Pumping Iron

These pieces of wrought iron were originally balcony railings! 

We were living in our old house at the time, and loved how they would look on our slate patio.  So we decided we to them into an outdoor table & buffet.  Mike removed the bottom bars off all three pieces, and then bolted two of the frames together to form the table.  The other frame we left single- to be the buffet.   

The big question was: What were we going to use for the tops? 
Mike's father came up with the idea of  concrete.  We figured these would hold up well outside, and they did!  Mike & his dad built molds & poured the concrete.  Everything turned out really nice!
  

Hard to see with the chairs in there!



The buffet in the background

One thing we didn't plan on was how we were going to move them (we weren't thinking that far ahead!)

They were HEAVY.  I mean HEAVY...

As in five strong men, a hand-truck & a dolly couldn't get them onto the moving truck!

Mike's brother had the quote of the day with "Only my brother would be trying to move cement!  And why do I have a feeling that my dad had something to do with this?" 

Needless to say, the table tops didn't make the move!

Let me pause here to say- we owe our friends & family BIG TIME for helping us with the move!  We had a seemingly endless amount of furniture & boxes... plus a baby grand piano... and in the pouring rain!


SO grateful for these guys! 
(Plus my brother- don't know where he went off to during the photo op!)

Now back to the yard furniture.

So, here we are left figuring out what to top them with... again. 

I'm hesitant to do another round of cement. 
Not that we're planning to move anytime soon- but I would like the option of moving it around to different spots in the yard without hiring an elephant!



I've considered glass, but worry about safety with the kiddos.  Perhaps we'll wait until we're selecting the stone for our new kitchen counters & see if we can get a deal for ordering it all together.  I love a good deal!
Any ideas are welcome!  Just keep in mind that it needs to be all-season (or at least able to be left outdoors for the spring & summer).



Before

After

In the meantime, as much as I liked the patina that was developing, I wanted a more crisp & clean look.  

Being topless (ahem- the tables) gave me the opportunity to re-painted the iron. 
I also touched up all of our other wrought iron yard furniture, while I had the black spray paint out.



So, another project stands half-complete.

I have dreams of hosting lawn parties (or more likely kids' parties) and creating brightly colored table skirts to go behind the iron.  Party planning- my second passion!

Update to Design Meeting 2

Getting Closer!

Updated floor plans & elevations of concept 2D came in from the architect. 
(And these should look better on the screen, since they were sent to us as files, and aren't photos taken with my phone!)

First Floor addition





Second Floor addition

Rear Elevation



Side Elevation



Design Meeting 2

The second design meeting really threw us for a loop... 

There were too many good ideas to choose from!  By increasing the footprint just a few feet, there were so many more possibilities!

As expected, the second floor was the easy part, so we tackled that first.  The increase in square footage made a big difference to the size of the office.  It also allowed for some additional linen closets off the hallway (since our current linen closet is up on the third floor hallway). 

Here's where it now stands:

Now came the hard part...
We were presented with four new concepts for the first floor.  Each of them addressed the concerns we had with the first set of plans.   But there are other pluses & minuses to each, all quite minor, considering what we're currently working in! 

Here's a round-up:

Concept 2A

+1/2 bath is tucked away from the kitchen, & easy access from the outside (thinking BBQs, kids playing outside)

+Generous size powder room

-Kitchen "triangle" is too wide

-Walking from the family room, past the fridge seems weird

Concept 2B

+Provides nice view of back entry from family room
+Bathroom is tucked away from kitchen & easily accessible from outside & family room
-Kitchen area feels a little too compact

Concept 2C

+Kitchen area feels more open

+View of booth/eating area from family room
-1/2 bath will be viewable from kitchen, if bathroom door is left ajar (which my boys are bound to do)

Concept 2D

+Kitchen area is very open
+View of booth/eating area from family room
+More counter-space provided
+1/2 bath tucked away from kitchen, yet easy to access from outside & family room
+When entering the back door, you'll see through the kitchen to the Butler's Pantry display cabinet

We honestly could have been happy with ANY of the designs that were presented.  But we have to choose one!

I'm sure you can tell by the number of pluses, along with the pencil markings- we're going with Concept 2D.

This was actually a last minute brainstorm that the architect had the night before our meeting... so there weren't any exterior elevations drawn up yet, and we talked it through a bit more during our meeting.

