More on the Hearth of the Home

More On the Hearth

But first – An Update

Though we are well into November today, the weather continues to be amazingly warm and very conducive to outdoor construction. The crew is continuing this week to “button up” the house so when the weather turns colder they can move indoors.
The buttoning up includes work on the roof deck off the master bedroom, continuing with the installation of the trim boards around the edges of the roof to prepare for the roofer who is slated to begin work this Wednesday, and preparing for the window delivery which is slated for this Thursday I believe.
Jonathan has been working on sketches for the exterior finish design which will probably include a combination of vertical and horizontal clapboard in a pattern that was established by our architect Lawrence Cheng, and now embellished under Jonathan’s pen (or mouse as the case may be). This alternating pattern will give the house a very contemporary and I think fairly California feel to it. I’ve taken a number of pictures of houses around town that include some of these features –

This one has shingles as well – and I think we are steering away from this.



This one is more like a board and batten – definitely food for thought. Our window trim is going to be a similar color – called “Hemlock” much to Steve’s discomfort – doesn’t like the idea of poisoning us I guess.




Steve provided a couple of sample widths so we could see how they each would look. I think I like the wide one at 10” which will help to reduce the massiveness of the house that the kids keep complaining about.





And here’s a shot of the trim going on so you can see how it’s all coming together:



Back to Kitchen Remodeling:

I left off last time as I began to look at the high-end kitchen cabinetry when I realized that the kitchen of my dreams, and Jonathan’s as well, was going to have to be something special – not something ordinary, nor expected. It is going to be the hub of our daily lives, the place where we find nourishment morning, noon (since we both work at home) and night, where we will entertain guests, have family time and generally hang out. With the living and dining areas integrated into this “great” room, this will be the true center of our lives – the heart of our home.
So I decided to look at all my options, not completely regardless of cost, but certainly allowing myself to look at premium choices so we could create a magnificent space.
I’m not sure how we wandered into a very fancy Italian showroom in downtown Boston one day, but one Saturday last spring Jonathan and I found ourselves at Arclinea on St. James in Back Bay. This showroom boasts award-winning Italian designs and is like many other European manufacturers such as Boffi and Poggenpohl – sleek and contemporary exterior design with moderate, yet highly functional interiors. Everything is wood veneer on MDF (maximum density fiberboard), a high-grade particle board, but still not all wood construction. This in itself is a red flag for me, and certainly my purist husband, since I’ve personally seen even high-end particle board deconstruct with regular use. My mother has had a Poggenpohl kitchen since 1981 and is generally pleased with its durability, and certainly loves the styling, but had various complaints and issues over the years - wobbly hinges, unbalanced cabinetry, etc. After sitting down with the designers at Arclinea a couple of times they invited me back to present the “design” . This consisted of a line drawing of the layout and an elevation with their component pieces arranged in the manner I had requested. Most kitchen showrooms will have a designer sit down with a potential client for an hour or so to get their list of wants and desires. The designer will then take a week or so to come up with a layout and elevation illustrating a possible solution, or perhaps even two, to show to the client. These designs are the property of the showroom until paid for by the client, for normally between $1k - $3k. This fee is put toward the purchase of the cabinets if they are purchased and cannot be removed from the showroom unless paid for. This means that all the decision makers must go back to the showroom to view the drawings unless you decide to provide the fee payment. In this case the buyer should be certain that they will be purchasing from this showroom. Otherwise you’ll end up spending an inordinate amount on design that may or may not be useful at another showroom.



