Modern pattern

I really like this carpet pattern. That's all I have to say about it.

Cork

cork_colors
Originally uploaded by japunto.

Floor tiles made of cork are another strong contender. They're warm, quite, resilient and soft to the step. And, they now come stained in a variety of colors. We're thinking of using it in the bedrooms.

Marmoleum

I didn't realize Linoleum had left, but apparently it's now back. It's supposed to be relatively inexpensive when compared to hardwood, warm and soft when compared to polished concrete, and eco-friendly when compared to everything.
This one is a tile based system called Marmoleum.

3form

We met with James today (Erin's in Cincinnati, so she web-cammed in) and he said that the surveyors didn't come up with anything to be worried about. We do have to push the north side of the addition in by four inches, but that won't be a problem.

It's astounding how fast things are moving -- James is getting the structural engineer to look at the plans already. We're very excited about the designs and solutions Leanarch is providing -- they are proactive like you wouldn't believe which is just terrific. Neha found some beautiful pieces of furniture to place in the two hallway circulation nodes -- I'll post pics of them soon.

And then there is Varia. James brought this happy little box of material samples from a company called 3form that he wants us to consider for the sliding doors on the activity room. They laminate all sorts of designs, textures and materials between sheets of ecoresin (no, I don't know what "ecoresin" is either) and they look highly awesome. I'm crazy about the typographic one called courier.

Reading room

We love our peace and quiet. Or, at least, we imagine that we'd love it if we got to know it. Toward that goal, we proposed to James and Neha that the balcony overlooking the courtyard be redesigned as a small reading room.
This certainly won't further our other goal of lowering the cost of the addition. And I worry that enclosing that section will hurt the overall design, but we'll see what he thinks.

The Third Dimension

I've been working up a 3D model of the addition using Maya and rendering it with mental ray. Here is a view of the rear of the house as if you had displeased a knotty old witch, she had turned you into our garage, and you had opened your eyes and looked to your left a little bit. (What'd you say to her anyway?)

Construction begins

Not really. This is a photo of a house being built with giant styrofoam/particle board ice cream sandwiches. They're called Structurally Insulated Panels. They are built at a factory to measure and then assemled on site -- no need for traditional framing. We're looking into this because we've heard that they can save on construction time/cost, as well as being very energy efficient.

Everybody Wow

James and Neha (designer on the project) came over on Friday to show us the plans. In three words: Greatly Exceeded Expectations. We are in awe of the design they developed. I'm going to post cleaned up versions of the plans and elevations based on the CAD files soon, but here's a grainy, stitched-together scan for now.

I love the incorporation of the existing house with the modern style of the addition. Clean lines, lots of light, tons of added functionality.

Everything on the left-hand side of the image beyond the chimney is new. Two steps down from the (larger) living room take you to the activity room, laundry, storage closet, small bathroom, and the guest bedroom. The guest bedroom will have a rear wall made of sliding glass doors that pocket into the wall, allowing for indoor/outdoor living. Please sign up early to stay with us in these lovely accommodations.

I'll write more about the interior once I post images. I'm also busy building a 3D model of the plans so I can shoot some QTVR movies or a flythrough to put online.

I recall James once saying that "this is the fun part" of doing a house addition, and I couldn't agree more. I'm sure the heady excitement we feel now will be neatly counterbalanced by the realities of construction. And paying for it. But for now our only job is to request small design adjustments here and there and start researching materials, finishes, hardware and colors. Yay us!

The plans

James is coming by today to show us the plans he's drawn up for our addition. To use the vernacular, w00t!

Park Oak House

This is another house recently completed by our architect, James Meyer. Maybe we can scrap the whole addition idea and just move into this place. It's in the Hollywood Hills, so it shouldn't cost much.

Vladimir's mosaic

vladimir
Originally uploaded by japunto.

My friend Vladimir at thinkforward.org has written an algorithm for generating a variety of beautiful mosaics. This is my favorite.

Erin's screens

Here is the quick model I did of the type of screens we were thinking of getting for dividing the living room. I'm not sure what kind of materials we'd go with, but maybe some kind of dark wood frame with a plexiglass-made-to-look-like-rice-paper interior would work. That or chicken wire.

Just some pretty pictures

open02
Originally uploaded by japunto.

I'm uploading some scans of a house I like. We've got to get off our butts and call the architect to see how the plans are coming. Hopefully that'll make for more exciting news than this lazy post.