little house remodel

Dog · February 01, 2009, 08:43:38 PM

It's really beautiful Jens. Craftsman style homes have always been one of my favorites. I'm really excited to see the art glass that your mom is working on. DW must be thrilled with project even though I can't imagine how difficult it must be living in a work in progress and caring for the family at the same time.

Great idea with the kitchen storage. That is important.

Don't forget about the chair/table idea! Space saving and multi purpose usage is key in tight spaces if you want to maintain a nice clean open feel.
When you have time down the road...possibly consider designing and creating a few beautiful pieces, take quality pictures, start a website and take orders from customers. Only if cost effective of course. People like the "custom" sort of thing and you have some good ideas.

Jens · February 02, 2009, 11:52:23 PM

I just picked up a whole bunch of lumber, rough cut, anywhere from 3-8 inches wide and about 12' long. Some of the boards are 3/4" thick, most are 1" or greater. All of the pieces are weathered, and are going to need quite a bit of cleaning up and re-milling, but they are beautiful. One of them had it's face to the house today, and was wet from rain, and the grain was just gorgeous. I cut one of them, to see what the grain looks like, and I think it is all walnut! I got a truckload for $25! That is gonna be some furniture alright. A friend of mine has some quarter sawn white oak too, that I am going to use for some stuff. Thanks a lot Dog, as if I needed any more encouragement!

I have taken to making a list of items I am going to build to take to the farmers market. I figure that for a $15 fee, I should be able to do some business. I am also trying to work out ways to flat pack a lot of the furniture, and simple, yet not cheesy ways for the fustomer to then assemble them. Mortise tenon and tusk wedges are one good way I can think of.

I got the loft painted last week, and we are trying out colors on the front porch. I got about half of the front of the house primed, and we are trying out different reds for the siding, browns for the trim, and blue for the accent. Thats the only news right now.

Hope all of you are doing well.

March 07, 2009, 02:57:32 PM

just finished totaling up all of the receipts for the house here...well, almost all of them. to date, we have spent about $7000 on our little house. Not so bad, considering that all of the walls and ceilings are new sheet rock, new plumbing, new electrical, tiled bathroom, all new ceiling framing, some trim done, and all of the paint has been bought for the exterior. Probably be another $7k by the time we are done I would think.

So that brings us to about $40,000, including the purchase price. Still more expensive than building from scratch...if we already had the land, that is, and it's cost weren't included.

Loft is still awaiting its railing, built in beds, and stairs/storage unit in the bedroom to get up there. We have been testing out paint colors on the front, and have decided on a nice red for the siding, brown for the trim and framing, and blue as an accent color (window sash and such).

Finished the ceiling fan mount in the living room last week, will post photos soon.

Jens · March 07, 2009, 04:53:54 PM

ok, so here is the ceiling fan mount.

Here is the little wood stove we picked up last month. it is a Waterford 104. Made in Ireland...pretty good little stove. We may end up pulling it out of the fireplace, as a lot of the heat comes from the back 1/2 of it. A fan could help too. It is kinda nice that it warms up the brick, which then continues to radiate.

thought I'd show a few of the property too. This is the tree that will eventually have a tree house. Hopefully "eventually" doesn't mean "years from now, when the kids are too old for it"!

this is where the chicken coop and run is going to be. Still have to figure out a way to dupe the building inspector into not thinking it is a chicken run when he comes to check off the house!

This embankment had a rock wall. The rocks had all kinda grown into the dirt. We are going to use the rocks for the bases of the pergola in the front yard, and the foundation of the earthen oven and cook top in our outdoor kitchen that we hope to build this summer.

Jens · March 07, 2009, 04:55:59 PM

oh yeah, to replace the stones in the retaining wall, I am going to build a new wall out of old tires...Earthship style. They will step back a bit with each course, and be used as planters.

March 07, 2009, 09:12:12 PM

I really love your woodwork.. Amazing detail! If you ever have some time on your hands (yeah right..

) a tutorial or two on how you did some of those pieces would be awesome...

Woodswalker · March 07, 2009, 09:41:33 PM

That's a well-built little stove. A while back I posted a thread about rebuilding one just like it for my cabin. Mine has a shiny black enamel finish. Will use it for the first time when I make my first trip over, maybe next month, when snow is no longer an issue in the Cascade passes.

I lived in a house in Mpls for 26 years of the same vintage as yours. It was only 5 blocks from that bridge that collapsed. Installed a bay window in the dining room, but I like your bump-out better.

You do some real nice work. Good luck on the rest.

Sassy · March 07, 2009, 11:11:27 PM

Very nice work, Jens - I really like those dragonflies!

Jens · March 08, 2009, 12:12:16 AM

I will be making another one of those mounts for the dining room. It won't float, as there is a ceiling in there, but will mount to the ceiling. If I can remember, I'll take photos during. Don't know if there will be any carving though, it took a lot of time for the dragonflies. That's the biggest part, time and patience.

March 08, 2009, 01:19:23 AM

beautiful wood work !

you are an artist !

Dog · March 09, 2009, 03:35:45 AM

Those dragonflies look amazing! What a nice gift for your wife! They look like they took a lot of time. They're BEAUTIFUL!

Jens · March 09, 2009, 08:38:25 PM

I got to borrow a rototiller today, and tilled up the veggie gardens! The weather has been nice for the past few days. This is the first day in a while, that I actually did enough sweating to smell at the end of the day! It's hard being a housewife, and not getting dirty and smelly, I am too used to it after all these years.

To come next, a greenhouse, garden fences, composter, and chicken coop/run. Then probably back inside to finish the loft. I gotta get the food production situation taken care of before we run out of time.