Okay – back at Arclinea, I had basically presented them with a layout that I wanted created in their cabinetry. The first designer called back in about a week and gave me a preliminary budget of $70k, but would not elaborate about what this would include – kind of a cat and mouse of you pay for the design and I’ll tell you what is might include. This approach was a bit annoying to me, so I returned to the showroom to see a more senior designer. This time a very elegant and expressive Italian woman sat down with me and took the time to not only explain their design approach, but to woo me with her charm and bestow upon me the feeling that if I purchased this kitchen I could be as sophisticated as she.
Now don’t discount this approach. It is quite alluring and is why the salesperson makes a difference, and why they spend a mint on updating their showroom each year. Sprinkled into this package is the Italian bottled water served in crystal, the casual baguettes and olive oil dotting the counters, and the crisp air of the assistants interrupting for un solo momento to get confirmation about other projects. You are buying cabinetry and attitude in one expensive package. A nagging feeling in the back of mind was pinging with the notion of having to dress up each time I wanted to go into a kitchen of their design, but I figured I’d humanize the space with our own eclectic style later on.
Elegant lady then took another week or so to redesign my design and then regurgitated my layout with a couple of new bells and whistles in the drawing presentation. I was not wowed, but I was shocked as the price escalated to $85k, though now it was replete with “prepping zones”, “cleaning zones” and “entertaining and consuming zones”. I told her I’d have to talk to my husband (always have a bad guy in your back pocket) and scooted out so I wouldn’t have to face the fact that I had actually entertained the ideal of creating what would quickly become a kitchen costing over $100k. This, to be clear, was not an option.
Meanwhile I also sent my layout to a customizing cabinet builder on the Cape and as well started looking at another Italian design group that had a more moderate line. Both provided better options, and more reasonable costs – from $30 – 40K – but both still seemed either too conventional or not of the quality that we preferred. Jonathan was not interested in a traditional look, nor in anything constructed of chipboard, so these new options were also put aside.
He suggested we talk to a former collaborator, Bill Bancroft, a fine woodworker, who had built several exhibit pieces and displays for us when we had our inflatable production company in the 90’s. Jonathan was proposing a custom kitchen by introducing this option, and I knew this smelled of more money. Having learnt of the limitations and design flaws of the production run lines however, I was now more open to this alternative. My learning curve should be ample fodder for others pursuing similar results. As I told a new client the other day, “When you are finished building the new house you will be an expert at this process”. We must rely on the expertise of professionals to cut short this learning period. On the other hand, when you are building your own home, and for me whether I am a professional or not it’s a parallel experience, one often has to go through the process to be able to come comfortably to various design decisions. You have to live with certain information and see how it feels, before committing to large sums and long term purchases that you will use very day of your life for years to come. I’d think carefully. Even six months later, I am still weighing options on countertops and floor surfaces, since I haven’t had to make my final decision yet.
Our reconnection with Bill opened up a whole new realm of design features. Instead of choosing from an existing range of door styles and sizes, for instance, we could draw the door and then have it made to our specifications. Since I had laid out the kitchen numerous times in my search for cabinetry, we already had the makings of what we were looking for so Bill’s first pass at the drawings was to say “Sure, I can make that”. And I was certain that he could.
I am not going to go into detail about certain aspects of our relationship with Bill – and actually more mine than Jonathan’s. But suffice it to say that Bill, who will openly admit this, is not a good business person. And I almost jumped ship a few times before finally signing a contract, that I had extensively edited, on November 1st.
Did you notice the time lag from spring until November? Had we gotten our permits earlier and gotten construction underway in June or July rather than September, Bill might not have had this project. He simply moved too slowly. I always had my other options in my back pocket, understanding his limitations. Luckily for him, we were experiencing the typical construction delays, and his kitchen will not be needed until March 1 (the delivery date is in the contract!).
Next time – How to design a custom kitchen (since I’ve prattled on too long for this entry – thanks for those of you who are sticking with me – I hope you are finding a wealth of information that can aid you in your projects).

The Heart(h) of the Home

The Heart(h) of the Home


View of the House 11-5-05













This will make a great office someday - Breaking through on the 2nd floor to the new bump out













Inside the new bumpt out - Looking up to the third floor where the future stairwell will be














