Home office--further design development

 Flat crown molding...

But we could use it less in the living room...

Instead of two working desks, maybe we have a single desk, wall-mounted monitor, guest chair and a table. An architect or tarot card reader could entertain clients in such a room.

Kitchen to Living Room via Den/Office

 

Peggy's July 10 Plan

There's a lot to unpack in Peggy's Chief Architect plan of July 10. She leaves the footprint as is--tilted garage, breezeway extended to the north. She does away with the transverse hall at the garage and moves the stairs to the 2nd floor apartment from the west to the east side, landing in the breezeway.

Circulation: Instead of a dead-end bedroom hall, create circular path including the newly-enlarged Breezeway.  Positives: Living has nice through-view into breezeway, Kitchen is out of circulation path (except for isolated refrigerator). Laundry and refrigerator spaces work well. Negatives: Groceries in from garage have to circumnavigate the breezeway furniture. Refrigerator has no counter nearby.  

Living: Symmetrical windows, no access to side yard (but windows could be swinging doors). Very large flat screen visible from kitchen. 8' x 14' shaggy white rug under seating group. Gray/driftwood stain proposed for red oak floor.  Mirror over fireplace is unresolved.

Dining: Built-in hutch, smaller table off-center, counter-height bar stools. I like the idea of using the breezeway as the formal dining room and re-purposing this room as his/her office space. The hutch space might be files/books and a small desk. Another desk at the window for a laptop. Not a fan of stools.

Kitchen: Sink, Stove work well. Tall storage next to refrigerator. Negatives: No counter at refrigerator. No window at sink--overhead cab is somewhat awkward. Alternative: Maybe move door to Dining north--center opening on ceiling pattern, add counter at refrigerator.

 

I think Peggy says brushed stainless steel is better than white for appliances. She also recommends a single manufacturer, so that the finishes match.

Bedroom, Bath 1: Rearranged with 3 smaller closets, each with swinging, not sliding doors. Bed faces south on newly smoothed wall. Door to BA1 moves south. New door from hallway. Move east side window north. Widen sliding glass door from 6' to 8'. Add stall shower as well as tub in BA1. Problems: Wider door requires bigger header, misses existing deck. Shower is generous, but door is only 24" wide.

Bedroom 2: Closet removed. Move both windows to corner. Problem: Room has no closet. New corner window requires new structural.

Bedroom 3: Add Closet/Laundry, kitchenette. Bed becomes a convertible sofa on west wall. Sliding glass door to deck replaces dutch door. Problem: Laundry and kitchen sink are on concrete slab and have no way to drain (other than the sewage pump the BA3 uses).

Garage: Add door to the west, a tool bench/counter and a shallow closet.

Corner Kitchen Cabinets

For every problem, there is a simple, elegant solution that is also...horrendously expensive!

Not So Big Principles

I'm reading not so big remodeling by Sarah Susanka and Marc Vassallo (2009). Turns out Susanka has developed a set of principles, extremely similar to design patterns, for her "not so big" series. The original book was published in 1998. The pattern language, I mean the principles, are online: Not So Big House: Not So Big Principles - Sarah Susanka

The 34 concepts are grouped into Space, Light, and Order, but they can be strung together to form "sentences," just as with A Pattern Language.

Headbands and Beltlines

Space is home to 20 of the concepts. The ones that seem to apply to Trees House are:

• Entering - she approves of the dry, covered stoop
• Doing Double Duty - "For example, if you have two dining spaces, consider turning the more formal one into something else--an in-home office, an extra sitting space, or a hobby room--and make the more informal eating area more inviting..."
• Connecting Views - one should view rooms from one another
• Framed Openings - create the illusion of more space to indicate that you are entering a new area
• Headbands and Beltlines - let the ceiling finish extend to the headband above the doors, like the lid of a box. Beltlines (chair rails and wainscoting) separate the shirt from the pants.
• Wall Insets - she doesn't use the word niche for some reason.