Thanks for the kind words all, but Without evangelizing too much I have to say that none if it would be possible without the help of the first builder the world has ever known! It's his talent, just my hands.

Dragonflies-about 2-4 hours each I think. Done in the kitchen while learning Hebrew from the Pimsleur language series, "Hine hisa Ivrit. Hakchivu, vishan'inu". Don't know if that is spelled right, but I learn a bit more with every lesson!

Ernest T. Bass · March 09, 2009, 09:25:00 PM

You carved them by hand? I figured it was router work...

Windpower · March 10, 2009, 07:09:49 PM

you're amazing, Jens

March 10, 2009, 08:56:03 PM

Seriously, not just humbleness, as that is not my forte at all, it isn't me, I am just the one that ends up getting the credit. But thanks just the same

Jens · March 27, 2009, 09:17:18 PM

Thanks for those links, I will check them out later. Your house is pretty nice too! I lived in Barrington, NH (near Portsmouth) for a year, and know that in that area building a house as nice as yours for the cost you did it is a pretty good feat! Good job!

Joinery...well, I am a big fan of through mortise and tenon with wedges, or regular m&t with pegs, although I don't get to do too much of it! I don't have the money for beams, so I have had to figure out a new way to dress up 2x lumber and make it neat looking. I am happy with the results. I am a big fan of Greene & Greene, and Stickley. I look at my style as a kind of mix of the two, with Eastern influences (one of my original architectural loves). Japanese joinery is great, as is nordic. The stuff done with simple tools is awesome, I am hoping on, and working toward using/making more hand tools. I am going to set up a small blacksmithing corner in the yard, so that I can make chisels, plane irons, axes, and such. Not to mention, if the wife needs a new spatula in the kitchen...

I am mostly self taught, the library is a dear friend! I have been working construction for the last 6 years or so, mostly on my own. Started doing metalwork almost 13 years ago, building hot rods, and most of the skills I learned there come in very handy working wood. As far as source material goes, Fine Homebuilding, and any book (or mag) by Taunton press. Books on Greene & Greene, Stickley, Arts and Crafts in general, as well as natural building books (cob, straw, stone) are favs. Any book that has good homestead stuff in it has good basic material. The Foxfire series (both my wife's Grandfather's copies, and new) occupy our bookcase. Anything on fine furniture is a good reference for both home design, and construction of finish work. There are also a bunch of video tutorials you can watch about furniture making on Finewoodworking.com, and even youtube.

Thanks for the words. I have some new photos, mostly the garden prep, seedlings getting started in the dining room, chicken tractor, and composter. Gotta get the outside stuff done so we can get to growing! I don't think I have actually done anything on the house lately, except replace the window panes the dog has been breaking out when he tries to eat the mailman!

MountainDon · March 31, 2009, 04:53:25 PM

There's a whole series of books featuring James Krenov's work. I don't know if they are all still in print. I bought several of them 25 + years ago. He taught in CA for a time; I think he still lives there.

Jens · June 03, 2009, 10:01:54 PM

Well...between homeschooling four kids, cooking, cleaning (with mad help from the wife), trying to keep the house from exploding, doing side jobs here and there, and doing a little bit on the house, I haven't really had time to update in a while...imagine that!

I have, however, painted the house (trim still not painted), and tilled three large gardens which we then planted, and done a few small things here and there.

I can't find where my wife put the new pictures with paint on the house, or the new pics of the garden (which has gone crazy with this rain and then heat here).

here is our chicken tractor, five hens (was six, but tragedy ensued)

one garden right after planting

and a couple of weeks after, with the fencing started

the other garden just after planting

and more recently

this little guy almost got eaten by our cat, but we nursed him and re-released him

we needed a shovel to clean out the woodstove ashes...thank you state of New Hampshire!

and I built a large, three bin composter as well, that's the bottom

I have also been splitting and stacking firewood, about a cord so far. Washing machine broke, so I get to fix that. kitchen drain is clogged, so until that is fixed, it is back to the five gallon bucket drain...really makes you conserve water when you have to carry it outside and dump it! I am considering draining it through the wall and into some storage tanks for watering. My wife wants it to go to a pond with fish (small pond, not enough land for a big one) that would help to clean the water some. We got a new dog too. I will post pics of all that stuff (dog, paint, garden now, etc) when my wife is awake and can tell me where she put the photos on the computer!

Just thought some of y'all might like an update. Cheers.

Jens · June 03, 2009, 10:43:22 PM

DW woke up long enough to let me know where to find the photos.

Dog... (edit, put the wrong photo here, here is the dog)

"There's a red house over yonder..."

gardens

John Raabe · June 03, 2009, 11:17:59 PM

A lot has happened in the last few months!

Modern homesteading in new millennium?

A fine bit of creative work in any case.

June 05, 2009, 03:36:40 PM

Wow! The house and the garden look amazing!

Sassy · June 05, 2009, 03:37:51 PM

Quote from: Dog on June 05, 2009, 03:36:40 PM
Wow! The house and the garden look amazing!

I agree!

Ernest T. Bass · June 05, 2009, 11:40:17 PM

Looks great, Jens! I like the ash scoop.

Those gardens are quite a bit ahead of ours! We're still getting frosts..

Redoverfarm · June 06, 2009, 12:27:22 PM

Looking good Jens. What color is the trim going to be?

Jens · June 06, 2009, 02:48:44 PM

Thanks for the comments everybody. Frost still? Ouch! I guess you can still expect to get peas and potatoes in though. Our nights are still getting cool, but needing a jacket is quite rare.

Trim is going to be a dark brown, the same color as you see the fascia and the "beam" of the porch. The porch ceilings, window sashes, and accents will be a dark blue. The foundation will be a dark slate, or charcoal type gray.