Up and Out and Wash and Dry

Room and board sent out an email today offering modern outdoor furniture with a fresh perspective (their words). 

I thought, hey, that'd be nice at Huron. 

The sofa and table could go down here

and the chairs up here. Too bad this house has completely drained my bank account. Although it could be too much of a cedar planking look to incorporate it in the furniture too. 

I have friends who used to live in Minneapolis and they got some great deals at the Room and Board outlet store up there. Their advice was to go early and go often. It's a shame it's so far away. 

For my non-midwestern friends and family, Chicago and Minneapolis are in different states. They're separated by a high mountain range and a deep deep river gorge.  Impassible.

One thing I did buy (two things, I guess) was a washer and dryer. They will be delivered tomorrow and live up here in the closet in the guest bedroom. I'm going to take over a couple bags of laundry, sit on the front steps and wait for the delivery truck to show up. Just like a kid waiting for the circus to come to town - circuses are bad and mistreat animals.

It might be a while before there's any furniture in this room.  I'm not too sure what will really fit. My plan is to use it as an office and guest bedroom. So maybe a daybed and a desk. 

                                              

I bought this table thinking I'd use it as a dining table but it's too large to fit downstairs. So that may end up here. At this point it's a big question mark.

I kind of like the emptiness, apart from the floors it's so clean.

The bedroom's easier to furnish, I already have a bed and dresser.  

I just need to buy two night stands. A couple desk lamps. Rug. Curtains. Something to go on the walls, etc., etc., etc.

Wrapped in Plastic

More progress to report.  As of today the floors have been stained, the countertops, fireplace and bathroom stones are all in and most of the light fixtures have been installed. The painters have also been hard at work which means that the inside of the house has been draped in splatter-proofing plastic wrap. So put on your x-ray goggles and take a look around.

The kitchen cabinets, island and most appliances are in.  The ceiling lights in the kitchen and living room are super simple.  

Just a porcelain fixture with an exposed bulb.  Right now they're all hanging by a thread so the painters can get up underneath their business.

The island pendants are from West Elm and they're also very simple: plain black canopy, black cord and black shade.

I found most of the light fixtures for the house on ebay and at salvage stores.  But when I saw these West Elm pendants they reminded me a teeny bit of the fantastic industrial salvage pieces you can find at http://www.skinflintdesign.co.uk/.  Like

 

this

and this. And since I was suffering from re-wiring fatigue (well, loading the car, hauling the lights over to the lighting store, paying someone to re-wire and restore the fixtures, picking them up, hauling them to Huron and unloading them through 10 inches of snow) I decided that the ready-made versions from West Elm would be just fine.

One more glance at the kitchen, here's the fridge and pantry cabinet.  Can you see it all coming together?

Underneath these layers is the stained hardwood flooring.  I really like how the floors turned out.  There are spots that need to be touched up and massaged but overall I'm super happy with the color. 

This is the dining room. For a long time the temporary stairs sat here so it was easy to ignore this spot.  There's a cut out in the first floor ceiling right above here so when you look up you see the second floor ceiling soaring above and, offset slightly, the skylights that are above the landing on the stairs. There are two large lights that hang down from the 2nd floor rafters that have the potential to look great. They're another ebay purchase and the jury in my head is still out on them. But huge thanks go to Sharon and her cousins who picked them up from some guy in Michigan and stored them for me for a couple of weeks. Once the table and chairs are in I think it'll be easier to see if the light choices are a success or not and be easier to appreciate Bill's design for this area. If I don't screw it up it could be really dramatic and lovely.

I love holophane lights and found two for the front part of the house.  One hangs in the entryway and one is in the library.  These came out of a factory in Racine, WI and the guy I bought them from was super nice and he and his wife were very hospitable. And their little girl was a peanut so this transaction was an all around pleasure.

Each stair tread is wearing a warm wooly toupee right now.  I suppose they're covered up because of the painting but it's also nice to have them protected from the many many feet that have been coming in and out of this house.  I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that there have been more people in Huron while the work has been going on than I've had over to my apartment in all the time I've lived in Chicago.  The other morning 4 friendly faces smiled down from the 2nd floor as I was dropping something off before running to work.  I'm going to miss the crowds and the mayhem when this build is done.

Here's another angle on the stairs where you can see the coffee brown stain peeking through.

Door knobs were a trickier choice than I thought they'd be. The front door hardware was a splurge and it's really beautiful. The door is painted a dark, high-gloss bronzetone and the hardware is white bronze. The rest of the interior doors (bathrooms and closets) are all painted white so I opted to do the opposite of the front door and go with light doors and dark knobs. The shape of the knobs sort of match so I think it all might be okay in the end. I have wondered if I spent too much time thinking about this...

