Virtual Tour of the nearly completed remodel!!

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Back Porch

The back yard looking at the corner of the living room on a typical rainy July day. We planted tomatoes in our built in planters. You can see the different paint colors we are testing on the top above the windows.

Nursery

I am 7+ months pregnant and nesting like a maniac. My girlfriend Erin Barnes is a former bedding designer and currently works as an interior decorator. She helped me sew the Marimekko birch tree curtains that my mother in law brought back from Finland. She also designed the baby's quilt. My friend Megan helped me do the rest of the sewing for the baby bedding and helped pick the wall color. The bedding is all organic cotton and the prints on the blanket and bumpers are by designer Amy Butler. The crib is a "Sahara" crib it is made with environmentally friendly and sustainable materials. All materials, glues, stains and finishes are 100% non-toxic.

Master Bath

Master Bath with original turquoise sinks and bathtub. Pegboard slider built ins above and below sinks. The shower is not pictured but is a large walk in to the left. We will update the bath floor eventually and keep going back and forth on the rest of the bath because the fixtures are gorgeous and streamline and the turquoise keeps growing on us. However the shower has some rot issues that you can not see but you can smell. Our tile guy thought it was most likely rotten sheet rock behind the tile.

Master Bedroom

Floor to ceiling windows overlooking back yard. The wool carpet replaced the original wool carpet that still looked pretty good but was smoked damaged beyond repair. The best features of this room include the built in bed frame, all house light switch control panel and original Pella slide closet doors and dressing room not visible from this angle.

Kitchen

The laminate counters, mosaic tile back splash, lighting, Frigidaire custom imperial pull out cook top and oven, Hobart dishwasher, and cabinets are all original and in perfect condition. The new additions are a cement terrazzo tile floor made here in Portland and a Fisher Paykel fridge that fit perfectly in the small space. The cabinets are like the European kitchens you see in design magazines where shelves pull out and double lazy Susan's are in every corner to maximize storage space in a compact space. It is the most efficient kitchen we have ever had the pleasure of being in. We are still in the process of covering the fluorescent ceiling lighting. The old covers had severe smoke damage from cigarettes.

Dining Room

I love this room. On the right hand side are floor to ceiling windows like the living room and the left hand side and ceiling are redwood tongue and groove panelling. The original parquet floors were refinished with water based finish. The pass through to the kitchen has copper handles and a brass lattice screen that gives the house a NW Asian flair. Original fixture. The shelves are a EBay score, made in Norway they are brass and teak and look like they where built with the house.

Living Room

Original refinished oak parquet floors, floor to ceiling windows, Redwood panelling, rainbow stone fireplace with built in planter with outside drainage, ceiling has built in lights and speakers.

Entry Way

Entry way facing to living room. Rock walls and redwood tongue and groove siding along 1/2 stair way to living room, built in tile top shoe cabinet on the back side and TV/stereo console on front, clere story windows, copper light fixture and cork floor. All original.

We finally picked a floor for the kitchen after a long search. I was determined to do a material that would work well with radiant floor heat, be something similar to what you may have found in a 1950's house and be a green as possible. Terrazzo was what we first had in mind. We used the Bisazza terrazzo that Pratt and Larson carries in our last kitchen on the counters but I wanted something continuous and the largest tiles they have come in 24x24. They are also really thin and we both worried about them holding up to major traffic, and pots falling on the floor. I am a clumsy cook. Searching for a terrazzo layer here in Portland Oregon was much more challenging that I had expected. I must have called a dozen different tile stores and no one knew of anyone doing poured terrazzo floors. I worked on a major Art commission 6 or 7 years ago that Marybeth Llorens of Eugene Oregon did with poured terrazzo benches like Gaudi's in Spain. She gave me the name the guy here in town that made the benches but he was elusive. I called another guy with the same name and he asked me if I was looking for the Terrazzo guy and went on to tell me he wasn't sure where he was now and that he had gotten a few calls like mine over the past looking for this "lost artist". I made a last desperate attempt to find a terrazzo person before having to start looking into Washington or California contractors and called my friend and all time favorite tile person Alyssa at Pratt and Larson. Alyssa knows everyone in town and she also has an awesome eye. She is also witty and dry which I love. She put me in touch with Stephen Sedler of Counter Endeavors at 503.438.0766. Stephen's work is on display at Pratt and Larson, he does gorgeous custom concrete counters unlike any one's I have seen before. He gave me a short education on terrazzo. There are epoxy based terrazzo's that have a chemical base and have toxic off gas. (oh yummy!) There is also cement based but according to Stephen the cement base has to be thicker. 1.25 inches is what he figured my kitchen floor would need to be. That puts a load of 20-21 pounds per square foot of dispersed weight on the floor boards. The epoxy based bisazza tiles are hardly 1/3 inch high. The epoxy tiles I ruled out because of the chemical base. The worst off gassing is the 10 hours following the pour, however I didn't want a tile made off site that was a chemical mess someone else had to deal with either. The cement based terrazzo was appealing but the load on the floor as well as the cost and mess sent me back to the drawing board. The product I finally settled with is a cement base terrazzo tile actually made right here in Portland that I found at the Environmental building supply. The cost was expensive and it turns out to be one of the few products they don't give a contractors discount on so there were no breaks. The total expense for 120 square feet was just under $3000. Cheaper than the poured floors but double the Bisazza terrazzo or a natural stone tile. It is a white cement with agates ground down in it giving it a subtle color variance and hides stains and dirt beautifully. I didn't get my continuous surface but I feel really great about the decision and the fact that its made locally was a huge selling point. The best part is that it reminds me of Zoltan's favorite beach, Smelt Sands near Yachats where he will lay on his belly for hours combing the small agate beach for the prettiest nuggets and gems. Once my friend Leslie and her husband Aaron, Zoltan and I spent an entire day just laying on the smelt sands combing for treasure. Now that its installed it looks like it has always been there and that was the design goal in the beggining.