Late April 2010

By the end of April 2010, the Project Noe house is only a few weeks away from completion. The front door is now installed and is ready for some paint. The garage door and surrounding trim are also ready to be painted black. The glass showers and glass in the railings are some of the next items to be installed. The large sliding barn door was installed and is a nice functional touch for the media room.

The limestone fireplace in the living room is an elegant focal point for the room. The backsplashes in the kitchen are made of the same Walker Zanger Helsinki Winter Mist marble as seen in the powder room bathroom. The Uline wine fridge in the kitchen and Sub Zero wine fridge in the downstairs bar area have also been installed. As you can see from the pictures, the Thermador fridge is almost installed, and the 48-inch Wolf gas range looks great against the white painted cabinets. The recessed lighting and the contemporary ceiling lights in the dining room, breakfast nook and the bedrooms were also installed. In the bathrooms, Toto toilets were installed along with sinks and vanities. Since there are only a few remaining items left to complete at this point, these will be the last pictures of the work in progress. Stay tuned for pictures of the completed home. Thank you all for following along as we complete our first project!

Mid March 2010

A few weeks after our last post, changes included the installation of the Seagrass marble countertops on the kitchenette/bar in the lower level. All the tiling in the lower level bath is done, the trim and window casings are also installed. All the doors in the house are now hung. These doors are all solid core wood and nearly 1′ 3/4″ thick.

In the kitchen, the |Walker Zanger| Silver Dusk marble slabs have been installed and look great. The faucet in the kitchen island sink is by |Dornbracht| as well as in the prep sink. The wooden upper cabinets in the kitchen are nearly ready to paint. In the powder bath the 12 inch diameter sink has been installed. In the master bathroom, most of the marble tile work is completed, along with the cultured marble wainscoting. The tub and Dornbracht tub filler are installed along with some of the controls for the steam shower. The picture of the backyard shows a crew from the |San Francisco Chronicle| interviewing our landscaper on site. The article should be published shortly.

Early March 2010

By early March 2010, the garage door was installed, but still had to be painted black as does the trim around it. You can also see the small hedges were planted in front of the garage. As seen in the pictures, cabinets in the lower level were installed and are ready for the marble countertop to be installed. In the third picture, tile in the lower level bathroom was re-installed, because we did not like the color of the tile first selected. We decided to use this moss green tile on the walls to match better with the finishes and flooring.

The  next picture shows the elevator cab finally installed and the walnut floor carried through. There is still some work left to do to the cab such as finishing the wall panels, which will occur during painting. Pictures of the living room show the railing that was installed around the main stairs and a makeshift rack used to store all the remaining baseboards and trim waiting to be installed in the home. The next two pictures are of the base cabinets in the kitchen, which are nearly ready for the thick slab of marble to be installed over them. The main space against the wall is for the 48 inch Wolf range and a pot filler to be installed above it. Against the back wall is the space for the fridge. On the other side of the kitchen island is the location of the built in desk and additional cabinets and shelving. In the last row of pictures, the first two pictures are of the powder room off the family room. The Helsinki Winter Mist limestone tile came out really nice, and almost looks like hardwood up close. More plants in the backyard have also been planted, helping to soften the lines of the grey slate. The stucco covering the top portion of the walls in the master deck are now a darker grey, matching nicely with the grey slate.

Updated Plans

Here are the updated floor plans for the Project Noe home. In comparison to the original plans the ground level multi-purpose areas have been updated with more detail, the kitchen layout and island shape has been changed, and the layout of the top level bedrooms, bathrooms, and laundry room have been slightly re-configured. More detailed plans of the various sections of the home will be featured in future posts.

Design Ideas #3

While working on the development of two beachfront homes in Santa Barbara years ago, I came across a memorable article in |Sunset Magazine| that featured this modern California home. Designed and constructed for their own personal residence by San Diego-based architects Robert Davis Jr. and Laurie Perriello Davis, this thoughtfully designed minimalist home incorporated sustainable, yet affordable building materials to keep the development cost below $250 per square foot. With architect fees that can range from 8% to 12% of a project’s construction budget, it definitely helps to have an architect in the family. I love this home for its open layout, its exterior of stucco and wood, and the large patio with outdoor fireplace. |Davis and Davis Architecture|