On the 2nd floor the doors for the bedroom and guest room are still in the design process. They'll be sliding doors with the hardware mounted along the wall above the door openings. Remember when Bill was featured in Chicago Home + Garden magazine? A few pages after his piece there was an article on a design collective here in town so I shot them an email to see if anyone wanted to make some doors for Huron. This project is in the very initial stages, no decisions made yet, but I'm hopeful that someday there will be custom sliding doors for both of the bedrooms.

Here's the view back at the guest room / office. One more project on the to do list is to install a window unit over that half wall. I have some ideas about it but no source to do the work yet. Maybe the guy who's making the doors will have some thoughts on that. Mystery project, it remains a giant TBD.

Floored

The last owners wouldn't recognize the place.  The layout is COMPLETELY different than pre-demo.  Now it's open, airy and full of light.  The floors are in and need to be stained.  The stairs are in progress.  Tile is going on the bathroom walls and floors.  We're a couple weeks away from being totally finished.  I hope.  Next in are kitchen cabinets then stone for countertops, bathroom and the fireplace surround.  Light fixtures need to go in, appliances connected, doors painted and installed and then it's done.  Almost.  Almost!!!!!

Looking from the guest bedroom down to the living/dining room.  If you need a place to stay and want to yell at me to hurry up and cook your eggs faster, this is the place for you.

"Get a move on, and I want them scrambled!"

Master bedroom.  This photograph was taken before the great Stormageddon of February 1,2011.  ThunderSnow!

Looking toward the walk-in closet.  Snow drifts optional.

Inside the walk-in.  This will soon be filled to the brim with clothes and junk.

Next up is a look inside that bathroom back there. I absolutely love it, white subway tile and wall niches. Gorgeous.

Wrap It Up

Next phase was insulation.  As I've mentioned, it was cooooooooold in that house for a while.  Once the gas was connected (that was a whole other story, the Gas Company behaved exactly like one would expect) a furnace was put in and turned on but without insulation the heat was flying out through the old brick walls and into the greater Chicagoland sky.  When the insulation was in it was a billion times warmer. Plus it helped to visually define what the rooms would look like when the walls were in.     

First floor looking toward front door.  

The library, which is at the front of the house.  This is to the left of the front door in the picture above.  The fireplace will have built-in bookshelves around the sides and over the top.  I can't wait to get the fireplace surround installed. The stone has already been picked out for that and it's absolutely beautiful.

First floor, back of the house.  Living room and dining room (which is currently occupied by the temporary stairs.)

Also at the back of the house, along the wall opposite the living room and dining room, is the kitchen.  The stone for the kitchen counters is pretty great but there have been some bumps in that process and it may still be in New Jersey.  I'm really hoping the stone place pulls through on that and I can get the slabs I like.

Looking up into the guest bedroom / office.  I love the exposed beam ceiling on the 2nd floor.  I would have been happy just to stain it a clear finish but Architect Bill thought it might look too unintentionally unfinished so it'll get a coat or two of dark chocolate brown paint instead.

Up the stairs and around toward the second floor you can see more of that ceiling and a glimpse into the bathroom.

The full bath is at the top of the stairs between the two bedrooms.  There's a soaking tub in there that looks pretty inviting.

Now up on the second floor looking from the guest room toward the master bedroom.

The closet in the guest room will house the washer and dryer.  So convenient.

Second floor looking back toward the guest room.

Master bedroom complete with large garbage bag.  It's those kind of extras that make it feel homey even at this stage.

And here's the entry into the walk-in closet in the master bedroom.  Next up...walls!

You've been framed

The project feels like it's progressing really quickly.  This is what the house looked like when they framed it out.

Here's the first floor looking north, toward the front door.

And now you can see the temporary stairs and sort of see the frame for the fireplace up by the front window. The half bath is the room at the right of the picture.

This is looking south toward the back yard.

and south with the bath and stairs framed in plus a wall this side of the staircase.

Up above you can see into the master bedroom on the south end of the 2nd floor.  The skylight upstairs on the left is positioned over the upstairs bathroom.

Here's the guest bedroom/office upstairs.  This crazy composited picture is a little wonky but you get the idea.  Right now there's a half wall that butts up against the stairs.  My plan is to have a window installed there but that may happen down the road when I have some cash handy.  That bluish light in the ceiling is another skylight.  

Walk down that hall on the left and you'll pass the upstairs bathroom on your way to the master bedroom.

This picture was taken from the master bedroom looking into the walk-in closet and past that into the upstairs bathroom.  The ledge along the closet wall was temporary.  The carpenters used it as a cutting shelf when they were building the upstairs deck.    

This is just a reminder of how old the house is.  These ancient bricks are original from the 1888 build.