Breaking through into Isaac's room from the new stairwell bump out














The Heart(h) of the Home

The kitchen has truly evolved from an out of the way, cordoned off corner of the house, to the central living, eating and entertainment area of the home. Like hearths of old that provided warmth and a welcoming area for family and friends to gather, our new kitchens have become the central core of family activity, often paired with a great room, and living and dining areas.
When we set out to build our new house, having a kitchen and entertaining and family room attached was of paramount importance. In our former home, a Greek Revival Victorian, the kitchen was one of the more compact rooms on the main level, adjacent to a spacious living room and dining room, but cut off by stairwells and a multitudes of doors and walls. Yet, whenever we entertained, everyone clustered in the kitchen, around the island – thankfully we had that convenience – until we made them go into the adjoining rooms for events like dinner.
Our new house came with an open plan, even before we started making changes to the architecture and the interior layouts. The entire main floor was made up of only three rooms when we moved in, which encompassed about 1600 sq. ft.: a lot of area for just three rooms. The front deckhouse was originally designed as an upside-down house with the living area up top and the bedrooms on the lower floor. The kitchen was squished into a corner of the front room, and an old study had walls that broke up this otherwise open room.
The addition had a full 36 x24’ living room right beside, which had been designed by the previous owner to accommodate two rings of Scottish dancers. We like to dance, but don’t intend on any rings forming on our watch, so we’re going to make a few more delineations in this space – but more on that later.
Back in the front of the house, the new kitchen was designed to be a grand open space with plenty of cabinets, islands, and preparation areas as well as a bar area and a breakfast area, with access to the patio for barbequing activities. The plan called for the tearing down of the remaining interior walls to provide a fluid, seamless connection between the kitchen and family room functions. We even designed several pieces with rolling castors so that the space would be even more flexible and accommodating (more details later).

The Research
Thought I had experience with kitchen design, I felt my project presented unusual circumstances for me; I could determine the budget; it would be a fairly large kitchen (approx. 16’ x 24’); the styling was wide open but would need to work with the architecture that had not yet been determined; and my choices for finishes, countertops, backsplashes, handles, appliances and fixtures would be the last word, no client to please except myself (and the family).
I began with some basic research, looking at the high end to the low end, doing a complete research project into the options that today’s homeowners have to choose from. I knew Jonathan’s preference would include all wood cabinetry, and I couldn’t blame him. Our former kitchen was an attractive, well-executed design with mid-range cabinetry that we had inherited from the previous owners who redid the kitchen and then promptly moved. The interior boxes of the cabinets were melamine-veneered chipboard, which definitely started giving out after our ten years of use. Several of the drawers fell apart and needed to be rebuilt with wood. And several of the hinges literally pulled out of the sides as the chipboard crumbled around them. Chipboard no matter what grade and quality is particulate and humidity, water splashes, cleaning solutions, usage and even dirt will make the board deteriorate over time.
So my search included only all wood construction. This delineation creates a huge separation between cabinet manufacturers, though some of the very, very high-end European designers swear by MDF (maximum density fiberboard – another version of chip board or particle board). But most low end lines have particleboard interiors, some with melamine veneer, some with wood veneer. It is sometimes possible to upgrade these lines with plywood boxes, so homeowners should ask when purchasing cabinetry.
I looked at some recommended showrooms in the Falmouth area. This would make delivery and installation, as well as compatibility of styles more probable. What you find at many kitchen centers, as I did, is a selection of manufactured lines that the particular showroom represents. They will most likely have a low, medium and high-end range to choose from. The materials, craftsmanship and detail of styling are the defining factors of their relative costs. We wanted something simple, perhaps a Shaker design with glass-fronted cabinets on top and full wood doors below. Jonathan had the notion of creating the look of his grandmother’s old kitchen in Woods Hole and I went armed with photographs to show the designers at each of these sights.
In addition to having a strong sense of the style we wanted, I also went with a layout and some sketches of the elevations. This is more than most homeowners will walk in with and I actually found myself met with skepticism by the in-house designers. Were they threatened that I might actually be able to do their job for them? I wasn’t trying to. I was only trying to communicate in the best way I knew possible, what I wanted in my kitchen.
At the low-end kitchen center, it took several tries before they actually sent me a quote. The motivation level of the salesperson was low indeed which wouldn’t enamor me to the product in the long run. The product lines were very traditional and the finishes I found to be a bit on the tacky side – dull surfaces with strange brown hues that you couldn’t quite place. Asking about custom alternations of any kind was met with scowls. So I moved on.
At the mid-range shop they were more accommodating and wanted to demonstrate why their product lines could be adapted to my every need. They were also more than willing to create their own design drawings (in essence recreating mine), which is a service they offer to all clientele. For the most part you have to view the drawings at their showroom and if you want to take them home, you need to pay them for the design – usually between $1,000 and $2,000 depending upon the shop. This does however go toward the purchase price of the cabinetry if you decide to order the kitchen from them.
I found some decent quality cabinets there. You could request all wood plywood boxes for the interior of the cabinets and you had a broad range of very attractive finishes. Glass panels were available in a range of styles –with or without mullions, frosted, striated etc. – and could be incorporated into many of their existing styles.
I decided to use these folks as my back up system if the high end proved too expensive or too difficult and fussy – a very real issue.
On to the high end where you can let all your dream kitchens come true…







