye-catcher.

Installation of the Marmoleum flooring in the kitchen. Each of the new rooms ended up with a different color of Marmoleum.

Installation of the “engineered-stone” countertops.

What can’t be shown photographically is how much more usable the western 1/4 of the house now is. That’s the home of a mudroom, hallway, guest bathroom, and two usually-empty guest rooms. So if you’re thinking about visiting, yes we have room!