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. Read more »

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. Read more »

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. Read more »

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. Read more »

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. Read more »

Design Ideas #2

You may have seen this house featured in Dwell Magazine or noticed it in parts of season one of the Showtime series Californication, either way, this memorable design exemplifies some of the best elements of Californian modern home design. Architects David Hertz and wife Stacy Fong built this Venice, California home for their personal residence, drawing from Balinese influences to give the home the intended resort-like feel. Sections of the home are connected via bridges and walkways that open onto a central courtyard and lap pool, creating an open layout that blends with the surrounding outdoors.

Other amenites include a home theater, exercise room, firepit, and outdoor kitchen. The firepit lounge area in the courtyard is a great focal point for the house, and the accordian door seen to the right of the firepit helps to open up the interior space to the outdoors. Read more »

Design Ideas

Though this is a picture of a garage that was converted into an office/guestroom, the style and look of the renovation is similar to the Project Noe home in concept. This shingled garage with the dark trim reminds me of the homes on Cape Cod and is the current design choice for our project. The design cues of these samples exemplify some of the transitional design elements we are looking to incorporate with the Project Noe home. Read more »