Renovation // Transformation

We've been busy here at RedneckModern, but not on our own house. While waiting for Diane and Greg's window to arrive, we polished off the final touches on Michael and Iris' laundry nook.

Oddly, we've become quite proficient at laundry-area conversions after reconfiguring our own and Laura and Chris' (and helping with two others). In Michael and Iris' model, however, there's only a tiny space for the machines and no way to really hide them, so the goal was to make it more functional as well as more of an eye-pleaser.

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Michael and Iris’s Laundry NookRead More »

The bath has been gutted; new tub installed; plumbing, electrical and tile are all completed (all by me… with some help on the demo). The last remaining element is the new window which will come in another week. In the mean-time, here are a few iPhone photos (I'll bring out the big camera after it's completed).

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In Process: Diane and Greg’s bathroomRead More »

Tip #1: When loading mulch (sand, gravel, etc) into your truck, put a tarp down first… it makes clean-up a snap and allows you to either (1) pull out a load of mulch onto the ground in one fell swoop or (2) get that last wheelbarrow full of material by rolling up and dumping the tarp.

Tip #2: Check out EcoMulch… the load of mulch above costs $8 ($29/cubic-yard… this is 1/4 yard). This is the "mini — while the "mini" is a bit fine, the "large" is a bit large for my tastes — at least this grinding (I'm sure it varies a bit). It's processed locally… therefore has a lower carbon footprint vs. mulch shipped from Oregon.

Today, we're having our windows "filmed" with 3M's Ultra400 from Climate Pro. Living in a house of glass, safety is — of course — a main concern, but the UV coming through the window isn't kind to furniture either. This film should help with both.

The Ultra400 is fairly clear. Initially, it looks a bit milky, but Dave, the installer, assures me that that will dissipate as the film dries and bonds to the window.

Drop Dan (Dan Nazaroff <dan@climatepro.com>) a note if you're looking for a good solve for safety and light/UV protection. It isn't cheap, per se, but the alternative — a broken window, an injured kid and/or fade furniture — isn't acceptable.

Casie has done a great job keeping her Esty shop — ModApple.net — up to date and in order, but the changing light was making photography tough. Plus, we were using the dining room, which meant that — on shooting days — our house looked like an antique shop.

I had wanted to use the garage as a storage and "processing" space for her and it dawned on me that it'd make a nice shooting space, too. Even without flash, the light in there is pretty good and we just needed a space to do it. Enter Ikea.

With two inexpensive Ikea tabletops and a pair of odd Sweedish hinges we found in the shelving section, we were able to fashion a folding table. And, as luck would have it, the spacing between the standards in the garage door where the perfect size to house the "background" tabletop.

The shopping list:

• 2 Ikea Vika Amon table tops matching in size (we used a white one and a walnut one)
• 2 Ikea Ekby Riset adjustable shelving beackets (hinges)
• 2 fender washers, 2 machine bolts, 2 wingnuts (to replace the Ikea hex-head nut)
• 2 Ikea Ekby Lerberg brackets (to support the weight of the table when down — the keyhole design of these make them easily removable when the table is not in use)

Because of the left/right nature of the hinges, I needed to replace the Ikea bolt with a flat-head phillips M5 screw (27cents at Ace) so that they would fit snuggly against the tabletop. Presently, I have wingnuts on the bolts to loosen/tighten, but I've discovered that — while the hinges and their "teeth" are strong — they aren't strong enough to support the weight, so I'll add a fender washer between them to keep them from biting (which is how the hinges were made to work) and add a simple swing-out brace to brace the table when it's down or add some strapping (think: top bunk on a sailboat). I'll add more pictures when I do.

So, now — for maybe $45 — we have a collapsable shooting table… and a clean dining room.

We're finishing up some of the last, lingering projects here and are close to calling the house "finished" (after which, I'm going to have to find a new project… I've a completely disassembled vintage motorcycle in my garage that might serve well there).

In this case, our friend Sean surprised us with a "mind if I crash?" note a few weeks ago. I was thrilled to see him (and I don't use that word often), but we had just had TJ and Stefan over to demo the remaining part of the hall bath which left any guest shower-less. As they say, nothing like a quick deadline to get you motivated, and we hopped into action to finish off the bath.

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Bath and BeyondRead More »

We've done a lot of painting in the past few years — we're by no means "experts", but we've learned a lot. Of course, the old adage holds true: prep work is 90% of the job — something I learned the hard way when trying to skip wet-sanding when priming my first car for a re-spray (oh, to be sixteen again…).

Most recently, we've learned to make sure you invest in good product, choose that product wisely (the most expensive is not always the best choice) and be wary of label-claims.

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Cover the EarthRead More »

The locks in the house have been a bit of a mystery for a while. The original company, Sargent, isn't making home locks anymore (actually, they never really did) and the original styles are long out of manufacture.

We've found a Schlage lock/knob that's a good replacement, but the smaller bits and pieces are harder to fit together — for instance, how can my 40 year old sliding door handle lock work with this new Schlage key?

This is where Craig at Rex comes to the rescue. We worked with Rex in Berkeley for our old place and loved them and were glad to see a Rex literally "just down the street" at 3511 Clayton Road.

So, if you're a Concord Eichler owner, Craig is the one to see… he's a great knowledge of the homes and how the locking systems (and that remote entry system) work.

What a journey. The before shots are exactly three-years old and taken on the first two tours of the house. I've taken some shots and comined them for a side-by-side view.

Here's a few quick links to more robust photo spreads:

After shots (shot for DWR prior to their photoshoot at the house)

Before shots (shot the day we looked at the house // post with link to Flickr.com photostream)

(More side-by-side pictures after the jump)

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Before, During and AfterRead More »

Our friend, Michael, asked for a few shots of the house. We were behind a bit in documenting the spaces, so it seemed like a good time for a few updated shots.

(More pictures after the jump)

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A Thousand WordsRead More »