studio loft: desk progress
A few weeks ago, we showed you those two big reclaimed beams that we bought to build a work surface for the studio loft space. It would be easy – two beams turned on their side and connected together. Boom! Insta-desk!
But of course, it’s never that easy.
We had a rough idea of how we wanted to install the desktop, but before we made any cuts or bought any supplies we came up with some detailed hand sketches.
The sketch above is a section through the desktop. Originally we were just going to biscuit the hell out of the joint where the two pieces meet, but after a chance meeting with a woodworker named Burly, Kyle arrived at a better solution. (More on that later.)
For the connection to the wall, we went with our original idea of using steel angles. The dimensioned portion of the sketch above shows a plan view of where the angles would go on the walls and the larger section detail in the middle shows how the angle will attach to the wall and wood. Once we had the design fully flushed out, it was time to take stock of our inventory, buy supplies and get on with our building business.
First, Kyle cut the steel angles to size and then grinded the edges smooth.
Next, he marked the locations of the holes…
…and used a center punch to create a divot for the drill. Definitely don’t want your drill going all wonky on you y’know.
To set the holes even further he used a high speed steel countersink to create a bigger divot.
Next he loaded a high speed steel drill bit into his grandpa’s old drill press and occasionally dipped the bit in cutting oil the keep it from overheating. (If the bit gets too hot it dulls down really fast.)
After the holes were drilled, he then made a proper countersink so the screw heads flush out with the face of steel.
Meanwhile, superintendent Bailey keeps an eye on the operation.
After all of the holes were drilled, Kyle used his angle grinder with steel brush attachment to smooth everything out and prep the steel for painting.
Enough with the steel, time for wood! In addition to biscuits and glue, Kyle decided to install four hidden pieces of 3/8″ all-thread that would literally tie the two pieces of wood together and create a stronger connection. To do this, he first had to drill a series of parallel 1-3/4″ deep holes using a 1-1/2″ diameter forstener bit. To ensure he wasn’t over drilling, he kept an eye level view as he went, stopping when the blue tape line on the drill bit was aligned with the top of the wood.
Ta-da!
Next, he attached an auger bit and drilled through the side of the wood, in the same line as his previous top-drilled holes. See where we’re going with this?
With a steady hand, he guided the drill until it connected with the other hole. We debated using the drill press for this but Kyle has a calibrated eyeball and mad drilling skills.
The long, skinny hole was sized to accept a piece of 12″ (3/8″ diameter) all-thread. Success. Phew!
But before anyone gets too excited about fasteners, Kyle still needed to chisel out a portion of the round hole to make a flat surface for the fender washer and nut to bear on.
Once the holes were all cut, we realigned the boards so Kyle could mark biscuit locations. (Since biscuits are like a type of tongue and groove connection, you have to be precise that you get both sides perfect so everything fits together.)
Then he used his biscuit joiner to cut thin, wafer-like slots along the entire length of each beam.
Taking a break from all that sawdust, Kyle set up the steel angles on his welding table (with an old canvas sheet on top) and gave everything a nice even coat our favorite automotive gray-black primer (same thing we used on the barn door track and loft ladder). As you can tell by the lack of sunlight, he’s officially been at it all day.
Back to the wood – Kyle calls this part “biscuits and gravy”. (Mmm…) Before inserting the football-shaped wood biscuits, he squirts a generous amount of wood glue into each slot. (Side note: we used this same process to join two pieces of lyptus for our kitchen island, saving a ton of money.)
Once all of the biscuits were inserted, we slipped in the 4 pieces of all-thread and pushed the two slabs together.
We needed the help of a few large clamps, but there she is, in all of her connected glory. (Note: we worked with the slab upside down so we could more easily install the hidden fasteners, so that’s why the wood looks a little less-than-perfect.)
Finally, Kyle used his nimble fingers to install a fender washer and nut to each end of the all-thread. You’ll never see this connection unless you’re laying under the desk. And no one is going to do that. Except maybe for Felix. And we don’t make design exceptions for judgmental cats.
