The 8 Commandments

During renovations Beancountingqueen and I have been dreaming of greener pastures, a.k.a. a place with a lawn. We peer at house listings longingly, emailing ideas back and forth. During this I have solidified things I want in the next home. I bring to you...

The 8 Commandments of the Future House

1. Thou shalt be a single family home - Living in a rowhome is pretty cool, but it doesn't offer the space that I'd like. Don't get me wrong, I really think rowhomes in Baltimore have great character, but a bit more space and some seclusion would be nice. Also, no townhomes.

2. Thou shalt be an old house with character - No brand spanking new, vinyl sided houses for me. That may be fine for most, but I know if I decided to make it how I liked it inside it would still be a ho-hum box. I can handle an old cottage type home, a tudor, a colonial or a mid century ranch, but no homes built after 1990.

3. Thou shalt have a beautiful yard, with a house that is built just right for the lot - Having a big yard, by itself, doesn't cut it. A monstrosity of a brick façade jutting out a characterless lawn doesn't do it for me. We want something secluded; an oasis near the city where walking out into the yard feels like walking out into the woods. Yes, this means lots of old growth trees and the like. Some decent landscaping would be nice, but eventually I'll landscape the place all beautiful'n'stuff.

4. Thou shalt be close to city - Or at least far from frightening suburbs filled w/ chains and screaming babies. Children are lovely joy filled little beings… Some chain restaurants are ok… Chain restaurants filled with screaming, running, food slinging children kind of cramp our style. It's cool that some people are into that, but the Queen and I aren't so into it. At least not now. Or for a long time.

5. Thou shalt be cozy - We don't need a McMansion, just enough space for us. Anything above 3000 sq ft is too much. More maintenance, utilities, and furniture to fill rooms that we won't use. Nothanxkbye.

6. Thou shalt not be completely done - One of my favorite books is Ayn Rand's 'The Fountainhead'. I am also a fan of the Myers Briggs personality test. The book's main character, Howard Roark, is an architect that builds homes that fit the building site. My Myers Briggs personality type, INTP - The Architect, quotes Ayn Rand describing Howard Roark,


"He was looking at the granite. He did not laugh as his eyes stopped in awareness of the earth around him. His face was like a law of nature-a thing one could not question, alter or implore. It had high cheekbones over gaunt, hollow cheeks; gray eyes, cold and steady; a contemptuous mouth, shut tight, the mouth of an executioner or a saint. He looked at the granite. To be cut, he thought, and made into walls. He looked at a tree. To be split and made into rafters. He looked at a streak of rust on the stone and thought of iron ore under the ground. To be melted and to emerge as girders against the sky. These rocks, he thought, are here for me; waiting for the drill, the dynamite and my voice; waiting to be split, ripped, pounded, reborn, waiting for the shape my hands will give to them.

Reading this makes me want to split trees and cut granite. Of course I've done neither, but this is but a small detail.

7. Thou shalt have a basement, preferably a walk out - The basement will be dubbed the man space. Women shall be forbidden from entering the testosterone lair.

8. Thou shalt have a walk-in closet (or the ability to add one) - The Queen added this. Men don't care about this stuff - see testosterone lair above.

The Queen said the above list severely limits our option. I'm ok with this. If the cottage is still around, and has dropped in price quite a bit then we can consider it. If not, my house will be pretty cool by the time it's done. We're also on the lookout for other options, as more and more houses are sitting on the market.

In the meantime there are many things to do to the rowhouse, like some built in bookshelves and the like, so there is plenty of time to experiment. Before my house in in sellable condition is probably 3-4 months of work ahead, so there is plenty of time, but if anybody knows of a chemical I can sprinkle on the cement in the back yard to make it sprout a lawn please let me know. This could hold us over for a while.

Under Cabinet Lights & Crown Molding

I've been busy lately working on the house and haven't taken the camera out much. It was late and the light wasn't good but the 'rents have been asking for pictures, so pictures they get. It bugs me to take pictures with poor light, so I'll have to do a proper house photoshoot when the space is totally complete.

The bathroom is turning out well. It looked even better before I took a circular saw to the wall to cut a channel to run more electrical for some vanity lights, but I won't show you that. :)



And here is where the magic happens. Notice the lovely crown molding. I also decided not to throw a cabinet over the toilet or shelves next to it (yet).



