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The crew from L2R,
Mike Rothman, Brad Hankins, Josh Jones II, Kevin Bodle |
Lisa, Mary and Aaliyah may be the best clients I've ever had. Of coarse, if you've been following my blog for long, you'll know that I said that about Fran and Ed (my parents) on the FrEdLey home, about Perry and Judith Lovelace who helped put dbBrad back in business, about Monica Uhl on her basement remodel.
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| Lisa and Aaliyah in front of the dbBrad mobile shop and hardware store! |
That's what happens when you do
good projects for good people--clients become friends. This has become our new motto!
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Kitchen Before, hidden behind wall,
no natural light or view and, well,
just pretty old. |
Lisa's house has been in the family for decades. Her grandfather lived in this house as did her mother. She visited this house in the summers as a child and has many memories here.
Now, her Daughter Aaliyah is bringing in the 4th generation of family memories for this Bush Point residence.
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New Kitchen with modern fixtures and cabinets,
Open floor plan and natural light and minimal
uppers with a 40" x 9' multipurpose island |
However, build simply with do-it-yourself modifications over the years, the house had a cabin on the beach feel and an old house smell. Our goal was to bring the house up to date including new windows, insulation, gas fireplace, heat pump, new utilities and new finishes.
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| The living room before with kitchen behind. |
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| Same fireplace, new insert, mantel and hearth. |
We carefully removed all the bad stuff in the house, saving as much as we could. Many of the wood scraps were reused later for trim, shelves, etc. We left the lights and cabinets, tubs and toilets in the bathrooms. We tried to leave the Kitchen cabinets but one by one, logic said get this out of here and eventually they were all gone.
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The Entry. First thing I said is
lets get the car away from
the front door and make
the Entrance special. |
We reinforced the attic for future solar panels and we reinforced the floor framing with earthquake hold-downs. We did 2 extensive french drains to help control the massive amount of groundwater that flows across this site and we've added plants for beauty, screening, wind protection and habitat.
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The new front porch under construction. Notice the
concrete stairs and ramp are gone and the
front door is no longer hidden. |
New windows and double protected waterproofing details now protect the house from the winter storms that come off the water and hit the house pretty hard. Additional insulation in the floor, attic and any walls we had to visit will keep the house warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.
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Old bath, nice enough but after
50 years, needing an update. |
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New counter, sink, fixutre and mirror,
old cabinets and lights. |
Beautiful clear fir floors give the house an elegant warm feel that no laminate flooring can ever achieve. Steel counters provide a durable timeless look and help to hold down the Ikea Cabinets. The thing with Ikea is there stuff is well designed and works great, but falls apart if it isn't attached to the walls.
