In the begining.....

Editorial Rating:

Reader Rating: ( 0 votes)

Have added the new category of masochism. Some will find it humorous. Will have gumbo for dinner. Will be good.

Downstairs as I call it consists of three rooms: two bedroom sized spaces and a medium sized bathroom. These three rooms will serve as bed and sitting and bath for parents.

I'll upload pics that show the progress of this project. Bought the house 3 years ago. Original part, towards the left of the image is a two bedroom affair with kitchen and living. The addition consists of the gridded window element and the rest of the structure to the right. The grid used to be all jalocy (sp?)windows, a series of horizontal glass vanes between the studs. I removed and kept them all for a new project.

The downstairs as i call it, because it is on a slab and lower than the original pier and beam structure. Looks like at some point the original structure and the addition received a roof and asbestos siding treatment that integrated the whole structure to read as a piece.

The downstairs was never really finished out and appeared to be a romp/game room/camp type space with two 11/17' rooms and a 6/11' closet. There was a doorway between the rooms.
The Bedroom:
What I did, made the opeing bigger. Raised the floor in the closet for sewer pipes, plumbed it for a shower and sink and toilet. Took out the 8' cieling up to the roof, also took out the cieling joists keeping the members at each end to form a soffit and connected the two with another soffit that runs the 17'. I studied Franky Lloyd Wrights stuff and couldn't help myself. Used to live in Chicago and was able to intern at his home in Wisconson for a few weeks while they were planning its restoration. Since his interior arch influenced many others it kind of only makes sense to keep it semi contemporaneous and I've seen the soffit used in similar homes. They're a good place to put lights and make it cozy and relieves the effect of slanting cieling.


The roof pitch is very shallow, like a prarie, so it's not like having cathedral cielings....I plan to insulate and sheet rock the cieling, add a fan and after it's painted I'll add trim to the cieling surface that will delineate the structure behind the sheetrock, this will break up the blankness of the cieling and is another device from Franky's builings that I like. I can decide if I want to use wood or aluminum "L" (more on that later).

The bath:
The bath is 6x11. At one end I built a shower from scratch, not so bad but I did need a book and I looked at lots of examples. it is 6/4'. I plumbed it in copper, nothing too fancy on the hardware. Did buy recommended valve that won't get so eaten up by central texas water, it's made by Grohe ($$)+($). Got shower head from the same. Bought boxes of 1/1 slate from Lowes...cut them into 6/12 units and installed them like brick. Looks good, better, in my opinion than 1/1 squares. I have worn out the blade on my friends tile saw. Tile work is slow and I had plenty of it. Would have been faster had I not cut them but not the same result. See pics. Had to figure out how to terminate edges of stone. Came up with .5 inch aluminum extruded "L"/angle iron..will put one end flat on the wall and secure with screws, cover wall with mortar and set the stone atop the mortar with the aluminum uder it and the other edge will meet the stone,terminating it nicely. Will use aluminum around the door and in the two non stone corners

We found ourselves choosing metallic paint for the bath too. Counter will be a retangular piece of black granite we've had for years with a white, surface mount sink and modern faucet that comes out of the granite with a spout that shoots into the sink.

Current state shows sheetrocking of soffits, and all but one piece of water resistant sheetrock in the bathroom. Cutting sheetrock without completely wasting a sheet or two is a humbling experience.
The sitting room is about the same size of the bedroom, it's cieling is higher,but sports a popcorn cieling...ack, couldn't do all this fine work and then look up to regret not treating the cieling. Will remove ceiling which is only sheetrock and will put quarter inch plywood above the cieling joists, it'll look good and will be easy to do I hope, I'll paint it white. More on this room to come. Priority is with the bath and bedroom. There will be a passage into the rest of the house through the sitting room. We've bought sliding barn door hardware for this. OK that is all for now.