My green remodel

The idea of a "green remodel" started after I got laid off. Yup. Me no workie. Which the "no workie" part has been quickly leading to insanity with all the time at home and me being, well, restless.

I've been intending to remodel my kitchen, living and dining rooms now for over a year. I decided to make good on those intentions with all my new-found time. But with no job, I'm forced to seek alternate ways to complete the project without spending a lot on materials.

So I came up with the notion of doing the remodel with used materials. All of our kitchen cabinets can be re-used, and Portland has an amazing resource, the Rebuilding Center, where I can buy most of the rest of the materials I need at 10-30% of market value.

There will, of course, be some items I will buy new, for example the counter-top granite. But the bulk of the materials from flooring to sheetrock to lumber to the kitchen cabinets I will seek from stuff I already have in my house or from the Rebuilding Center.


The project explained
The project targets 3 rooms in our house: the kitchen, the dining room, and the living room. Our house is a split level, built in 1972, in a fairly low-to-mid level income section of town.

The problem with the current layout is that all 3 of these rooms are isolated from each other with walls. This prevents light from the two large kitchen windows from entering into the other spaces, and prevents comfortable flow of traffic and conversation when hosting guests. I enjoy hosting parties and dinners, and have found that I have to keep the number of people down because of this major limitation. My goal with the remodel is to open it up so that it both feels larger, and more modern.

This view from the living room shows the wall that blocks the kitchen from the living room.

The same wall from inside the kitchen, where the fridge and stove sit:




The kitchen, as shown here, is comprised of a U-shaped counter, and a small area that is supposed to be a breakfast nook (I hate breakfast nooks). As you saw above, the wall between the kitchen and the living room is where the stove and fridge sit.










Below you'll see what changes I intend to make via several renderings from a 3D model I created using Google Sketchup (Free).

In this first picture, you can see that I'll move the fridge and stove to either end of the kitchen space, and get rid of the breakfast nook entirely. The wall where they used to be will be removed and replaced with 2 pillars for support (the wall IS loadbearing). Between the pillars, I'll use cabinets that are currently in the kitchen to create an island.





For those who know something about kitchen design, this change maintains the "working triangle" between the fridge, stove, and sink. The image below is looking down on the kitchen from the top. I've drawn the "working triangle" and the distances are shown (approximations only).





The rule-of-thumb of the "working triangle" is that each of the three components should be 4-6 feet apart, with the total distance between all three being 22-24 feet. This layout pushes the outer limits of the recommended total distance, and the fridge is a little far from the stove and sink. But my wife and I have agreed that's okay because the fridge has counter-tops close by and is only a short distance from the island.


Plus, none of our other ideas worked well.




Where there is currently a breakfast nook, I'll add a small desk beneath the window. This can serve as a computer desk. The window is lower than the level of the cabinets so I can't extend the cabinets there. The cabinets surrounding the fridge will be the cabinets that are currently in place along side the fridge in its current spot.






Here you can see that the stove and microwave will go where the dishwasher is now. They are 3 inches wider than the dishwasher so I'll have to extend the wall behind them by 3 inches. Easily done. The dishwasher will go where there is currently a lazy suzan. The cabinet that is to the left of the dishwasher will have to be constructed or purchased.






Finally, the living room will get a significant facelift. We'll extend the arch theme from the kitchen wall by sporting an arch over the fireplace. Embedded in the arch will be recessed lighting, and wiring for a flat-screen TV and speakers. Book-cases will box in either side of the fireplace, giving it a cozier feel. To the far right will be more shelves for stereo components, DVDs, etc.






The flooring will be upgraded to wood floors. To save money, I may use a nice-looking lenolium in the kitchen that blends well with the wood flooring throughout the rest of the space. I'll try to buy the wood flooring at the Rebuilding Center.


That wraps it up. Those are the major changes. There will be other changes such as base-boards, lights, door and window trim, etc. But this covers the most important aspects.

If you have a huge pile of money laying around that you're not sure what to do with, or construction experience and time to donate to my 'green remodel', I will be more than happy to help you make a donation to my cause!

Roadtrip

In early November, Camila and I took advantage of some unexpected time off work to travel and visit family and friends. We just got back about a week ago. Our first stop was near Yellowstone park where we stayed at my Grandpa's cabin for a few days. I had no idea she could build fires, but Camila kept the wood-burning stove, well, burning wood, the whole time we were there.


Click any pic to enlarge it, or to open the full album

From Unemployment travel

Camila has never been near snow in her life and there was a good 4 inches covering everything. It was fun to introduce her to it. She said "I don't know what heaven is like, but this is a little piece of it." I was happy that she didn't hate it because of the cold.















Here's 4 pictures of the Henry's Fork River spliced into a complete north-to-south panorama.




Camila's getting a taste of the local "atmosphere" in Yellowstone. Don't she look jazzed?






After 4 days in Yellowstone, we headed to warmer climes, St. George Utah. On the way down we stopped to take this picture of the sunset on the Wasatch Mountains.



In St. George we stayed with friends Brent and Anabela and their kids. Here are the youngest two (they have 5 count 'em 5!). I didn't get many pics of the family while I was there, unfortunately.




Brent took us 4-wheelin' during our visit. We discovered that Camila loves it! Brent has enough of them for his whole family.





And here's how you know when a family goes 4-wheeling together often... when the kids can sleep on them like this (click to enlarge the image). This is Joanna passed out on Brent's 4-wheeler:







We took Brent's guns with us and did some shooting that same day


























Camila wasn't a total fan...




























Not to deter any future 4-wheelers, but that day Brent flipped his bike and shattered his fibia just below the knee. I had to call 911 and get him to the hospital in an ambulance.



Hope that wasn't bad karma I brought with me...



After St. George, we headed North, to Salt Lake. We stopped on the way up and drove through Zion's National Park.



Where Camila saw osteriches for her first time...





We saw breathtaking scenes like this one...



...and this one.







In Salt Lake we visited Doug and Amber. Doug is a long-time friend of mine, and a story unto himself! He's the living McGuiver, my hang-gliding companion and now my scuba buddy. He's also a scuba instructor, and for our wedding gift, he started Camila on her scuba certification and gave her a mask. I love these two like family!











In Salt Lake we spent most of our time with my Sister Shauna, her hubby Terry, and their kids. They took us 4-wheelin' too!








We went out with as many friends as we could while we were in town:

(1st pic) Dan & Patricia & Miriam; (2nd pic) Starley & Justin, Shauna & Terry.







(3rd pic) Lucinha & Mario; (4th pic) Lucineide




(5th pic) Mary





We visited Temple Square. This was a special treat for Camila, it was her first time seeing this first hand; She's only seen it in pictures.









At the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial building, the old Hotel Utah.


























Our FINAL stop was in Idaho Falls, where we spent Thanksgiving with my parents. And can you believe.. I didn't get a single photo of Thanksgiving! Just these of Camila commandiering a go-cart for the first time..








Oh, and this one of Me, Jade, Ryan, Dad, McKenzie and Keaton.








So...... It's now back to the grindstone, & the arduous task of looking for.. ouch, I almost can't form the word without hurting my face muscles:



"W-o-r-k".