Mom has been asking for a picture that shows the backsplash and the green wall. Throw in the new under cabinet lights and the crown molding and the kitchen is looking very nice...



I had the contractor wire upper and lower cabinet lights, but to save money I said I'd install the lights. For now I am just putting under the cabinet lights, and the jury is still out on uppers. After finishing the hook-up at midnight last night I turned on the lights in the bar and swooned for a while.





The foyer electrical still need to be fixed. All is well except figuring out how to get the ceiling fan on a switch. There are so many wires running through the area that the trouble shooting is taking a bit. The knee wall isn't drywalled yet as hauling materials like drywall and plywood in a maxima doesn't work so well.



Also, the table from Arhaus is on order and will be ours in a couple weeks, but the chairs were out of our price range. The craigslist hunt for chairs is on.

Edisonian Endeavors

As Shane troubleshot the rat's next of electrical wiring in the foyer last night he commented that my methods for home renovation were Edisonian. I gave him a perplexed look as he explained what that meant. Essentially, that my typical way of working around the house is trial and error. He's right.

In Mr. Edison's honor, here are a few inspiring quotes:

Hell, there are no rules here-- we're trying to accomplish something.

I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun.

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work.

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.

Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration.

When I want to discover something, I begin by reading up everything that has been done along that line in the past - that's what all these books in the library are for. I see what has been accomplished at great labor and expense in the past. I gather data of many thousands of experiments as a starting point, and then I make thousands more.

I relate to his first and last quotes the most. Reading renovation material in books and online is necessary and useful, but there comes a time where you have to roll up your sleeves and use more of a trial and error approach.

Scheduling and Laser Beams

I get a strange pleasure each Monday when I update my Microsoft Project schedule. You see, being an engineer I have gotten used to scheduling and budgeting. To do both I use MS project to plan my future tasks, show their individual costs, and their dependencies on each other. Currently I have around 200 tasks, with more added daily to help define the level of detail where someone could actually complete the tasks. For instance, under the kitchen category are the tasks, 'prime', 'paint second coat', and 'paint second coat' which are all tasks that need to be done in series, and painting the trim is dependent on finishing the second coat of wall paint. Sure I don't follow all dependencies 100% and I start a lot of stuff before finishing something else, but the software helps act as a task list helping me to make sure that things don't fall through the cracks. Updating the progress on each task rolls up into the higher level task, so it gives a total percent complete of the whole renovation. While progress is slow, there is indeed progress.


A sample, not my actual schedule

Tasks completed this weekend were installing crown molding in the kitchen and bathroom, purchasing and mounting a towel bar & toilet paper holder in the bathroom, grouting the backsplash, starting the drywall touch ups on the bulging seams in the living room ceiling, and re-running electrical for the foyer. The electrical in the foyer doesn't really work yet and requires major trouble shooting, but at least the wire is run and conduit installed per code. I installed it Friday and then proceeded to avoid it for the rest of the weekend to temporarily avoid the frustration.

I would also like to provide Dadolescent & Momnipotent with the Highlandtown Hovel Baltimore Rowhouse award for outstanding achievement. I haven't figure out what exactly shape or form this award takes, so hopefully someone can provide some ideas. While I was suffering overload on Saturday night at around 6:30, they stayed at the house touching up the crown molding until 9:30, and then cleaning up the house too. I really can't express how much this means to me, and I am so lucky to have you help out with the house.

On other news I now have a plethora of tools. I went out and picked up a ryobi 18V lithium-ion 4 piece combo kit, which includes a drill/driver, circular saw, reciprocating saw & light for $270. I needed to buy tools, and it's lithium-ion-y good pulled me in.



After taking this home, a craigslist ad that I responded to emailed me back. He had a barely used 18V (not lithium-ion) kit including drill/driver, circular saw, rec. saw, jig saw, rotary tool, sander, light, batteries and a bag all for $140. I looked at it, and it's only been used a few times so I bought it. Now I have a conundrum whether to keep my new set, return it and keep the used set in it's entirety, or just sell of the parts of the old set that are redundant. Really, the tools look pretty much the same so I'd really just like the lithium ion batteries. And fyi, the circular saw in the used set comes with a laser. I like laser beams.

