CHEZERBEY

studio zerbey / animal hospital remodel

It’s been a couple of months since our last Studio Zerbey post, so today we’re sharing another project that is currently in schematic design – a remodel of an existing animal hospital east of Seattle.

A big thanks to Kyle, who is brilliant and created these renderings.

The project is located just south of Bellevue, WA in what was originally a 1950’s home. The house was converted to an animal hospital a number of years ago, but the client requested a series of updates that would reflect their modern sensibility and high-tech inner workings while maintaining a warm and inviting atmosphere. (Also, the zoning code does not allow any changes to the building footprint or massing, significantly informing the design direction.)

Naturally, we brought in a specialized consultant for the job…

(He gets paid in dog treats and belly rubs.)

In general, the exterior needed some functional updates with the added goal of steering it towards a more commercial (professional, yet warm) aesthetic. The composite roof will be replaced with a more durable standing seam metal roof and we’re proposing that the existing aluminum windows be upgraded to a clad wood window (or possibly a more efficient aluminum product). To save on costs, we’re focusing mostly on the two prominent elevations (north and east) and leaving the rear, “back of house” elevations much the same (with the exception of paint and new windows). The existing chimney and fireplace will also be removed during construction.

The brick around the reception area will be removed and replaced with a siding material (shown as 1×4 T&G cedar siding here) with a durable finish. Part of this decision was a function of enlarging the windows in this zone as well as a desire to make the entry and reception area a focal point. On the remainder of the main facade, we’re proposing taking the brick down to the level of the window sill. This creates a more proportional elevation and eliminates the fussiness of attempting to cut and patch bricks where windows are being added or taken away. (We experimented with leaving the brick color as-is and doing a darker siding or panel above, but it was too much darkness up top with the metal roof.)

The north elevation is tricky because it is visible from the street but also contains a service entry (originally a garage door) at the lower level. We’re proposing to paint the existing siding and door in the same dark gray as the brick and also adding a steel plate awning to provide protection from the elements and a visual break between the existing concrete foundation and wood siding above. (We’re also exploring the idea of sandblasting the painted concrete back to its original (raw) color.) The northwest corner was “filled in” during a previous remodel and cladded with a cement board siding. To reduce introducing too many different exterior materials, we’re suggesting that this area be resided with a metal siding to match the roof.

We’re also proposing that the existing roof soffit be replaced with a gray panel product that extends into the reception area, creating a better indoor-outdoor relationship and a lower, more intimate ceiling height over the seating area.

The interior remodel is limited to half of the main floor, including the reception area, lab, two exam rooms, bathroom and office. As shown by the dashed lines, we’re proposing the removal of the old fireplace (which was never used and right in the middle of the space) and a more efficient layout of the other rooms. The animal hospital has made the transition to a paperless business, so space for extensive file systems and storage are no longer needed. The lab serves as a hallway of sorts to access the other spaces, creating an efficient workflow for employees. It’s also the intention of the client that the customers go through this zone to get a glimpse (and appreciate) the inner workings of a small animal hospital.

We’re excited with where the design is headed and can’t wait to share more as things progress.

Now, back to work Bailey!

re-energzied by design: challenge two!

Guess who made it two round two? Team Sayer, that’s who!

This week, the challenge space is a home office or garage. Scott and Nia chose their home office, a light-filled room off of their main living area. The family uses this space all the time, but it had become a catch-all for both things and activities and needed some organization and cohesiveness. On the energy side of things, they needed better overall and task lighting for the space.

Here were some of the ideas we discussed:

+ Create different zones (work, painting, chatting) to better suit the different activities that take place in this space.
+ Replace the lone pendant and cable lighting with more effective fixtures (and bulbs!) that provide both general and task lighting.
+ Take advantage of natural daylighting and views to the woods beyond.
+ Put up a partition wall that affords the space a bit more privacy but doesn’t completely cut it off visually or physically from the adjacent living area.
+ Build a large, shared work surface for laptops, homework, etc.
+ Incorporate better storage solutions.

And here’s the big “before and after” reveal photos (I decided to group them together this week so you can get a better sense for how things changed):

You recognize those perforated metal “shades”, don’t you? Yep, Scott and Nia repurposed IKEA utensil holders into light fixtures. The red S is a sign letter that they salvaged and added casters to (it was in their living room, but it seemed better suited for the creative vibe of the office).

The multi-purpose table is from a salvaged piece of an old bowling lane attached to steel frames that they already owned. And the pendants over the table? Scott made those from metal car jacks! They also installed an energy-saving power strip for their computers.

There wasn’t a clearly defined separation between the office and adjacent kitchen and dining area, so the Sayers built this partition wall out of old salvaged doors. (The locker was used for the bathroom storage, as seen in last week’s post!) There were some unfinished trim details, so Scott took this opportunity to add new base boards and trim out the column to give the space a more industrial aesthetic.

