Architect
Architectural Drawings
Dec/14/07 11:36 PM
Well, our architectural drawings are done, and for anyone who wishes to do so can look at them here (In a read only PDF).
Bret Park of Park Company Architects has done a wonderful job in translating both our ideas and needs to paper, and there-in striking a balance between them. Our current satisfaction encouraged Kristin and I to proceed to the next step in having Bret begin our lighting design. We are excited to sit down and explain our extremely grandios and way-over-budget ideas to Bret. Hopefully, that’ll go well too.
On another note I had my first meeting with the builder yesterday and my first onsite meeting today, Kendall Stevenson with K-S Construction, whom I’ve known for years will be doing our framing for the stairs. I had done a logo design for him years ago, way back before I was actually any good at such things . It was good to see that the logo was still on the side of his work trailer. Anyway, after our hi-how’s-it-goin’s at the onsite meeting, one of the builder’s crew said something to the effect of, “Man, you’ve gotten yourself in deep, haven’t ya?” What do you say to that? All I could say was, “I know... That’s what everyone keeps telling me. ”
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The House Plan (Voting Results)
Dec/07/07 11:29 PM
As my childhood idol, Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith, used to say... “I love it when a plan comes together.” We have finalized our decision on the plan, it was option 1. From the blog post that let everyone vote on the house layout, we received an overwhelming response to layout option 1 (secretly mine and Kristin’s favorite). I think it came in at about 98% of you that voted in favor of layout option 1. So we have finalized our thoughts with the architect and he has begun the drawings. I’ll see what I can do about posting the final drawings when they are done.
Kristin and I made a slight alteration to the original sketches in that we wanted a little more square feet in the kitchen. So the architect gave us an option with the stairs running straight into the breakfast nook instead of turning into the kitchen. And we decided to lose the powder room as it turned out that there would only be 18” between the sink and the wall. But that’s ok. We instead gained more closet space and more square footage in the dining area, generally where I spend most of my time anyway.
Well, I better get back to bustin’ out some bricks, the scrub I hired to haul them out will be showing up soon.
Vote on Our House Layout
Dec/01/07 11:23 PM
Well, it’s official. Kristin and I closed on the
house yesterday. We own it now. At the closing we got
to meet the seller, who was actually a pretty kool
guy, apparently he’d lived in the house for 28 years.
He loved that house as much as we do and he didn’t
really want to sell it, but being recently disabled
he opted to move to a one-story house. I assured him
that we were going to take great care of the house
and that he was welcome at any time to stop by and
see the progress.
Anyway, on our way to the closing I received a call from Bret Park of Park Company Architects he was calling to let me know they had some preliminary sketches for us. Kristin and I were as giddy as a couple of school girls and it was all we could do to get through the closing so we could race back over to Bret’s office to see what he had for us. He and Katie Mihalevich, presented us with two spectacular concept sketches. One option gave us exactly what we’d hoped for, but required a bit more construction. The other option, also equally impressive, utilized the existing structure with minimal construction. However, the second option is only leaving us with one bedroom upstairs instead of two. Bret did point out that the loft area could be used as a bedroom, but that appraisal-wise it could not be counted as such.
Take a look at the images below and let us know which one you like best...
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Anyway, on our way to the closing I received a call from Bret Park of Park Company Architects he was calling to let me know they had some preliminary sketches for us. Kristin and I were as giddy as a couple of school girls and it was all we could do to get through the closing so we could race back over to Bret’s office to see what he had for us. He and Katie Mihalevich, presented us with two spectacular concept sketches. One option gave us exactly what we’d hoped for, but required a bit more construction. The other option, also equally impressive, utilized the existing structure with minimal construction. However, the second option is only leaving us with one bedroom upstairs instead of two. Bret did point out that the loft area could be used as a bedroom, but that appraisal-wise it could not be counted as such.
Take a look at the images below and let us know which one you like best...
Saturday, December 1, 2007
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Which option do you prefer:
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Layout Option 1 Layout Option 2
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Tell us why:
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Architecture Lecture
Nov/21/07 11:21 PM
Yesterday I met with the architect, Bret Park, at the house. It was our second meeting and our first on site. Also in attendance was his intern Steven, who sketched the layout of the house and recorded all the numbers. Overall It went well, I even got to help out with some of the architecturing. Basically, I held the end of the tape measure, while they did all the important stuff. It was interesting, none-the-less, to see the process that goes into it even if it is just a bit of measuring. It was also interesting to hear Bret explaining the significance of certain architectural features of craftsman style homes to Steven, who was soaking it up like a sponge.
Bret told me he was following the blog and encouraged me to keep it up. I guess that means I better say nice things. Speaking of saying nice things, He told me that it was “a great house”, at that I unintentionally laughed out loud. He assured me that he meant it. So I guess that if an architect tells you that it’s a great house, you can take that to the bank.
My wife and I are excited about getting started on the house. We plan on doing most of the work ourselves, but we feel that it is necessary to have an architect to provide us with a road map. I mean, you wouldn’t just jump in a car and drive to Outer Mongolia without a map, would you? Anyways, we are going into this holiday with anticipation to see the proposal that Bret is working up for us. If I wake up from my turkey induced coma, I’ll let you know how it goes.
The Architect
Oct/24/07 11:05 PM
The guy I work for, recently renovated his house. It
was miraculous... He took it from a 70’s red brick
ranch home to a beautiful 2 story sage green
craftsman style home. The interior attested to it’s
style and it had all sorts of details that constantly
stimulated one’s aesthetic sense. I asked for the
architect’s name: Bret Park of
Park Company Architects.
The picture above is a sample of their work,
fantastic in my opinion.
Today Mr. Park and I spoke on the phone, honestly I haven’t spent that much time on a phone since gradeschool, but we had a lot of interesting things to talk about. He was very helpful and thorough. I am hopeful that this will work out as I like the work that I have seen.
Well, friday is the last day to finalize the contract and I am meeting the inspector, plumber, realtor, possibly the electrician, and even more scary is that my wife will be there among them. I shudder...
Today Mr. Park and I spoke on the phone, honestly I haven’t spent that much time on a phone since gradeschool, but we had a lot of interesting things to talk about. He was very helpful and thorough. I am hopeful that this will work out as I like the work that I have seen.
Well, friday is the last day to finalize the contract and I am meeting the inspector, plumber, realtor, possibly the electrician, and even more scary is that my wife will be there among them. I shudder...