Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Playhouse Interior Paint (Revisited)
Kristy snapped some additional pictures of the job she did on the playhouse interior painting. The playhouse is "play central" up in the attic right now... it is where the kids congregate most often (especially the girls) and rightfully so given the ages of our children. What's funny is that the playhouse was not part of the original design of the attic; we just kind of came up with the idea on the spot while the framers were putting up the interior walls. In fact, it was almost a year ago to the day that the framers roughed in the playhouse... check it out:

That was taken on October 5th, 2007. Fast forward, one year later and here is what the playhouse interior looks like on the outside:

And on the inside:

You'll notice that Kristy has included close-ups of the fireplace, potted, plant, and bookshelf she painted. Nicely done!

(Update Wed Oct 15 06:51:45 PDT 2008 // added exterior shot of playhouse)

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Playhouse Interior Wall Painting
Kristy had been busy for the last couple of months painting the interior of the playhouse. First she painted a fire, a bookshelf, and a potted plant on the back wall. Then (more recently) she has painted the other three walls. Last weekend I installed some trim (that Kristy picked out) and then spent the last couple of days priming and painting the installed trim. Finally... it is done! Here are the pictures:

(Update Sun Oct 5 22:48:30 PDT 2008 // renamed entry)

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Furnished
With the delivery of our new game table, our new attic area is finally completely furnished (this post will be the final entry for the project). The new game table and chairs are absolutely beautiful. Not only that, but the chairs are quite comfortable... I mean, I was surprised at how comfy they are. I'm very impressed. The furniture was manufactured by Guy Chaddock. We have more than a dozen other pieces of furniture by Guy Chaddock and all of the pieces are fantastic; I highly recommend the company.

I snapped a few pictures today in the afternoon. It was bright and sunny today, so there are a few photos where the sunshine is dominating the exposure. Also, I didn't take any pictures of the audio/video entertainment area, since I took pictures of that very recently (see here). So first of all, here are a few snapshots of the "adult" play area... including the new game table and the billiards table. This area is in the middle of the attic space immediately in front of the stair entry/exit.

The rest of the pictures I have organized by the position I took the pictures as I navigated around the room in a counterclockwise path:

This is a shot of the finished playhouse. This was one of those ideas that just came to us on the fly as the framers were putting up the interior walls. The playhouse has a double dutch door (that includes a mechanical door ringer), two windows (complete with shutters, window boxes, and plastic flowers), a mailbox (with a little red flag), an exterior light, house numbers, real wood shingle siding, and a fake slate roof. The shingle siding is nicely trimmed around a couple of light switches for the room, an electrical receptacle, and an in-house vacuum connection. It looks great and is a wonderful little part of the attic that the kids feel was made just for them... the kids love it, especially Olivia.

The front windowed dormer is a dedicated play area for the doll house, rocking horse, and wooden pirate ship. The drawer storage houses dolls and furniture for the doll house, barbies, and polly pockets. On the right hand side of this area is the entrance to the playhouse. On the left hand side of the area are two doors. Once small door (pictured) which access a small toy storage closet. The other door is for the powder bathroom.

On the wall next to the playhouse door, Kristy painted a "growing tree" that we will use to keep track of how tall the kids grow (making a mark for height on each birthday). We used to have a "growing vine" down in the old bonus room, but that didn't survive the remodel. So this painting is its replacement. Olivia is having fun here on the rocking horse. Say cheese Livy!

Inside the playhouse we have some play kitchen appliances and a toy crib and other toy baby gear. There is also a small bistro table and two toddler-sized chairs in the near corner (the picture shows the top of one of the chairs). Kristy will be doing some custom painting in this room eventually. She wants to paint a fireplace on the back wall and perhaps a bookcase or something.

On the southern side of the attic, there is another play table area for trains, legos, and toy cars. This play table is primarily used by Berkeley, but Olivia is often seen playing with the train tracks as well. Pictured at left is a small built-in shelf in the corner where we keep puzzles, kids games, and other small knick-knacks. This play table and the carpet beneath are identical in size to the play table just outside the playhouse that has the doll house and wood pirate ship.

This is a picture taken in the southeast corner of the attic (next to the train play table) looking back toward the northeast corner of the attic (toward the TV area). In the immediate foreground is the staircase. In the background, the billiards table, game table, and TV can be seen.