I want to give this area my full attention, so I am going to continue this story when I next post – give me a few days. But I’ve included some of the initial design concepts as well as photos of the new interior that waits refinishing.









The kitchen to be

Sewing Up the Last Hole

While I was in Boston this week, Steve and crew finished off the final outline of the house, and in essence sewed up the final seam that brings all the new and old pieces together.
Pictured below is the latest shot of the house with the final dormer in place. It reaches from the entryway all the way to the third floor and is the crowning element that brings together all the rooflines in one central point.



As Steve’s assistant Pat put it to me today “It was a real head banger yesterday.” Imagine pulling together all those angled rafters, beams, joists and uprights to all connect perfectly into this puzzle we call a house. Little of the framework will be visible when the project is complete. This is a fact that always saddens me because we are barred from viewing what is often a very graphically beautiful element, and certainly one that gives clues to how the house stays standing up. I remember being in a friend’s house a few years ago when a round room was being constructed there and seeing the incredibly detailed underpinnings that would create the conical roof. In the end it was finished in a smooth surface of plaster and its guts are just a memory.
In an article I wrote this week on the building of a yurt in Maine however, I was able to show photos of the lattice-like framework that hold up this rounded home. Thought the support pedestal that was constructed to hold up the roof beams was only there temporarily, it was like a ladder to the sky, a monument to the structure of what made this yurt work. (These pictures courtesy of Pam Swing - the yurt owner)






New rooms are beginning to take shape. The outline is complete and now come the many months of making the house livable again. Next time, I’ll talk about the kitchen plan, the contract for which was finally signed yesterday. It is surely one of the more complicated aspects of the house, but inevitably one of the most important.

Each part of the house is connected to the next. The term “building blocks” reminds us that if you change a detail in one room, it may create a domino effect throughout the house. Change the size or pitch of the roof, and as we witnessed last week, the juncture of other walls such as in the connecting dormer, may be affected.
Last week this resulted in the inclusion of a shed dormer off the back of the new attic dormer. This week we are witnessing what happens when new loads are put on existing walls. As is has been throughout this design and renovation process, where the two structures meet up – the older deck house with the 80’s addition – is where we are experiencing all the problems.
Steve and his crew removed three out of fours of the walls in the top floor of the original deckhouse structure. We saw the results in mid-September when the front of the house was literally taken down.







New walls were constructed to house the main living area and kitchen – the new hearth of our home. All the windows needed replacement, after years of fogging and for improved insulation and performance. So new walls were the most expedient way to accommodate the framing for these.
The windows are also an extremely important part of the new design aspects of the house, which includes a complete revamping of the window placements – from swapping out extraneous sliders with fixed units, to enlarging views with a wall of windows onto the anticipated gardens, to maximizing views to Vineyard Sound. The new design also works with a more unified approach, repeating window patterns around the entire house, rather than the selection of randomly sized units on the 80’s addition.






Okay – back to the issue at hand. Once the walls of the deckhouse were removed and the master suite addition put on above, new stress was created on the sole remaining wall. Over the course of a few weeks, this wall began to bend into the room, pressured by the new weight and began pulling away from its juncture to the 80’s addition. The best recourse for correcting this problem would be to reconstruct this remaining wall as well.
A question is posed whether we could have anticipated this problem? Given that there is little way to see the actual construction of a house prior to taking it apart bit by bit, I’d say there was only a small possibility that anyone would predict this situation. Houses settle, sometimes quickly, sometimes over the course of many years. We were actually lucky that this issue came up so quickly, and did not cause trouble after the walls had be closed up by presenting cracks later on. There will be the inevitable cracks and settling, but let’s hope this remediation will mitigate what could have been a more costly problem down the road.