Here’s a top view of the all-thread connection. Pretty clever, huh? If you had x-ray vision you would see the piece of all-thread buried within the slab. But you don’t, so you’ll just have to trust us on this one.
The last thing we did that night was to install the steel angles (the primer drives super fast).
We used 3″x3″x3/8″ steel with fasteners at stud locations (which we figured out beforehand as seen on Kyle’s sketch). The wood desktop will be fastened from the underside through the screw holes in the top of the angle.
Structurally, we didn’t need continuous lengths of steel and this was also a much cheaper route to take. Additionally, the gaps between angles allows a slot for cords to go (since we’ll be holding the wood off the wall by an inch or so).
I can’t wait to get the big sexy slab up there. But first we have to finish the wood. (And when I say “we” I mean Kyle. No fumes for preggers.) In fact, Kyle is outside right now sanding it down. Then there’s epoxy filling, more sanding and applying a few coats of finish. Oh, and devising a way to get it into the loft (hint: strong and willing friends).
Still, not bad for a day’s work. (Who says Sundays are for relaxing and rejuvenating?)
Oh, I also thought some of you might be interested to know how Kyle and I tackle a project. For weekend tasks like this, Kyle usually does a majority of the manual labor (he’s detail-oriented and good at being “in the zone” for long periods of time) while I take care of all the other tasks that we don’t have time for during the week (laundry, bills, dishes, etc.). That’s not to say we’re not a team though. In fact, we’ve devised this high-tech messaging system for when Kyle needs a hand with something or wants me to take some photos:
Poor guy, I assumed “Elmo” was one final plea for help. Damn you auto-correct. (For the record, I tend to just act out charades (like putting food in my mouth) in front of the back door till Kyle sees me.)
So yeah, not an easy project, but that’s how we roll. If we’re lucky, in the end it will look elegant and effortless, masking all of the hard work, sawdust and time that went into it.
our design process
I had this post ready to go last week, but got all caught up in the Homies frenzy. Speaking of, you guys totally pulled it off and we placed 3rd in the prelims! That’s huge considering last year we landed in 27th place. We feel so grateful for the support of our readers, friends and family. So again, thank you. We are up against some very popular and well-established blogs and truthfully, we’re feeling a little bit like Bon Iver at the Grammy’s. In other words, we know we’re underdogs in this, but we’re excited nonetheless. So with that, we’d appreciate your vote one more time. The polls have officially reopened with voting ending on Friday (March 9th) at 3:00 p.m. EST. And if you don’t vote for us, at least vote for our friend and fellow indie blogger Daniel of Manhattan Nest.
Now, back to design and stuff. During my purging frenzy in January, I came across a stash of sketches and doodles that I’d saved since we started remodeling our house. (I love me some nostalgia.) Even though we use AutoCAD a fair amount, we always start out sketching. It’s a fast and easy way to think about a concept without getting hung up on technical aspects. After the initial pencil on paper, we usually move on to SketchUp, a free program that’s intuitive and great for quickly visualizing spaces or ideas.
Anyhow, it was fun to look back at early design ideas, so we thought you might get a kick out of seeing where our brains have been these last 5+ years.
Not long after we bought our house, we were out to dinner one night and (over a bottle of wine) came up with the idea to remodel our garage first. It would be a test run of sorts – a way to explore ideas without worrying about getting it perfect. Well, we eventually came to our senses (err, sobriety) and realized that we’d rather have a nice living space before a nice garage. It would have been a sweet garage though – and it will be, someday (although now we’re toying with the idea of doing a second story as a mother-in-law of sorts). In the sketch above, we were also messing around with different porch ideas and getting a window into our attic space.
Our garage is a clunky melding of 1910 gabled roof with a 1960’s carport tacked on. Although we’ll probably keep the same footprint, everything else has to be redone. Will there be a shed roof in our future? This is the Pacific Northwest…it’s our favorite roof form!