In between the three rear dormers are two small closets that will be used for storage. In the closet closest to the southern wall and the kids play areas is a small clothes rack that we use to store dress up stuff. The clothes rack is mounted on wheels and easily rolls in and out of the closet. Eliana loves this.

This is a picture of the middle dormer window seat and trundle bed. In each of the window seats and trundle bed is a twin-sized Tempur-pedic memory foam mattress. The attic has a sleeping capacity of 6 persons for any future sleep-overs on mattresses (plus more on the sofa and in sleeping bags the playhouse).

This is a picture taken from the northwest corner of the attic looking back toward the southwest corner, e.g. it is the opposite view of the picture taken above. The game table and billiards table are show in the foreground of this picture and the train play table can be seen on the other side of the staircase.

The bar nook is tucked in the northwest corner of the room. The area features a small bar-sized copper sink, a mini-microwave, and an under-counter refrigerator and ice-maker. The solid-surface countertop and floor tile are both Brazilian multi-color slate. If you pull the refrigerator out, there is access to a small area behind the audio/video equipment for the benefit of running cables.

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Audio/Video Room Furniture
We ordered furniture (a sectional sofa) for our audio/video room back in December of 2007. At the time we ordered the sofa, we were a bit worried that the project might not be done it time for the furniture delivery. Well it turns out that our concern was unfounded as our original... our sofa was delivered today some 5½ months after we placed the order. Actually, the sectional was well worth the wait. It is absolutely beautiful. Here are some pics:

Finally a place to sit!

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Final Inspection
A familiar face, that of the King County building inspector, showed up today for the final inspection of our attic conversion project (it has been the same inspector that has visited us throughout our project). The inspector walked around, tested some plugs and switches, and then said "Looks great!" and signed us off. I guess we are officially "done" now.

The only thing left to do is exterior paint... the paint contractor wants to wait for warmer/dryer weather. Oh and there are some annoying floor creaks in the attic (three to be exact). Two will likely go away once we put the 600+ lb pool table over them, but the other one will bug me until the day we rip open the second floor ceiling outside of Kristy's office and put some screws up through the joists into the 3rd floor deck.

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Cleaning Up
All week long we have different crews of cleaners here working on cleaning up the house. We had our normal house service on Tuesday, had the driveway power washed and the carpets cleaned (by Steve Anderson of Anderson Carpet Cleaning) on Wednesday, had the ducts and furnace cleaned yesterday, and had the windows and window screens all washed and cleaned today. It is starting to look somewhat respectable around here.

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Home Theater Installed
My audio/video subcontractor (Poulsbo Audio Video Integration) showed up today to install the last of the speakers, the new plasma TV, and hook everything up. The first movie I popped in was Superman.

Berkeley, Eliana, and I watched it for about half an hour. It was great.

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: The Final Details?
Wow, what a busy day today. There were literally almost a dozen people today coming and going. Kenis and crew showed up to finish the trundle beds - the trundles lack only the hardware install. A small crew of finish carpenters showed up to install the base show and address some trivial concerns I had with some doors. The stair guy (Paul) showed up to make final adjustments on the balusters (leveling out the knuckles on the iron). The dumpster and port-a-potty were picked up. Our normal cleaning crew of two came and dusted/cleaned the place (as best they could with so much still going on). And Tad sent his high school aged son over to pressure wash our front porch and driveway. The place is started to look good... real good.

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Coming Together
There was a lot of work accomplished today. Kenis and Rob and Stewart were here to installed the trundles under the day beds. The stair guy Paul showed up to finish installing the balusters around the attic stairwell and the painters were here to varnish the base shoe and clean up the lines at the intersections of millwork and wall paint. Everything is really starting to come together now. By the end of the week (for Eliana's birthday party on the 8th), this project should be done!

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Base Shoe Stained
The painting crew showed up today to stain the base shoe that will be installed around the outside of the attic. They will varnish it tomorrow and then it will be installed on Wednesday (*me crosses my fingers*).

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: The House in a House
Kristy worked hard last night (and throughout the weekend) doing some painting up in the attic. She painted a "growing tree" to the left of the playhouse entrance and just above the "picket fence". On the tree trunk and on the "fence" she has marked off 1 foot, 2 feet, 3 feet, 4 feet, 5 feet, and 6 feet marks. Here is a picture... note the installation of all of the final little things: the mailbox, the door hardware, the shutters, and the window boxes.