View and Nonview

Light is just 7 patterns. I like:

• Reflecting Surfaces - light walls bounce light deeper inside; mirrors are literal reflectors
• Window Positioning - from the outside, "the arrangement of windows gives a home much of its personality as well as a sense of integrity." Place windows to maximize the amount of light and view for the space it opens into.
• View and Nonview - Use translucent screens appropriately

Grilles and Lattices

Of the 7 patterns of Order, I like:

• Pattern and Geometry - think Frank Lloyd Wright
• Grilles and Lattices - "can add a beautiful and delicate quality to a room."
• Alignments - "When two...elements are lined up with one another, there's a sense of order and quality to the space they are part of."
• Point of Focus - "Every room benefits...from the creation of a focal point to attract attention and give significance to a particular area. 

Metal Roofing?

What I really want is a standing seam metal roof. Somewhat easier to keep clean (although I've been warned that it's much more slippery when wet). Metal roofs are more expensive than composition shingle, but I'm thinking that the cost of materials isn't that large a component--stripping off the old shingles, repairing the sheathing, installing underlayment are probably $12000 of a $25000 job. If metal makes it $30,000, it might be worth it.

Maybe we use color on the roof...

State Roofing, for example. Back of the envelope says this is a 30-square job, but it's at the high end of the range because of the number of ridges and general complexity. Range, according to Homeguide.com, is $350-$500 for asphalt, $600-$1200 for metal, so:

• $10,500 to $15,000 for asphalt
• $18,000 to $36,000 for metal

Based on a ~$23,000 estimate from Blue & Blue Roofing, I'd say the removal of the old, repair of the fascia, and new gutters is about $8000 over the cost of the new roof. We're looking at $30,000 for metal vs. more like $24,000 for asphalt.

Green or Pacific Blue might be nice, too.

Tree House Apartment

Up in the trees with a view of Carkeek Park. Trees House West Wing, Westworld. Let's get into our West Side Story.

Roofs to be demolished

Newton's view from upstairs window (Height ~278')

The current plan calls for an approximately 625 SF apartment above BR3. It cantilevers to the south, replacing the existing 26" eave. Ignore the placeholder windows:

This new apartment has a living/dining space (~200 SF), a 68 SF bedroom (1' 6" around a queen-sized bed is 8' x 8.5'), a kitchen (refrigerator, sink, microwave, like the breezeway), and a typical 1950s 5 x 8 bath (40 SF) and a typical 2.5 x 6 closet (15 SF). The stairs on the west and the top landing take up about 67 SF, so the bedroom can grow to 268 SF, in theory.

Space	SF
Living/Dining	260
Kitchen	40
Bedroom	200
Bath (5 x 8)	40
Closet (2.5 x7)	15
Stairs & Landing	67
TOTAL 2nd Floor	622

The sizes are ballpark, obviously, and finishing the 2nd floor may well become a Phase 2 project. 

Here's how I see the space planning based on the views.

The apartment has its own entrance around the west side of the garage, or through the garage. The west side door is the apartment's only access to the backyard, but I think that's understandable. 

Here's an idea: Since the 6x6 SE corner is a likely dining space, we could make it a roofed-over deck. I've seen this done (usually off a bedroom, but still). Since it rains so much, it lets you sit outside, dry in the rain. Just for fun, I'll mock it up.

It's adorable!

A corner window in the proposed bedroom (facing NW) would look directly at the multi-trunk cedar.

Gray line in lower panes is NW 118th Street

The cedar tree has 5 trunks about 8' off the ground. In the model, I just have the one trunk where it hits the ground.

You could reach out the bedroom window and touch it 

Existing west wall (align 3 trunks in background)

Stairs extend into side yard. Imagine steps and landing.

What kind of flooring does the apartment need? We'll likely try to preserve the ceiling joists and drywall over Casey's room and use TJI's to support the apartment floor, so we already have some noise isolation. Maybe an engineered wood? Wood laminate looks like a good compromise between engineered wood and vinyl planks.