Finally, Nia replaced the mismatched curtains with new IKEA ones. To finish the space, they added a bit of greenery, their favorite design books and storage bins for miscellaneous office supplies. (Funny side story – I ran into Scott and Nia at IKEA one day when they were shopping for this challenge. They were buying (among other things) the black Expedit unit and I was buying the dark gray one for our office loft. Although, I’m not as awesome as Nia to assemble it sans instructions as you’ll see in the video!)

Great job guys! You vastly improved the space and did some minor construction. I like that about you.

So, are you ready to see the webisode? Grab some coffee and check it.

Missed last week’s post? Click here to see the bathroom challenge!

re-energized by design: challenge one!

Back in October I wrote about the Re-Energized by Design challenge, a local “design show” competition put on by Puget Sound Energy. I was selected as a design coach and paired with this awesome family who lives in Bellingham, WA.

Well, the challenge has been underway for the last several months and I’m happy to finally get to share all of my family’s hard work with you! (To see an introduction of the families and design coaches, check out this webisode.) You can read all about the challenge on the official website, but here’s the main gist: 6 families compete in a room-by-room makeover hoping to eventually win the $5,000 grand prize. Every other week, the families tackle a designated space, take photos and videos and submit the results to a panel of judges. After careful deliberation, the judges vote one family off, leaving the remaining contestants a few days to rest before diving into the next challenge. But this isn’t just any room makeover challenge – the families must also place an emphasis on energy efficiency and how it relates to good design (hence the name of the competition!). They have $500 and a little over a week to complete each phase and they’re doing the work themselves, while also juggling family and day jobs. No easy task!

The first challenge was the bathroom! The Sayers opted to tackle their upstairs bathroom, a small space that their family of four shares. Although they built their house ten years ago, they never really got around to giving this room the love it needed. It was functional, but in need of some serious updates. Check out the before photos:

The biggest issues with this space were the lack of natural light and poor artificial lighting (yeah, the bulb-less light in the shower wasn’t helping the problem).

The minty green walls were tired and a lack of effective storage created too much visual clutter for such a small room.

Although they started out as a temporary solution (we all know how that goes!), the vanity and medicine cabinet had become permanent.

From a design standpoint, we talked about the importance of bringing in more natural light and swapping out their vanity fixture for something more effective. We also brainstormed ways to bring in clever storage and a different wall color to brighten up the space. The results? Behold…

One of the things I love about Scott and Nia is their uncanny ability to source salvaged material, whether it’s something they had lying around or that they found at a local re-use store. In their bathroom, they repurposed a mirror they already owned and created the vanity from a wood table that was in the garage. (In pure salvaging karma, it was a near perfect fit for the space.)

They also painted the walls and installed a wainscoting around the lower half of the room.

The solid door was replaced with a salvaged glass door to allow borrowed natural light from the adjacent room (they installed frosted film over the glass for privacy). A vintage metal locker was moved from their home office and now serves as a cool way to store extra toilet paper and other items.

An energy-saving light bulb was added to the shower and the sad vanity light was replaced with a new fixture equipped with LED bulbs. A new vessel sink and faucet (with water-saving aerator) put the finishing touches on their DIY vanity.

Finally, everything came together with a bold shower curtain and a few simple accessories. Revamping such a small space on a tight budget and schedule isn’t an easy task, but I think they did a great job!

So, did the Sayers advance to the next round? Well, guess you’ll just have to watch this week’s webisode to find out!

eight months!

Avery turned 8 months old yesterday!

This past month has been marked with a lot of drool.

Drool, some fussiness and yet…no teeth.

But most of the time, she’s still a happy girl.

A happy girl, who, is crawling all over the place and quickly testing out our “phase one” baby proofing efforts.

Originally, we were going to design and build our own baby gate (of course we were). But then, y’know…we ended up buying the least ugly one we could find on Amazon that could be here in two days. (Ours is this one from North States.) It was a little fussy to install, but we’ve been happy with it so far.

Aside from removing things at her level and consolidating all the media equipment into the new cabinet, we identified any sharp corners that might be an issue. So far, only the fauxdenza has been a concern so we added foam tape to the outside corners. (I was skeptical at first, but it blends in with the cabinet pretty well.)

Oh, and the dog bowls. Fortunately, Bailey is not one to ever leave a morsel of food in his bowl, so we don’t have to worry about that. But she has figured out how to splash the water and pull the food bowl out. This one’s not so much a safety concern as it just gross.

So…the loft ladder. Fortunately, there’s no way she could fall through it so the only dilemma would be how to keep her from climbing up it. We thought we had plenty of time to figure that puzzle out…

…and then she started pulling up on it. We’ve barricaded it with certain non-elegant options (Pack ‘n Play, laundry basket, large golden retriever), but need a better long-term solution. The tricky part is that Kyle and I still need to be able to go up and down the ladder easily and the barn door still needs to slide between the ladder and wall.

