door hanging and trimout

Here Neil is installing the doors - shimming and leveling the jambs.  This is the door between our house and the apartment.  It is a fire rated, outside door.  Notice the threshold at the bottom and the 2 bored holes for a deadbolt as well as other lockset.

We have gone with a picture frame detail for our windows and door trim.  The corners were mitered,  reinforced with biscuits, then held in place while the glue dried.

interior trim begins

Last week Neil and Mitch started on the interior trim of the apartment.  While we are doing some more modern detailing, we both still prefer windows to have trim instead of just drywall corners.

And yes....the windows are in much need of washing.

Upstairs our hardwood floor is acclimating ready to be installed this week.

Can't wait to see it installed!  It's 5" character grade rift & quarter sawn white oak.  Basically that means it has some life and imperfections to it.  We plan to stain it a dark brown/black.

exterior window trim

While the subcontractors are inside, Neil has moved to the outside.  He will be adding 1-1/2" of rigid insulation on the exterior of the building...over top of our weather barrier which covers our 1/2" plywood sheathing.  Once the insulation is applied, he will then install 3/4" plywood battens vertically, aligned with the studs in the wall.  This will create a drainage plane behind the siding.  We are using 2 different types of siding.  1x6 cedar beveled siding that we are having pre-stained black and 8" exposure James hardi lap siding which will be painted an undecided grey.

Because we are adding more thickness to the wall, we had to rethink our exterior trim.  Originally we were wanting a 3-1/2" wide trim that would be picture framed around the window, but after mocking it, we came to re-evaluate this due to the multiple 12 steps to building it out versus 5 for the 2x on end.  12 x 34 window groupings equal a painfully slow process.  So we decided we liked the more streamlined look.

You can see all the extra blocking needed in this side shot.








We also briefly looked at adding a stepped trim piece around the frame, but decided against it's fussiness.

We have tried to minimize the fan vent locations and while we do not have individual exhaust fans for our main part of the house, we still have them for the apartment portion.  For every hole coming through from the inside to the outside, Neil has boxed it out and flashed it like below.  All of the vents, hosebibs and exterior electrical outlets receive this treatment.

kitchen bar top

The kitchen bar top is a major feature of the design of the Karina kitchen and one of the trickiest to pull off cohesively because there are many different materials coming together as well as it being a part of 3 rooms. We chose Lyptus butcher block for the counter top because of it's warmth and similar richness as the floor.
We could have continued the drywall onto the 1/2 wall from the living room side, but I wanted to continue the front paneling of the peninsula around the side.

To keep costs down and to make it more simple to build, we did not wrap the Lyptus top into a L shape, but changed materials to a painted trim top. The 1" trim top dies into the 1-1/2" thick Lyptus, while allowing the skirt trim directly below to wrap and be continuous to become like a window sill detail as it goes into the living room.

That same skirt trim turns the corner and then dies into the backsplash. The backsplash is the Chroma countertop material. We changed the outlet color to black and used stainless steel covers to better go with the counter & appliances.


Getting the right height was important...one for perch-ability (see the last photo), but also mechanically so that outlets could be included in the backsplash. Neil built a 41" high wall + the 1-1/2" counter. This is the right height to lean against. Even though there is enough overhang to pull a bar stool up to it, we thought of it more as a lean-against counter and buffet. It also hides dishes and the counter when sitting in the dining area and living.

the karina

The Karina - main bedroom

Trim out has started. Most of the doors are hung and window trim is about finished. Upstairs in the main bedroom we have a shelf above the closet. This is a detail we have done often at Ross Chapin Architects. It allows for the ceiling to continue and makes the space feel a bit larger than if the wall continued straight up. It's also a place where we can put a rope light and have the light bounce off the ceiling.

Typically in our RCA houses we run a 1/2"x2 1/2" ceiling trim at the wall & ceiling intersection. When I was out at the house on Wednesday, Neil and I were going over where all this would go and how we would do the bathroom and skylight locations...then we agreed to hold off...see what it would look like without. In our current home we have a vaulted ceiling and we left off the trim. It gives it a more modern look which is what we are going for. We will still have trim around the windows & doors and at the shelf, but just left off the ceiling trim upstairs. Of course Neil liked that idea!

This is our his & her closet. A bit excessive with the 2 pocket doors, but I like it. The middle wall is wired for a flat screen.