There are few adjustments being made to Concept 2D before our third design meeting:

-Entryway to be covered porch, not just a stoop.

-Doorway from family room to be moved to the left, allowing for a larger pantry cabinet to be placed next to the fridge.

Now we turned our attention to the exterior.

Even though we didn't have exact drawings to match Concept 2D, we talked thru the other drawings since the window styles could be interchangable.

Didn't like



Liked, but wasn't sure about symetrical placement

of upstairs & downstairs windows



 



Balance of windows is better.
We sketched an entry options on this one.





This is the window design we're going with.  Lots of light!

  









So, another week and we should be finished with the design discussions.  Then the architect will work on the Construction Documents, so we'll be able to put the project out to bid!




Update!  Quick Links to our progress:
Design Meeting 2 Update
Design Meeting 3

Minds in the Gutter

Okay, more like "minds ON the gutter... AND the drains... and keeping the water OUT of the basement"!

Mike has been doing a lot of re-grading around the foundation, and it's helped tremendously with the dampness in the basement- Irene & Lee really put it to the test!  (And although we still got some water, it wasn't nearly as bad as it was the first week we moved in.)

The biggest part of the project involved creating a drainage system on the East side of the house.

Water kept flowing under the basement door, so Mike got a drain to go on the outside of the threshold.  (And looking at this photo, I need to get out there with a scrub brush, pronto!)

Anyways, that drain then combines it with the gutter drains from the roof, along with the sump pump drain that comes out from the basement under the front porch--->

<--- Check it out!  Three sources into one pipe that will drain on the opposite side of our driveway (so it won't create a sheet of ice across the top of the driveway in the winter- like it would have if we left it!). 

Of course, this meant digging a trench across the driveway... between hauling out that buried bathtub, pulling out shrubs, and digging this trench, that tractor is starting to pay for itself!

After testing the water flow, Mike buried the pipes, added gravel on the path, and we were finally ready to make it look pretty!

We re-cut some old slate that had been found in random places through the yard.  These were used to create a path to the basement door. 

We lined the path & the flowerbeds with big rocks that had been dug up from around the yard.  We'll work on planting the flowerbeds next spring.

On the "To Do" List:  I'd like to get some moss to fill in the cracks between the slates, as long as that won't interfere with drainage.

The part I'm most looking forward to will be paving the driveway.  The boys will have so much fun riding their bikes, using chalk, & playing basketball on it!  But we have to wait until the kitchen addition is complete- no sense in doing the driveway until the heavy equipment is out of here. 

The upside for waiting- it'll give us a season to make sure the new drainage system is working like a charm!

Design Meeting 1

I'm falling behind already!
We're getting ready for our second design meeting, and I realized I didn't post the results of the first meeting.

For background, here's the floor plan of the existing first floor:

The sun room will be ripped down, and new construction will begin there.

Here are the design concepts that were presented in the 1st meeting.

Concept 1:                                                                                     

 Concept 2:

We feel Concept 2 is closer to what we're looking for.  My favorite part is the Butler's Pantry design!

There are a couple of items we've asked them to work on: 

 - Perhaps reduce the size of the mud room- it doesn't need to be an actual room, but just an area where the kids can take off their shoes and hang their jackets.

- We don't want the island to be the only eating area in the kitchen.  We like an island for food prep/serving, but prefer to have a breakfast nook, or built-in seating that we can sit together & eat as a family.

- We want the family room to connect thru to the kitchen, creating a circular & more open flow.

We know that's a lot to ask for in this modest space, but they are going to take that feedback & we'll see what they can do.

The upstairs plans are almost perfect!

The office & laundry room (at the bottom of this image) are the new items.

The only thing changing here is flipping the closet door from opening in the office to open in the laundry room). It's  necessary because our house's septic system is only for 4 BR & having a closet in the office makes it a fifth "bedroom". 

Once we expand the master bath into the room on top left of floor plan, we'll lose that "bedroom".  We could then switch the opening of the closet to the office side- IF we decided we needed a closet in there.

We feel really great about the exterior design:

Proposed Back of House



Proposed Profile of House



We did ask them to add a couple of windows to the profile.  But otherwise, we really liked how well it will look with the rest of the house.

So, now we're off to the second design meeting.  I can't wait! 

Update: Quick links to our progress!

Design Meeting 2

Design Meeting 2 continued! 

Design Meeting 3