Moving on…our first major project on the house was to tear off and completely replace our roof. (That was the worst project! THE WORST!) At the time, we considered adding a second story but just didn’t have the funds for such an endeavor. A few years later, while planning for the big interior gut job, we thought about a small pop-up roof but also nixed the idea due to feasibility and costs.
And we don’t regret that decision. Instead, we decided to make the most of the volume we already had. Slicing through our SketchUp model (below) helped us figure out how we could create a vertical shaft that would help tie the three levels together (while also pulling cooler air up from the basement and exhausting warm air out through the loft – hell yeah!).
We’ve never really shared this on the blog, but we went through SO MANY plan iterations for the main floor. In fact, we spent the first couple of years fixing small things and thinking about what the hell we were going to do with our small house. For practical and home value reasons, our main objective (other than to make it less ugly) was to add a second bedroom. Easier said then done my friends.
Idea #1 – Add an addition off the back (to the right of gridline 2) that would accommodate a bedroom and big bathroom. (You can see the original floor plan here.) This still felt awkward, didn’t really solve all of the problems and would have been more expensive. (It also would have reduced the size of our backyard.)
Idea #2: Similar to #1, but a smaller bump-out that wouldn’t look totally out-of-place. Ok, but the second bedroom would be tiny. We also didn’t love how inefficient the kitchen layout was and the entry was still all sorts of awkward.
Idea #3: Add a tiny bedroom where the old back porch was and move the kitchen over a bit. We also had this badass idea to do an elevated living room (where the two couches are shown) – by raising the floor framing a foot or so, it would create a cozy living space while providing a better ceiling height for the basement room below. We also already had plans at this point for some type of loft. Getting better, but not hitting the sweet spot just yet.
Idea #4: We took idea #3 and shuffled things around – the kitchen went back towards the yard and the second bedroom would be a tiny “flex room” of sorts – essentially a box in the middle of a great room space that could be a nursery or small office. Notice the date on my phasing lists (2007) – WISHFUL THINKING!
Here’s a sketch Kyle did of our raised living room concept. In this version we had the loft over the back half of the house with a sweet wood-burning stove on a raised slate plinth. Vaulted ceiling and exposed beams – sexy, but way too much framing manipulation for our poor centurion house. Ultimately, we landed on the layout we now have. For us, it was the best balance between economy, efficiency and good design. Adapting old houses for 21st-century living is not always an easy task, but when you finally nail it, you feel like you’ve done a small part in advancing society.
In the random department, this is from our bathroom project in ’08. This is typical of my sketching – notes or to-do lists superimposed on sketches.
In 2009, we got busy on the exterior. Here’s a sketch I did looking at different color options. For a while we considered keeping the trim natural wood, but that would have been considerably more expensive and we’d already done the roof. We did end up with a gray-blue paint color, but darker. Sootier.
See what I mean?
Through the powers of SketchUp, we also explored a few other color combinations – at the time we had a thing for ochre (a close cousin of our BFF mustard yellow), but it just didn’t feel right. We needed something that would contrast more against all the wood and brown colors elsewhere.
We’ve also given a lot of thought to furniture, mainly pieces that are built-in and/or do double duty to make the most of a small house.
At one point we considered a built-in banquette for the dining area with the backside of the bench seat being a media cabinet for the living room. Once we demolished our space we decided that there wasn’t enough room to warrant something like that. Again, a good call in retrospect. The sketch at the top was an idea to build something in the flex room that could work for a home office and then a nursery. Well, this remodel stuff always takes longer than you think so we decided to just skip the home office phase and DIY a kid instead.
In lieu of the banquette/media cabinet, Kyle designed this low-slung unit (probably sans TV though). It was going to be built last year, but we continued to futz around with the design and now it’s on the back burner so we can make time for higher priority projects.
For the kitchen, we both did a lot of sketching. With a blank slate before us, we wanted to make sure we were thinking about every little detail. Obviously, this wasn’t the final version but going through the process was invaluable. (On that tangent, always a good idea to hire an architect, especially for small spaces that require a high level of efficiency!)
