Even more framing

(Click for a larger image).

Our house visit on February 16 was on a spectacularly beautiful day: mid-70's and crystal clear. Regan, our architect, and Debra, one of his associates, also came up to discuss several outstanding issues and to check on progress. The wall framing has continued and is almost complete. I don't understand the details but the roof framing has to be done before some of the walls can be framed; that will start next week.

In the picture below, you can see the back wall where the library / media room, Susan's project room, wine closet, and power room are located. What you don't see is a cabinet wall and fireplace that will act to define a corridor running just above the steps that provides access to these rooms.

View into the common areas from the covered patio.

The space above the pool has been backfilled which makes the pool feel much more part of the house proper. Due to the clay found in the soil we had to move the pool by 20 feet and the result actually works much better. (It ended up offset from the pool patio which puts it in more in the sun and provides a better view.)

Backfill above the pool.

View to the shop from the covered patio.

View out the windows in the master bedroom.

View out the shop windows.

Now that rooms are actually taking shape, what had to be imagined from the plans can now be walked through. Susan and I have accumulated so many books and the house has so much glass, we were concerned about having enough wallspace for bookcases. What we both missed was the ceiling height in the library / media room; it will be perfect for a tall bookcases and a library ladder. Our architect had specified tall bookcases but I think we are going to go even higher. (Our contractor has done several of these before and actually has a source for old ladders.)

We have started to work on picking finishes and the choices are going to be difficult. Our architect has strong opinions that we have learned to trust (but verify). (We sometimes have to rein him in since we always have to be careful of that perfect sink that turns out to cost as much as a car.) We are leaning towards Brazilian cherry (aka jatoba) or Doussie for the floors. Both are available via sustainable practices and both are harder than maple. We have decided that there will be no wall to wall carpets in the house, so there will be a lot of wood. We are trying to keep the costs reasonable but will sacrifice in other areas to get the wood we want.

The other big issue are the kitchen counters. We have granite in Oakland and my attitude has been why switch when we found something that works so well? After discussing several alternatives, we are now considering stainless steel. I am slightly skeptical but we are going to look at a kitchen that has a similar layout to ours that has stainless counters. The owner is an avid cook so we should get a reliable opinion on how they hold up. One of the advantages is that the counter can be fabricated as a single unit with no joints. Another is that the counters supposedly "disappear" and are not a focal point of the room. We'll see.

We can't go up next week so it will be 2 weeks until our next visit. By that time, the roof framing should be substantially complete and the covered patio will finally be covered. The mason should be showing up soon to build the Rumford fireplace (see http://www.rumford.com/). We figure that once the framing is done, the fast progress will then be slow again.