Home Remodel

Originally, the kitchen brought in little natural light. The two ceiling lights in the middle of the room created shadows when working at the counter.

A missed opportunity. The upper cabinets were installed on the main kitchen area’s South facing wall cutting off the abundant natural light.

This is an extension to the kitchen whose door and wall blocked the afternoon light. Additionally, the inward opening door’s swing radius limited table / furniture placement.

The West wall of the kitchen extension was almost entirely removed to make way for an 8 foot sliding door.

A full wall of natural light creates a more open, enjoyable space without needing to swing open a door that may be blocked by a table.

In preparation for a 5 foot gliding window, the plaster on the South wall was removed.

The reeded glass side and basement doors replaced solid doors adding even more Eastern light.

In addition to the natural light, five-high CRI recessed ceiling lights were installed at the front-edge of the to-be countertops.

Fully integrated under-cabinet LED light stripes illuminate the work surface. The lights are hardwired to a dimmer switch, allowing for working or ambient lighting.

In-cabinet LED lighting adds an additional layer of light.

To support the load, two 2”x10” boards, with a rip of 1/2” plywood sandwiched in the middle, were added spanning two jack studs per side.

The pocket door frame was assembled, shimmed and installed into the rough opening.

The drywall needed to be shimmed out from the pocket door frame to be in-plane with the existing plaster wall. The other (bathroom) side was drywalled with the rest of the bathroom.

More space, better flow. The doorway opening was increased by about 8” from the original while eliminating a door swing radius and the space it took up.

Small spaces feel larger with a wider doorway and less obstructions (in this case, an inswing door). To literally and optically make the space larger these corner walls were removed to make way for a pocket door and built-in cabinet.

The location of the HVAC register limited the placement and size of the cabinet + countertop.

Looks like the perfect spot for a built-in cabinet. The hallway closet space was re-oriented to be accessible from the bathroom, adding ~20 cu. ft. of total storage space.

The built-in cabinet was designed / built as two units to make installation of these almost 30” deep cabinets more manageable in such a tight space.

Two fillers and crown were scribed / installed for a fully integrated look.

Blum’s full extension, undermount 27” drawer slides provide easy access and ample storage.

Re-orienting the HVAC register — now exiting from the toe kick — allowed for more cabinetry design options whereby adding storage/counter space.

Ample storage under the sink with an added drawer.

This cabinet sits over the register providing storage for smaller items.

The previously carpeted stairs with a fairly narrow stair skirtboard made swapping out the previous stair treads and risers with new ones impossible as the new, deeper treads would have stuck out past the skirtboard.

The skirtboard was original, well-done and in decent shape so the best solution was to add a wooden upside-down “L” piece onto the top of the skirtboard.

The wooden “L” pieces were scribed to the wall and biscuits were added to the bottom the “L” piece and the top of the skirtboard to ensure they were flush to the face of the skirtboard.

No fasteners were used to attach the “L” pieces, just glue and biscuits. Since there was no way to use clamps, I used rope looped around the temporary stair treads and a piece of plywood. To add tension, chop sticks were twisted in the rope loop, in turn, putting downward pressure on the “L” piece.

After glue-up. Before primer/paint.

The finished result.

After shimming and screwing down the original sub-floor diagonal planks, sheets of T&G plywood were glued and screwed to provide a flat, sound surface for the hardwood flooring.

The 4’x8’ plywood T&G sheets need to be cut to fit.

High spots were belt sanded for a final flattening. Then, Bona’s Moisture Barrier was applied to the plywood subfloor.

Hardwood planks need to be acclimated to the home’s environment. To allow for air circulation each level was separated by wooden stickers.

Now for the exciting part, laying the flooring! Straps (plus glue and nails), held seams together tight.

Finished with several coats of tung oil before cutting, scribing, painting and attaching floor/door moulding.

We wanted to open up the space to allow light to flow from each side of the room. The closet at the top of the stairs seemed awkward and limited the window size. Given the rooms length, it seemed like an excellent room for 10’-13’ wide plank hardwood flooring.

Nothing says enjoyable like another bathroom! This closet is positioned directly above our downstairs bathroom which made it a natural place to run plumbing for a sink + toilet. All of the plumbing work was completed by Kentwood Plumbing & Heating.

After removing the closet at the top of the stairs, drywall was added to the ceiling and knee wall.

Before preparing the sub-floor for hardwood flooring, blown-in cellulose insulation was added to each of the joist bays.

The hardwood flooring was installed. More details about the install can be found here.

Two 5 foot wide windows were installed by Window Specialists, which brought dramatically more light into the dormer and the stairs. I later trimmed out the windows, which can be seen here.

To add some natural light, a small square window was added above where the sink will be installed.

The finished bathroom. Here are more details about the home’s bathroom vanities.

A section of the basement was stick framed and drywalled by a previous homeowner. Besides awkwardly dividing up the space, proper steps were not taken to prevent mold growth behind the walls and on the home’s concrete foundation.

After cleaning the mold, the walls and floor were patched, primed and painted.

New 120v and 230v power outlets were installed by Wolverine Electrical at the future tool locations. Overhead LED lights were daisy chained together to create squares of light to ensure there’s never a dark spot on the work piece.

Scaled drawing and machine footprints helped optimize the space and guide the best places for electrical outlets.

Using a stair gauge, I installed two 1.5” XPS foam insulation in each of the rim joist bays.

This is where the magic happens. All machines (even the table saw) are on casters so the setup can be easily reconfigured to fit just about anything I’m cutting, milling or building.

Here are the design drawings that clearly shows each of the fence components. Be sure to only use stainless steel fasteners or risk having rust marks dripping down the fence.

Our fence is ~75 linear feet so we collected 180 Red Cedar pickets. Try to purchase as many knot-free pickets as possible; avoid pickets that have big knots especially at the edge. Acclimate them in the garage, preferably separated into levels.

Perfectly plumbed posts in a straight line are crucial especially because the top cap will need a consistent reveal on each side at each post. The posts are installed too tall with an extra ~6” above your 6’ mark.

Use a string line to mark the top of your posts (i.e. 6’), make a reference pencil line then using a circular saw cut at your line. If your circular saw blade is to small to cut the post in one pass, make a jig to help your kerfs line up. This may leave a small uncut area in the center which can be cut using a pull-saw.

Install the top cap to the posts and top rail with stainless steel screws . I had to splice (i.e. miter cut) four-16 foot Red Cedar 1”×6” boards together.

If you have sloped ground, step down (or up) your fence sections rather than following the slope with a parallel layout. This is more subjective than structural, but I think it makes the fence panels look more intentional.

At the corners of a level change add a small block to provide another attachment point besides solely the top rail.

If you like your neighbors, 3/4”x3.5” Red Cedar trim can be attached to top and bottom of outer face fence side.