Before the stair cabinet fauxdenza or the loft, Kyle did this sketch of a possible stair guardrail. We were also going to do a little bench and message center of sorts between the bedroom and bathroom, but that was before the sliding door concept came to fruition.
I did this SketchUp model for the basement, oh…about three years ago. It’s close to our final plan, but instead of a little nook with a desk, we’ll probably do a linen closet of sorts (since the desk will now be in the loft). For now we’re just focusing on the right half of the basement – the laundry room and second bathroom will have to happen later.
Last spring, we were exploring design ideas for the back deck and awning and Kyle did this sketch. As you may recall, the deck got a bit (ok, a lot) bigger and we still haven’t built the awning. (This year? Maybe?) At any rate, the design challenge here (as it is with any building in Seattle) is how to provide protection from the rain while allowing light through. In our case, it also provides a way to BBQ the other 10 months out of the year. So yes, the awning design needs a bit more thought and we still have steel panels laying in our driveway, ready to build that second planter box. Good thing our future daughter isn’t going to care about the backyard for a while.
So there’s a snapshot of the last 5+ years of our life. Yeah, we’re having fun.
zerbebe update: it’s a…
We had our big 2nd trimester ultrasound today and were beyond excited to see a healthy GIRL!
Most of our family and friends were predicting a girl (as did a few old wives tales) and we couldn’t be happier. With three boys in the house already (Kyle, Bailey and Felix), it was high time we leveled the playing field a bit. It’s been a big day and although it’s all still sinking in, I find myself thinking about things down the road – like taking her to see the Nutcracker for the first time or going shopping together. My sister just had an adorable little girl a few weeks ago (the first grandchild in the family!) so it’s exciting to think of the cousins being BFF’s. Kyle is equally thrilled and has already committed to future tea parties with a guy friend who is having a little girl in May.
Now that we know the gender, it’s time to start thinking a bit more about the nursery. On our design page, you’ll notice a certain lack of information on the current floor plan. We intentionally left the flex room blank because it’s secretly always been designed as a nursery. It all started two years ago, when we were getting ready to gut most of our main floor. At the time, neither of us had baby on the brain, but we still wanted to make sure we wouldn’t be making any major mistakes with the size or shape of the space. So we did some research and put together a rough layout that has lived on hidden layers in our AutoCAD file ever since.
For those of you that might be new to the blog, here’s a glimpse of what the room in question looked like when we closed on the house about 5 1/2 years ago:
Before moving in, we tore up the dark green carpet, got rid of the green couch, then proceeded to paint the walls green. Huh.
In the spring of 2010, we tore it all apart:
There was a subtle framed opening separating the 1910 living room from the 1910 dining room, but because we wanted to make it more of a separate space, we added a framed wall with a smaller opening. We thought about just adding a standard door, but thought it would look awkward and the larger sliding doors gave us more flexibility as our needs change.
The space has served mainly as a TV room since then, but we did transform it into a temporary bedroom when we had our house appraised last year. (The wardrobe was purchased intentionally for its ultimate use in the nursery.)
But back to the floor plan – since that quick layout we drew up a couple of years ago, we’ve made a few tweaks since and the current plan for the room looks something like this (click to enlarge):
The obvious starting point was to put the crib under the small “piano window”. Even though we’re not slaves to symmetry, it seemed to be the right solution, both functionally and compositionally. Next, we decided to dedicate the east wall for storage. It will help serve as acoustical barrier from our bedroom on the other side of the wall and is the only solid wall in the room. Our plan in to use a single IKEA Pax wardrobe (39″ wide) in lieu of a built-in closet. With the different interior fittings available, we can easily reconfigure the inside to adapt with our little girl. Next to the wardrobe, we’d like to find a nice dresser than can double as a changing table (and then just be a dresser down the road). We’d love to find something used that just needs a little TLC, but no luck yet. Above the dresser we’d like to have a floating shelf for extra display space.
