Furniture in Process

After we had bought a round table from Floyd and a matching round side table, we decided to custom make some matching pieces.  One is a set of wall cabinets that will sit on the floor (we wanted a narrow depth, that's why we used wall cabinets) and a rectangle side table.  Our good friend Alan kindly painted the maple cabinets (Shaker style doors) and fabricated/finished the tops to match the profile of the tables we bought from Floyd (using Baltic Birch just like them).  

^--- New furniture in Alan's workshop

^--- This is the side table from Floyd

 

 

Our son moved into the second largest bedroom, so we are converting his old bedroom into a den.  We're playing around with what furniture/bookcases we can fit in it given the existing geometry of the room.  Software is a great help in visualizing/arranging furniture with given constraints.

Basement Update November 2022

For the basement, I'm working on prototype for a rectangular side table to match the other tables we purchased for the room...since the manufacture does not offer one in that shape. It has to be of Baltic Birch plywood and exposed plies on the edge to match. The purchased tables look like they took 12mm and 18mm sheets and glued them together. Then put a 45-degree bevel on the bottom 18mm sheet. I put together a *very* simple prototype (without the bevels) to get an idea of how it has to fit the space. I'm currently working on proper dimensions, getting a beveled edge without plywood rip-out, and legs (color and their orientation). Here's some pics...

^--- This is the table shape I'm trying to mimic. 

 Notice the 12mm and 18mm (top/bottom) sheets of 

plywood and then the 45-degree bevel on the bottom 18mm.

^----- This is my simple prototype to see how it fits the space. 

I have 12mm and 19mm Baltic Birch plywood sheets together, 

but I have not attempted doing a 45-degree bevel.

 I will first try and find the proper size top to fit the space 

(probably 15"x30"). The current legs are Ash.

^----Playing around with some leg shapes. 

On the far left is my prototype. 

Moving to the right I have the beveled lower top (18mm/45-degree).

 On the far right are metal legs that I have ordered to see how they look.

^--- Every DiCarlo endeavor needs a fictitious company behind it.

Basement Update October 2022

 Our basement is not fully completed, but we have made progress.  We still have to paint/stain the cupboards we will place below the TV.  And we still have work to do on the stairs.  And we need to get a lounge chair to replace two old leather chairs.  But here are some pics of where things are now...

Basement Remodel 2022: New Furniture

We were looking for a simple table for the basement to use for card playing, puzzle assembly, etc. We didn't see much of what we liked, so we opted to try a domestically made table. We also got a matching round side table for it... I plan on making a rectangular table in the same style (using Russian/Baltic Birch Plywood...something a bit scarce these days due to international relations). Next thing is to get chairs to go with it.

If we lived on a cartoon show...

 

I found a service where they create a stylized graphic image of your house from a photo.  They send you images for approval, so you can fine tune them before they send you a print.  Originally they had our house as a cream yellow (bottom image).  Which we quite like.   Maybe a future change.

^-- The real thing (no CGI here)

^-- I think they draw geographic shapes over the photo.

^--- Maybe a future color of our house?  We like it.

Basement Scope Creep

 The scope of our basement remodel keeps increasing.  Unhappy with TV consoles to put under our rather-large TV, we decided to put built-in wall cabinets underneath it.  So they should come out about 14" from the wall vs 20 or so with most TV consoles, buffets, credenza's etc.  

I bought an unfinished maple cabinet from Menards that is Shaker style like our kitchen.  I'm painting it as a test to see if I can get an acceptable finish (to keep costs down).  My hope is I can avoid (at this point in my life) learning to spray paint cabinets (including getting all the equipment, space, etc.)

^--- A 12" wide unfinished maple cabinet as a test case

^--  Using quality primer and paint

^-- Seeing how it looks under the TV.  

We'd put in two 36" wide cabinets centered below the TV

^-- The maple cabinets have maple veneer ply sides

Materials Arrives for Basement Stairs

 

We decided to re-tread the basement stairs with solid red oak to be consistent with upstairs.  We used to go to open houses years ago for ideas, and one thing that always jarred us was rooms that were completely different styles from each other in the same house (ex: colonial rooms, but a European modern kitchen).  Our main floor stairs are solid red oak, so thus the consistency.  We now have the materials acclimating to the house's temperature and humidity and installation should be in the next few weeks.

^-- stairs as they are right now

^--- 13 Treads and 14 risers

^-- Solid red oak

^-- In basement acclimating to humidity level

The new ceramic tile floor has been installed in our basement. Here's some photos.  We bought the house in 1998 and installed two 4'x4' egress windows in 2003.

↑ Our basement in 1998

↑ The floor has been leveled

↑ Tile installed, almost ready for grout

↑ Molding painted and installed

2022 Basement Remodel - All Locked in Now

 Yesterday we went to the tile shop to make a deposit on the tile (we're going with 3.75"x23.75" sized tiles). At this point we're locked in on everything for our 2022 basement remodel: palette, fabrics/furniture, and flooring. Here's what it looks like. The sectional will be in the olive color and the ottoman will be in the striped fabric. The yellow ("Belvedere Cream"...love that name) will be one of the walls painted to act as an accent to the rest of the "Porcelain" colored walls. The project should be finished in July sometime.

Gas Insert Installed in Basement Fireplace

This week our remodel of the basement continued with installation of a gas insert in the fireplace there.  We went with a quarter-sawn Red Oak mantle to match our kitchen cabinets and wood floors throughout the house.

The contractor showed up at 8am

We never did anything with our basement fireplace in the 20+ years we've lived here.  We put drywall in the basement in 2003, but have used the basement mostly for storage that whole time.  The flooring still needs to be replaced (most likely with porcelain tile).

Before and after photos

Here's an example of what our kitchen cabinets look like (to give an idea of the color/shade):

Photo of Kitchen Cabinets being Installed circa 2007 (quarter-sawn Red Oak)

The contractor gave us left over stain that they used.  I'm putting it in here in case I ever need to add something in Red Oak and I want to match it.  The second photo has the color codes used.

Our Home's Palette

 This is the palette of colors we chose to paint the interior of our home.  The main colors we used are:

• Porcelain - walls through most of house
• Cascade Green - master bedroom, goes nicely with mission furniture
• Copen Blue - upper walls of dining room

Sherwin-Williams Streamlined Years Color Palette

An interesting aside.... here are two Sherwin-Williams cans of paint. On the left an old empty can I found from 12 years ago and on the right the same color (0053 "Porcelain") purchased last week. At first I got nervous because I saw different amounts of tint in each, then upon closer examination I noticed one was using BAC colorant and the other CCE. Now if I could just figure out what the difference between BAC and CCE is.

SW 0053 PORCELAIN

Sherwin-Williams ColorSn…

sR = 231.078

sG = 223.096

sB = 212.621

#E7DFD5

2022 Basement Update

 Our big project for 2022 is updating our basement.  This will include new flooring, furniture, paint, and installation of a gas fireplace.  There is still much to be done/decided, but here are some diagrams of what we are working with:

Diagram of Basement Dimensions

Diagram of new furniture placement idea