Finally finished addition

[CJDave]

[img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] Not to put too fine a point on it Jungle Jim, but isn't that actually a combination Living room-Dining room? [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] What was the approximate duration of this "minor" remodel beginning -to-end? [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] Looking at your cabinets, I can see that we screwed up and we don't have enough drawers.....lots and lots of doors and shelves but not enough drawers.....in our recent kitchen overhaul. Yours are well arranged as far as doors and drawers are concerned. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] What's the big horizontal beam in the DR-LR ? [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] We are presently working on PHASE II of a three-pahse project. Phase I was saw out the entire "core" of the house and go to an open floor plan, Phase II was roof-off, change the direction and slope of the roof and a kitchen pop out and remodel. Phase III will be a 30 X 30 addition with two new bedroom suites and two new baths. Maybe sometime in late '07???? [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

[egon]

That looks nice. Comfortable environment.

Any stories on all the "coat hangers" - He He [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon

[JazzDad]

Wow. Just done and all those animals have already moved in!
[img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[gsganzer]

You're right. To be exact, it's a dining/living/trophy room. The addition was started last January and completed in about 4 months. Then the kitchen was started. The kitchen is about 95% complete. I have some minor trim work to finish this weekend. This whole project has dragged on because I ended up traveling out of town for a project at work, virtually every week since June. That really put a damper on my available time. I originally planned on it taking about 6 months.

The horizontal beams (2 of them) in the addition are to tie the two walls together. The ceiling/roof is actually two different sets of rafters (sort of like a scissor truss). We needed room to run the HVAC ducting.

We're real happy with the way the kitchen cabinets came out. They were custom made, unfinished red oak. We finished them ourselves. If anybody plans on finishing cabinets, I highly recommend using a pre-catalyzed laquer instead of polyurethane. You spray it on and within 8 minutes it's tack free, 25 minutes completely cured. Amazing stuff. I have all the information if anyone needs it.

[twstanley]

Very nice!

That layout is similar to an addition that was done on our current home before we bought it. A new family room was added onto the end of the existing kitchen so it has a similar effect.

We are going to end up remodeling our kitchen, the countertop and cabinets need to be replaced, the cabinets are really horrible at their use of space vs storage ability. Some of them are the corner cabinets that you have to crawl into to get to the stuff shoved in the back, really bad.

Any advice for kitchen remodelers? I would like a link to that finishing product you used, it sounds great.

[gsganzer]

Here's a picture of the cabinets before they were finished. We used "Gemini" brand products from the ICI paint store. The stain is "spiced walnut" and the pre-cat laquer is "hand rubbed" (their version of a satin finish). The laquer is a minimal build product, unlike poly urethanes. You'll need to use a HVLP sprayer, but cleanup was simple. All of the doors and drawers were removed for finishing. We stained and wiped, allowed to dry overnight. Then shot a thinned coat of laquer . Wiped with 400 grit sand paper when dry and then shot 2 more coats.

[gsganzer]

Here's some pointers.

My wife and I spent a lot of time looking at the layout of the kitchen. Once I had the space gutted and cleaned, we actually used tape to mark out all of the cabinets, island etc on the floor and walls. This really helped with visualizing the space, by allowing you to walk around it. You want the sink, stove and refrigerator to form a triangle. You want walkways between islands and counters to be at least 36". We made ours slightly more because we had the stove door to consider.

We considered where pots and pans, cooking utensils, spices would go in relation to the stove. We also considered a layout that made it easier when coming in with an armload of groceries.

Regarding cabinets: I highly recommend full extension drawer slides. Pot and pan drawers. Appliance garage (put a quad-plex outlet in there). Pantry (great use of space and the height adds architectural interest). We also like the way the cabinets vary, some stick out further and some are taller. Remember to have plenty of outlets on the back splash.

One thing that we did that just exceeded our expectations was lighting. We did both above cabinet rope lights (work great as a night light) and under cabinet halogens (puck style from Lowes, 3 per side). We also put some recessed lights above the island. They really look great at night.

We also added a coat rack, cabinet and bench by the back door. Great place to store shoes, jackets, flashlights, dog leash etc.

One of the great things about having custom, unfinished cabinets, is that you can add and modify stuff later and it will match. All of the cabinets you see in the kitchen and work area cost us about 7K, unfinished. We would have been over 12K at Lowes or HD. That's a good chunk of savings that we used for the countertops (Silestone).

[Pat]

Here the whomp whomp whomp of the attack chopper? That is a PETA raid!

Looks good!

Congratulations!

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[gsganzer]

Here's the link to the addition remodel. The link works real well if you choose to play it as a slideshow on fast speed. It sort of follows the chronology from demolition to finish.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/gsganz...2x6QEB_VRYJ6Ou

As you'll see. We removed the old carport and laundryroom and put the addition in it's place. We then built a new carport on the opposite end of the house. The entire exterior of the house was resided with hardyboard and some cosmetic stuff was done to the front entry.

[gsganzer]

Here's the link to the kitchen remodel. Again, it works well if you play it as a slide show on fast.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/gsganz...8t4TEB.aqGKNHr

I removed all the sheetrock so I could run the electrical and redecked the floor with 3/4" T&G plywood. I also ran entirely new plumbing and gas throughout the house. The old plumbing was a mess.