Although we have doors on the current wardrobe set-up, we’ll be storing those away and using a curtain system. Unlike our bedroom where we have a curtains hung on a suspended cable system, this time we’ll be looking into a ceiling-mounted track to prevent any sagging and provide a safer set-up for little hands.
We also plan on keeping the West Elm chevron rug that is currently in the space. Next to the larger window on the west side of the room, Kyle is going to build his daughter a low bench with storage cubbies underneath. The bench could act as a window seat of sorts and the cubbies could eventually hold books and toys.
In the corner we’ll put some type of rocker or glider and a place to rest our feet. We also already installed a ceiling fan/light combo that will stay.
As far as colors, fabric and all of those other decisions – we’re still mulling things over and doing a ton of research. More posts to come over the next 5 months!
Oh, one more thing. If you haven’t already, you still have two more days to vote for chezerbey over at Apartment Therapy. Only the top six nominees move on to next week’s final voting so we NEED YOUR SUPPORT. It only takes a couple of minutes, but it means so much to our competitive little souls. And when I say “our”, I mean this little girl too:
Look at those two little feet kicking around. Seriously, at one point during our ultrasound she had a foot in her hand, practicing her best Chuck Norris moves. It’s obvious that even the littlest Zerbey means business when it comes to competitions.
And that’s my last shameless plug for this week. We are so grateful for the support we’ve already received, but we know that there are still some slackers out there. (Yes, you.)
downton dog
Hi. You guys are awesome – a big thank you to those that took the time to vote for us in the Homies contest over at Apartment Therapy! If you’re new here, welcome!
Although the content of our blog is mostly home-related, we like to pepper it with random posts about our pets. Bailey is our 6-year old golden retriever and Felix (aka “kiki”) is our 8-month old rescue cat. Sometimes we dress them up.
The weekend before last we had some friends over to watch the Downton Abbey season finale. Felix had been neutered a few days prior and with his “cone of shame” and medical gauze bow he was looking ever so dainty. So naturally, the logical next step was to make a matching top hat for Bailey.
Ok, so he looks more like Abraham Lincoln than Matthew Crawley, but quite dapper nonetheless. That evening, I attempted a photo shoot with the two of them. It was not very successful. The room was too dark and the boys too squeamish, but these photos make me laugh all the same.
Felix is doing just fine and is a bit more loving after 3 days in his plastic bubble. My only regret is that we didn’t pull out Bailey’s cone and have a good ol’ fashioned cone-off. Next time.
Also, don’t forget to vote! (Note: you have to scroll to the bottom of the page to login in or sign up (if you don’t already have an Apartment Therapy account) in order to vote. It’s an extra step, but one that helps keep the process more legit.) Only the top 6 nominees move onto next week’s final voting and our competitive personalities simple can’t handle defeat. I mean, look at Bailey’s pleading face…do it for him! DO IT!
P.S. – if animals dressed in period costumes isn’t your thing, stay tuned for upcoming posts on the studio loft desk and design ideas for the nursery!
homies 2012
It’s that time of year again! Through this Friday, you can nominate your favorite home-related design blog for the 2012 Homies awards on Apartment Therapy. The following week, voting will open for the top nominees and the winners will be announced on March 9th.
Chezerbey is currently in 10th place in the home design category – to add your vote, just click here. (And a big “thank you!” in advance!)
I have found a ton of great blogs during past Homies contests and with link pages becoming less prevalent, it’s an easy way to see what’s new and hot.
In fact, it’s been a while since I’ve added blogs to my Google Reader, so I’m in the market for some new material. What are you guys reading these days? Anything I should know about? My current list is mostly home/design related blogs with a few on cooking and sustainability/green building thrown in for good measure. I’m also curious about thoughtful and interesting pregnancy/baby blogs (in other words, nothing super cutesy or over-the-top) if you have any recommendations in that department.
But first, get on over and vote! It’s Oscar night and I’m feeling extra competitive.
