Happy New Year from Modern in MN
Despite the fact that my guest room is still working overtime as a furniture graveyard, and I've still got that room plus a few other walls that are dressed only in dirty white primer, we bit the bullet and had a real, more-than-six-guests kind of party. Hopefully the first of many!
It was the official Modern in MN New Years Day Brunch Open House, and I've already decided it's going to be an annual event. True, it's a dead give-away that we're not big New Years Eve partiers because I had to get up before the sun to do last-minute prep, but it was well worth it and it's a genuine pleasure to spend time in my kitchen, even at the crack of dawn. We (and hopefully our guests!) had a lovely day enjoying great food and the company of friends, some of whom we've not seen since we were mired in projects and construction debris. Many tours were given, the glass deck was party tested, and if our friends and acquaintences didn't think we were crazy just from the stories, they sure do now :)
Rumor has it that Modern in MN is a hit with the kids, and thankfully the glass deck held up just fine to their craziness. Whew!
Proof that I do, on occasion, get up early in the post-construction era:
The sun rises, and the spread awaits:
Happy New Year! Here's to my quest to bring you some more down and dirty DIY in 2009!
It was the official Modern in MN New Years Day Brunch Open House, and I've already decided it's going to be an annual event. True, it's a dead give-away that we're not big New Years Eve partiers because I had to get up before the sun to do last-minute prep, but it was well worth it and it's a genuine pleasure to spend time in my kitchen, even at the crack of dawn. We (and hopefully our guests!) had a lovely day enjoying great food and the company of friends, some of whom we've not seen since we were mired in projects and construction debris. Many tours were given, the glass deck was party tested, and if our friends and acquaintences didn't think we were crazy just from the stories, they sure do now :)
Rumor has it that Modern in MN is a hit with the kids, and thankfully the glass deck held up just fine to their craziness. Whew!
Proof that I do, on occasion, get up early in the post-construction era:
The sun rises, and the spread awaits:
Happy New Year! Here's to my quest to bring you some more down and dirty DIY in 2009!
posted by splatgirl at 3:47 PM
22 Comments:
I'll mention that your house looks incredible, love the countertops in the kitchen!
Could I bother you for the latest and greatest on your Ofuro tub? I'm dying to know how you sealed it! Does it ever absorb water? How is it working out for you?
Cheers,
Christian
Hi Christian
I haven't sealed the ofuro, so yes, it does absorb a bit of water...a non-issue, IMO. We've never been big bath takers so it's rarely used, and I consider it a work in progress, just like most everything else about the house.
Can you tell me where you got the shower curtain? And are there more rooms you haven't revealed to us yet? I love color, tho my house isn't as saturated as yours (guess I'm not that brave, tho there's not a white wall in my house), and can't wait to see more!
Hi Beth
The brand on the shower curtain was Echo Home, on clearance at Bed, Bath and Beyond, so who knows if that print is still around or not.
The only rooms I don't think I've ever fully shown are our workout space and the guest bedroom. Neither are painted or officially finished. The guest room should be happening shortly, or as soon as I decide on a plan.
So many colors, so little wall space :)
Thanks, I found it - it's called Lucky Stripe shower curtain, but I'm not feeling very lucky - it's out of stock/discontinued everywhere. *sigh*
I was hoping that you might be willing to provide some more insight into a project that you've already devoted quite a bit of attention to. I think that your "Blue Lagoon" bathroom is incredible and I would like to try to incorporate several of your ideas into my bathroom. In particular, I would like to use Ikea kitchen base cabinets for my vanity and pour my own concrete counter tops but I'm slightly concerned that the finished product will be a bit high for shorter folks. Was this a concern for you? It looks like the center module of your vanity is a two door cabinet that you somehow shortened. Is that correct?
Thanks,
Craig
Hi Craig
I used a regular base cabinet that I trimmed to make it shorter, and the "floating" cabinet is an over the fridge 30" wide by 24" deep by 15" high.
As you can see, the drawer stack is only three instead of the normal four. I cut about 3-4" off the height of that carcass, but if I had been thinking, I'd have cut it down by the height of a full drawer front and used the 6" legs instead of the 4". That would have let me avoid having that little bit of horizontal filler at the top.
You def. don't want to leave that cabinet just hanging...because of their depth, even without anything on top of it, IKEA's spec is that they need to be supported from below.
The two carcasses are ganged together on the side they share. IIRC, this was using just the regular IKEA gang bolts. On the other end, the floating carcass is lag bolted from inside, through the side wall into the studs in the wall it's up against. I think I used two big (1/4" dia.) lag bolts on each one.
I'm sure you could concoct any number of other ways of supporting the floater but in this case since both vanities abut a wall on that end, I figured this was the simplest.
You have such great taste!
I love LOVE LOVE your kitchen!! You have done such an amazing job of maximizing your money. Your countertops are awesome...I can't believe you did that all on your own!!