Conundrum.

(Ugh, this pulling up thing is stressful…just enough strength and coordination to get on two feet, but not enough to be stable. Makes me want to put her in a padded suit and helmet!)

The only thing we haven’t been able to baby proof is Bailey. (Sorry, buddy.)

At least he makes for a soft landing.

office organization

It’s been nearly a year since we finished the loft. Ahh, such minimal beginnings…things sure have changed!

The loft is now Studio Zerbey headquarters and where Kyle spends his days (and sometimes, nights). (In this post, I talked about the importance of having our own spaces.) Although I usually work from the dining room table, we try to keep all of our shared resources in the loft. And by resources, I mean stuff. Over the past few months we’ve accumulated office supplies, code books and building up our material samples library. The space was quickly becoming overcrowded and needed some serious organization.

So, even though I probably bad-mouthed the IKEA Expedits in an earlier post, we desperately needed some low shelving to hold books, building codes and our backlog of magazines. Of course, the Expedit was the perfect size and so I caved, overcoming my beef with its chunky proportions.

With the magazines relocated from the white IKEA Stolmen units, we freed up enough space for our material sample library. We’ve tried to go digital as much as possible, which primarily means forgoing physical product binders that are clunky and have to be updated frequently by product reps. But, there is something about being able to look at a physical sample of a tile or piece of wood siding that you just can’t get from a website or photograph. We often do mock-ups to try out different stains or paint colors and so having a collection of physical samples to share with clients is critical.

Besides, it looks pretty. (And boy, oh boy am I glad the loft is not Avery accessible! Samples go boom!)

Here’s a snapshot of Kyle’s workstation on any given day. We buy a metal paper tray for each new project – it’s getting a little Tower of Pisa, but I suppose that’s a good thing. 🙂

Ok, now let’s move downstairs.

Here’s a photo of our stair cabinet (aka fauxdenza) from two years ago. At the time, we used it as a bookshelf, mail holder and collector of random things. It has pretty much stayed in this configuration until a few months ago, when my “office” began to take over.

Here’s a typical Instagram snapshot of my work zone. (Yes, I’m rocking two laptops. As much as I wanted to fully switch to a Mac, I’m using our old Dell for Autocad. It’s not ideal, but I’m convinced switching back and forth between the two will help stave off dementia in my later years.)

During the process of organizing the loft, we moved most of our architecture resource books upstairs and did some major purging. Now all of our books fit in the fauxdenza. I have mixed feelings about this because I generally like to have books on display and am convinced that hidden behind closed doors, they will not get read. (A theory that has been proven mostly true so far.) Moving the books also freed up space for more work clutter, which wasn’t ideal either.

So, more purging and reorganizing. As part of our babyproofing efforts, we decided that it was probably not a good idea not to store our liquor in the fauxdenza. So I did some kitchen shuffling and carved out enough space for the booze in the cabinet above the pantry. (Having recently watched the last season of Mad Men, we also joked about how now that we’re self-employed we should totally have our own bar cart by the couch. But again, the idea didn’t seem to really mesh with creating a safe environment for our daughter. Avery, make me a gin and tonic!)

With the alcohol relocated, this allowed me to dedicate one shelf for my own office supplies, leaving only a few random items on the counter. Admittedly, it now feels too sparse. Functionally, the fauxdenza is a perfect catchall or temporary holder. Stuff to go up to the loft gets stacked by the ladder and items to go to the basement on the other end. The ceramic bowl serves as Kyle’s catchall for, well…everything that would typically go in a purse. Aesthetically though, the counter space is hard to style. The low height limits displaying anything too large, but it’s not quite tall or deep enough for records or larger books. (Looking back, it’s amusing to think that we thought we’d mostly use it for a buffet for dinner parties – a scenario that has yet to happen and probably won’t since it’s easier to just use the island.)

So, maybe I’ll move some of our design books back up and I’m on the lookout for something to replace Kyle’s bowl (preferably something with a lid!). I know it’s only a matter of time before Avery will be yanking things back off so maybe I don’t get too invested?

Organization! I took four boxes of books to a consignment store to get to this point. It was hard to let them go, but as we’ve been in a pattern of acquiring stuff these last several months I’ve been trying hard to also get rid of the things that were just taking up space.

So here’s my mini office cabinet. For now I’m sharing the space with my cookbook surplus (I’ve relocated my favorites or more frequently used ones to the open shelving in the kitchen). The two binders on the bottom left are filled with recipes torn from magazines that I’ve collected over the past ten years. Every once in a while I try to think of some genius system for organizing it all but that has yet to happen. (In my idealized fantasy world I would cook my way through every recipe, typing up a card (with beautifully shot images) for the ones that pass the test.)

Finally, I can’t leave you without an obligatory dog/baby photobomb. I took most of these photos yesterday afternoon and had to work around my little helpers.