Redoing back bath - in progress

March 11, 2016 by Evan Hart in diy, construction

I have been doing tons of research on the house and it is very clear that the 2 bed 1 bath addition at the very back of the house has nothing to do with the historic details of the house that we are trying to preserve. For that reason, it will be remodeled in a neutral style in mostly white since it isn't really possible to try and make it match the awesome design and woodwork of the rest of the house.

In general, when doing whole house remodels, it's a good idea to repeat design themes throughout. In this case, some elements from work I've done to the house will be repeated - mainly the 6x6 white tiles in running bond pattern and white track lighting that doesn't make a statement but simply illuminates. I used the white tiles in the kitchen above the red 6x6 pattern so that I could add a vent fan in the kitchen which was much needed. I also added white 6x6 tiles above the old clay tiles in the bathroom to raise the shower head. These white tile surfaces provide a functional surface while blending into the wall and not distracting from the old tile work which is probably from the '20s on the bath floor and the '30s on the wall in the bath and kitchen.

The back bath shower was originally 1/8" Masonite which is pretty odd since it is not an effective moisture barrier. If you know the stuff, it seems about as strong as really good cardboard.

The obvious choice was to do the shower in white 6x6 to continue the theme to unify the design throughout as much as reasonably possible.

The white track light I added has LED bulbs and was also used in the kitchen. It's a flexible system that simply adds light where it's needed.

The downstairs bath also has unobtrusive white LED lighting in the form of recessed 4" cans.

One thing that's odd is the bath has '20s plumbing fixtures. I'm still trying to figure out what has happened to this house over the years but the fixtures may be from an earlier upstairs half bath that was removed when the master dressing room was converted to master bath.

The wall sink fits well there so I'll simply shine it up. The '20s wall tank toilet is a 5 gallon flush and will need to be replaced with a modern toilet. Unfortunately, the closet flange (floor drain) will need to be moved back from 16" to 12".

Above you can also see the floor was done in a style to mimic the downstairs bath and will be left for now.

The ceiling is definitely not large timber redwood like the rest of the house and so will simply be painted fresh white as will the rest of the back addition with this ceiling.

Update:

Back t the toilet... The vent for the toilet is wrong and I have to move back the toilet flange to accommodate a modern toilet so I'm redoing a large section.

Getting there...

Clockwise from top center: 4" toilet drain, 2" toilet vent, 2" shower drain

The 2" vent is now correctly out of the path of water from the toilet flush going down the 4" pipe. The vent is just for displaced air which is why it can have hard bends. The foreground 2" pipe is the shower drain.

It's pretty funny to see the tiny 1 gallon toilet tank next to the old 3-5 gallon wall tank toilet.

Got the toilet in...

Sneaky Microwave Pantry Closet

February 27, 2016 by Evan Hart in construction, diy, electrical

I didn't want to change up the original redwood cabinets in the kitchen but the refrigerator was a problem. The space for it was 34" wide, 22" deep and a few inches too short for a standard fridge which is 70" I think. I was able to modify the cabinet above to get a few more inches in height. They do make a counter depth fridge which is 24" deep but a standard fridge is 30" deep. Common widths are 30", 36", 42" etc but a 33" is also made.

We looked into 33"x24" size fridge but they have the about the same capacity as a standard 30"x30" fridge which is apartment sized and pretty small for a 3 bedroom house. My solution was to move the wall behind the fridge back so we could put in a 33"x30" which is a little bigger.

That left us with a tiny pantry closet and Christina came up with a clever solution. We found a 24"x48" rolling shelf from Costco that fits in there pretty snug. I had to put an outlet in the closet and I made a short extension cord to get power to the microwave. I had to also change the wheels to a smaller size so they wouldn't bind up on the walls. For light I put in a motion sensing LED which is perfect since there isn't a switch. It's a neat little system that saves limited counter space. I'm happy with how it turned out.

Laundry Sink: New Plan, Different Old Sink

February 18, 2016 by Evan Hart in craigslist, diy, salvage

After milling through the salvage yards a while back, I posted earlier that I had decided on the concrete laundry sink since it is readily available and era appropriate. But something always felt off about it - mainly how ugly they always looked and how they usually had hairline cracks and would need a special epoxy to fill the cracks and hold water. Since we're not in a huge rush for a laundry sink, we were waiting for one that was cheap or free and looked good and was the right width. One popped up that was a deep single bowl sink and Christina said that it would be enough sink for us which made me think we could fill the rest of the space with a countertop. It would also work well since the faucet isn't centered at 1/2 way or 3/4 of the way on the backsplash. (Centered on 3/4 would mean the faucet would be centered on the second bowl of the sink which is better than nothing). Any double sink was going to look odd. I measured for a 48" sink or 42" sink and there was no clear way to cheat either sink a little to one side or the other to make it look right by having the sink centered between the bowls or centered on one of the bowls.

I started thinking about the single bowl idea again and I would be able to center the sink on the wall faucet (which couldn't be moved without replacing original tiles which would be a different color). Going back to the start... I thought how about an antique sink, but single bowl and maybe not concrete and I searched for '27 sink and found one that had sold in L.A. The picture got me excited with the cool old style of it -

Hey those look like "Carthage" tiles from Tunisia!  The spacer on the bottom of the stand is because the sink is probably 30-33" tall max while kitchen countertops are 36" — Hey those look like "Carthage" tiles from Tunisia! The spacer on the bottom of the stand is because the sink is probably 30-33" tall max while kitchen countertops are 36"

The sink has an interesting feel to it. The stand reminds me of "peg leg" pedestal bathroom sinks of the time.

The one for sale in L.A. was sold but it looked just one I had seen on Craigslist and I checked and it was still for sale and had the cool stand!

I found the sink for sale locally with the same stand for $200. I'm not paying that but it's been up for a while so I bet I could get them down.

I found the sink I wanted and built an old school countertop around it. The red clay tiles are still easy to get. The cobalt blue sink trim had to be special ordered as the inside corner quarter round tiles - called AUs - are only used to tile in sinks which people don't do much anymore.

The front edge tile is vintage to match the yellow of the backsplash. The original wood side piece was in the living room closet. The wall faucet is still sold at Home Depot. I really like how this looks!

Living & Dining Room Cleaning

October 27, 2015 by Christina Flores in decor, diy, furniture, lighting, salvage

This past Sunday, I was very lucky to have my parents and sister come over to help me clean both the living and dining room. It is amazing what four people can accomplish in just a few hours. These rooms were VERY DIRTY before we cleaned them. A load of dirt and spider webs had fallen into the room when the roof was being re-done in the past few months and it seemed like we would never have a clean living space. We haven't set up the rooms in the way we want them to look "in the end," but here are some photos of the progress we made in just one day!