Thanks Megan! Although I can't take all the credit for the construction aspect...I did have the fabulous Boy as helper and sous-creator.
Hello Splatgirl.
My name is Marta, and I write a blog in Spanish decor, Decoesfera. I would love to have your permission to publish some photographs of your home and do a story on my blog.
Love em home, and I'd like to share with readers in Spain.
I do not speak English and therefore I translate these lines to the Google translator, I hope you read it right.
A greeting and thank you very much:
Marta / Fiona
Hola Marta!
Yes, that would be fine.
Thank you very much, when you published will tell you.
A hug:
Marta
I just stumbled upon your website from Apartment Therapy and I love it! Yaaay, a new blog to be addicted to. Anyhow, I was wondering if you could share the yellow/green color of your kitchen. It's exactly what I'm looking for!!! Thanks!
yay! so glad you're here
it's benjamin moore chartreuse
oh, and it took FIVE coats (on what seems like an acre of wall plus 14 window jambs) to cover. Might try it in the Aura line, as from what the website says, it's tinted primer plus one finish coat. I don't believe that, myself.
Spaltgirl Hello, I have already published the first part of the story on your house, hope you like it, I wrote a lot of affection, you know that I love your house.
A hug:
Fiona / Marta
http://www.decoesfera.com/casas/casas-poco-convencionales-un-espectacular-loft-en-minnesota-i
Hi Splatgirl,
I've followed your blog for a while now, finding it on Livemodern.com and I've really enjoyed following your journey. I'm now about to embark on my own building of our dream home in St. Paul. We're almost done with the final drawings with the architect and I'm wondering......how are you liking your concrete floors? All along we've wanted them because of the look, the maintenance, just the "cool" factor, but we worry about it being hard on our body from what we've heard. We'd really like to do it, depending on budget, as well as radiant heating, but just haven't been able to 'talk' to someone who has them. Any sage words for us?
Thanks,
Heather in St. Paul
Hi Heather
Pros:
indestructable
best vector for radiant
industrial looking
ready substrate for any other flooring should you want a change later
Cons:
indsutrial looking
dark and shiny shows every particle of crud.
hard. you do get used to it. I'm on my feet in here ~10+ hours a day and I'm fine as long as I have my beloved Keen sandals on.
A whole house raidant system is the kind of thing I'd go out of my way or make concessions in my overall design to get. It's the BEST. THING. EVER. I never,ever want to live in another house without it. (Now that the prices are much more sane, I would also do geothermal.) I wouldn't say the same about concrete floors, particularly if you are building a "regular" house that won't accommodate traditional concrete on the above grade levels because it's wood framed...meaning I wouldn't go out of my way to get "concrete" there. For a basement slab that you'll have anyway, why not (assuming you heat it)?
Thanks so much for your info. We're so torn right now. We love the clean, industrial look of concrete, but do worry about the wear and tear. Our home will be contemporary (we're finalizing plans tomorrow), so the look would be amazing. We're definitely in for radiant heat as well, but we were looking at concrete on the main level. Our house will be a walkout, so it will cost more to sustain the main level if we went with concrete. If you go to shelterarchitecture.com, our house (well, the back, south-facing side) is on the main page. They're our architects.
We too would like to do geothermal. I think our lot would sustain it, it's just up to budget at this point.
One last thing....sorry to bother you with questions--you've just experienced so much with your build....any suggestions or products that you like for a second choice after concrete? We want to walk in, not take our shoes off and yet still have the floor look at one big piece of flooring. I'm not a big tile person and wood, we just don't know if we should go dark or light, if we go that route. Thanks for your insight. It really has been nice to follow along your journey :)
Heather
If it's strictly a concern about comfort, I guess I don't think there's much difference between standing on concrete and standing on tile, which to me would be the logical alternative. Something in a large format, rectified, so that it can be set with an extremely narrow grout joint and I think you'd get fairly close to approximating the seamless look and color of concrete. Do your homework if you decide to go this route, however, because large format tile is demanding of an extremely rigid floor structure...moreso than current building code/spec, or it will crack.
Another alternative that comes to mind would be some type of poured material, either rubber or epoxy. It seems like this is more common in Europe, but I really don't know much about it other than it looks cool and is seamless. Also not sure what type of substrate these are appropriate for.
No matter what you do, I'd go with as light a color as you think you can live with, unless you're tolerant of imperfection or have a cleaning person that comes every day. My floors came out very dark (which I thought I wanted), and even though I am SO not a neat freak, I feel like I am constantly either vacuuming or bemoaning the need to. Dark floors, two cats and a dog, big open spaces, no carpet and everything on legs is like the perfect storm of cleaning nighmares.
I haven't been paying a ton of attention lately, but know there are/were lots of newish products and people experimenting with concrete-look veneer type products on/for the floor that would save you having to make structural mods yet still get you that look. Maybe check the LM archives, as the topic used to get tossed around there constantly.
Post a Comment
<< Home