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.

"Green" Paints

More than ever using a low/no VOC paint is really important to both Zoltan and I. I am pregnant so the obvious health issues are a huge factor. I also plan on helping with the painting because I am a perfectionist when it comes to paint and I cant stand the idea of trusting someone else to cut in the trim in a few key areas I know I will look at everyday. If I am going to have my nose to the wall Zoltan insists its safe for me and the nugget. I started my search with the YOLO paints. They are a local company that does no VOC paint. I splurged and spent the $20 bucks on the color samples so I could see what inspired Zoltan and I and would accompany the multi colored flagstone and woodwork that repeats in the house. Too be honest I found the palette a bit blah. I did like that they have few choices because who really needs a million to choose from?? The children's collection Sprout was too bubble gummy and for my tastes I found the others too be a little too earthy. I felt the same about the Devine line that Miller carries. The colors are specifically formultaed for the NW but they have been around awhile and I feel like the palette is becoming a bit dated. However I did use their paint color Reef in my last house and it was anawesome compliment to some bedding I got at Design within reach and it looked great with anything stark and white giving it a very modern look. The names of the Devine colors are so great too its easy to just fall in love with the idea of Horizon walls and Skyline trim. I must have splurged on their sample pack a few houses back when I painted my dining room 3 times (a red and 2 different yellows) before settling on a calm and beautiful grey "divine frost". Luckily my fellow mid-century enthusiast friend and fellow agent Shannon Baird was coming by the next day to see the house. Shannon does interior design work as well as real estate and she lives in one of the most incredible MCM (mid century modern) homes in West Linn. I can count on her to have great taste and really creative ideas even on a small budget. She turned me on to Benjamin Moore's Aura paints. She had the palette in the car and we looked at them together for ideas. I loved the subtle modern colors they have. Luckily for those of us who arent as gifted when in comes to choosing colors, every color in the pallette matches each other. Really quiet remarkable when you consider there are hundreds of colors. The paint is thick and even the flat paint is washable. They will also give you huge color swatches for free- much better than the small business card size swatches from YOLO I paid &20 bucks for. I went to Powell paint and got more info on the line. First off the people at Powell paint on SE Powell are the friendliest, most helpful people ever. There is a Powell paint in Tigard too. The guys at the counter could not stop gushing about how great a product the Aura stuff was. They said they have had contractors say they aren't using primer underneath because the paint is so thick and consistent it coats in 1 coat. We had pink walls with years of smoke damage and for the most part they were right. The paint is double the cost of the cheap stuff but my time was cut in more than 1/2 not having to do a second or third coat in places and skipping the priming. I choose "deep in thought" on Shannon's suggestion to go with a bone color that would create a soothing backdrop for the woodwork and architectural features of the home. The color is gorgeous and very soft with the light. There is a ton of built in lighting, some of it flood and fluorescent and it really softens those areas where the light might be harsh otherwise. The nursery I did "celestial" a soft blue that hardly looks like much color at all until you fill a room with it. What blows my mind is why paint manufacturers don't make all paints VOC free. This paint blew all the other paints I have ever used out of the water. There doesn't seem to be any reason to keep the nasty VOC's in there.

Refacing Cabinets

One of the pure joys of living in this house is the sheer volume of storage space. Zoltan and I for the first time ever have a place for everything. The master bedroom has built in dwarers, closets and cabinets as well as more storage in the headboard and side tables of the built in bed. The bed almost doubles as a command center because all of the lights can be controlled from the headboard. I have always been a weenie when it comes to the dark so imagine my glee that I can leave every light blazing on the way to bed from one end to the other and quickly turn everything off with a touch of the button. The relay system the lights are on are totally groovy and feel absolutely futuristic. (60 years later!) Back to the storage... All of the cabinets in the master are beautifully framed plywood boxes that were faced with burlap as the decorative facing. Faced with the mind boggling decision of what to replace the worn out burlap that had suffered plenty at the claws of the former owners cats I started searching the wall paper books at Miller paint. Wallpaper seems to be everywhere right now in all the design magazines and the prints are totally hot. I have drooled over the Marimekko lines and Orla Keily's new wall paper line but they seemed to pop-rock for the house. With most decisions so far I keep deferring back to what was all ready there as inspiration. The brown burlap seemed dull and a little dark so I wanted to see if there was a grass cloth that might give a little something to the room without overpowering it with a print or design. Miller paint on Grand ave has a guy who works the desk who has been there forever and knows everything about wall paper. His personal design sense leans towards the craftsman era homes but with a little enthusiasm and conviction I need something mid-century he pulled out some awesome suggestions. (I can only imagine the characters he must get in that design center and the hideous orders he must have to fulfill.)He gave me a book that had cork, silk, grass cloth and burlap. The cork was tempting, lots of metallics, designs and colors. Same with the grass cloth. The tactile yummieness of the silk and grass cloth as well as the colors and sheen are gorgeous. I wound up picking a burlap after much daydreaming because it was the original choice of the previous builder, the price point was good and I thought the organic look of the cotton really shows off the woodwork. I did go with a natural colored cotton that is off white vs. the brown burlap that I replaced. The glue that I purchased, Suregrip border adhesive, was water based and had low VOC's. It was easy to use, just thick enough that it didn't run off the paper but not too thick I couldn't spread it with a small paint brush easily. With most projects that deal with existing framing it is rare to have square corners and sides. For the most part these cabinet doors were right on. The tools I used for the project where a : straight edge, quick square, bone folder, lots of razor blades, scraper, pencil and my fingernails to squeeze the edges of the burlap under the framing. It took me about a full day, my goal was to finish before 5:30 to have dinner with my grandma but I wound up leaving 3 cabinets for the following day to complete. Like all good projects I picked a Sunday because you cant beat the radio programming on NPR. It makes any task fly by as you listen to This American Life. The project brightened the entire room and I love how classy and understated the finished project turned out.