Mango Dining Furniture

While beancountingqueen (aka, Leigh) and I are still working toward the cottage, we need a kitchen table more suited to the 11' x 9' area in the center of my house between the kitchen and the living room. Since this is a rowhouse and the main floor is all continuous space, we envision this spot being the dining room of the house. The current table in the house is circular, so it doesn't quite fit the space.

While we don't really have much money now, we are smitten with a table from Arhaus.



It's a 65" x 36" mango wood table, which is supposedly eco-friendly, would make a nice dichotomy with my (yet to be installed) Brazilian cherry floors, and is most importantly on sale. :) Since I don't know much about mango wood durability, I'm a bit concerned, but the look and price are decent and it would help define the space, hopefully helping in selling the house. Am I just telling myself these latter sentiments to make myself feel better about this potential purchase?

...

The table would look pretty nice with the track brass wall strips from cb2 that beancountingqueen ordered me for V-day...

Basement Skylight

Luckily the basement skylight was temporary. While it was operational I was a bit worried about somebody walking in the front door, dropping through the floor wylie e. coyote style.



While exposing brick is already a hot trend, I'm thinking exposed electrical is the next big thing.



Why, hello there Dadolescent.

Please Remove the Rose Colored Glasses

This weekend brought some migrant labor to the Highlandtown Hovel Baltimore Rowhouse: Leigh's parents, Dadolescent and Momnipotent. While Leigh slaved away counting beans at work (she is an accountant), her dad and I tackled the job of replacing the front foyer. Frankly, my house frightened Dadolescent as he uttered, "there is a lot work", upon entering. I guess after living in the house for a while and watching it get better it doesn’t frighten me as much as it used to. After treating him for shock, we looked at the foyer and developed a plan.

Originally when you walked in the house there was a 4'x4' entry area, sunk about 8" from the rest of the floor, with a second door directly in front of the exterior door. Leigh decided that it would be better if the foyer were removed, and replaced with a knee wall where the old door was, and reroute traffic through the center of the house.



The old door opening has now been replaced with a knee wall. With the new layout the couch will no longer be positioned on the house end wall (with or without plastic on it), and can be placed on the wall in front of the cove, forcing you to take an immediate turn when entering the house. This will be a much better layout, as you won't walk directly into the couch when walking into the room. It also allows you to shift the furniture in the room about 3 feet closer to the door, uncluttering the center of the house.



There was also some lovely tile in the foyer, which was carefully and painstakingly removed.



Or maybe not so painstakingly… The tile on the side on the brick wall came off easily, so I saved it and will find a new home for it. The opposite side didn't come off so easily so I smashed into millions of bits with a hammer. I'd say it saddened me to destroy the tile, but it didn't. It felt quite good. This rip out work was done about a week or so prior to rebuilding the floor.

The rip-out and reconstruction of the floor was accomplished on Saturday. Since nothing in the house is level, it was a pain to figure out how we were going to rebuild the front entry way to level things out. In the end we used a 2x8 as a sister joist, a doubled up 2x8 is floating underneath the door, and hung 2x4's between the 2x8's using joist hangers every 8 inches, and screwing subfloor to the 2x4's. I probably should have used 2x6 for the floor, but it's such a small piece that it will be fine. Getting things level was a bitch. It was a good thing that we ripped out the old floor, seeing as some of the supporting 4x4's below were half rotted out.

The knee wall was built up the next day using 2x6's. Even after running a gazillion 3" nails (NAIL GUNS ARE FUN!) to attach the knee wall to the joist below it still has a slight wobble. Again, it was a pain in the butt to get everything level. As Dadolescent and I worked on Saturday, Momnipotent attacked the pesky paper sticking to the front of my glass tile backsplash. At one point in time I found her huddled up in something resembling the fetal position, scraping the tile behind the sink. Normally I would have taken a picture of someone in such a compromising position, so I'm not sure why I didn't take my opportunity to grab a shot. Next time I'll make the camera more accessible when she is helping.

Thank you so much for helping Dadolescent & Momnipotent - it is much appreciated.