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Stair Baluster Install
Paul returned to the site yesterday to finish up the stair install. He needs to install about, oh, I estimate maybe 150 balusters up the flight of stairs and around the stairwell in the attic. He made it up two flights of stairs yesterday, and made it up to the attic today and got partially around the outside of the stairwell. He'll return next Monday and polish it off.

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Final Finish Carpentry
A crew of three finish carpenters showed up today. They were tasked with hanging doors and installing hardware. They most of it done but will need to return tomorrow to finish a few little things. They brought with them the brackets for the beam intersections. They look fantastic... far exceeding our expectations!

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Final Coat on Floors
The hardwoods were buffed down and then received the final coat today. They look great. I am absolutely 100% pleased... ok, let's say 99% pleased to save room for some complaints later. With the floors now done, the finish carpenters and stair subcontractor will be in soon to hand the doors and install the balusters (respectively). Almost there. Maybe at the end of next week it will all be done?

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: The Status of the Hardwoods
So, before we left for our trip to Arizona, I mentioned that we were going to have our floors completely re-sanded, re-stained... just completely re-done while we were gone. I'm happy to report that the hardwoods look 1,000,000 times better (yes, that is 1 million). The hardwood subs showed up today to put the first of the two final coats on the floors. We requested that the same stuff be used on the new floors that was applied to the rest of the house. It is already dry up there this evening and it looks absolutely wonderful. We are so relieved.

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: First Look at Attic Hardwoods
Kristy and I (and Kristy's brother Scott) spent the day cleaning up the attic... getting everything off the floor and moved down to the dumpster, or to the garage, or on top of the window seats. We wouldn't to take a good long look at the quality of the attic wood floors. We are sad to report that they don't look too great when carefully examined. The stain application is very uneven and does not have the "depth" that our wood floors downstairs have.

As a result, we have decided to have the floors completely redone while we are on vacation next week in Phoenix (visiting Kristy's sister). We think that the results can be improved because I was able to contact our previous floor sub contractor and get the exact two-step dye/stain combination that was used to get the even results that exist on the downstairs hardwood floors.

I did snap a few pictures of the attic area... it's so close that we hate to take this drastic step of re-sanding down the floors and having the stain and finish redone. But, we really don't want any regrets. Enjoy!

Here are a couple of pictures of the new powder bathroom fixtures:

And the big picture:

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Final Paint
The painting crew has been working all week on the walls up in the attic. Today they stained the shingles on the kids playhouse and painted the "exterior" trim around the playhouse roof, door, and windows. It looks great. I'll snap some pictures tomorrow.

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Electrical Trim Started
The electrical subcontractor showed up today to install all of the lights. They got a pretty good start, but must return tomorrow to finish up the job. Here a few pictures of what was completed today:

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Plumbing Trim
The plumbing crew returned to the job site today to install the pedestal sink, faucet, and toilet in the powder bath and the faucet in the wet bar. Not too much to do really, but they still spent the entire day doing it. Time == money. They spent most of the time installing the pedestal sink and seemed to be pretty frustrated toward the end of the day. But we bought the brand (Toto) that they recommended. I guess the particular model we selected was a bit cumbersome. *shrug*

Here is one picture I took of the new fixtures (I'll post more later):

(Update Sat Feb 23 13:36:40 PST 2008 // added picture)

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Roof Complete
Our one-man roofing crew (Jerry) finished the roof today. It was a pleasure talking with him up on the roof over this past month. He was slow and methodical, but he took great care in making sure it was done right. And I appreciate that. I'll snap a picture later this week. Here is a picture of the house with the new roof:

(Update Sat Feb 23 13:36:06 PST 2008 // added picture)

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: First Look at Millwork
The painting crew showed up this morning and tore down all of the masking they had so carefully put up to prep for the millwork painting. I crept upstairs in the afternoon and took a picture of the millwork in the light of day. The painting crew is already starting to mask over the millwork so that they can put a second coat of latex paint on the walls.

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Final Coat on Millwork
The painters the second and final coat of paint on the millwork today. And they laid it one much thicker than they did yesterday. The stairwell and the attic is all tented off to keep the fumes as contained as possible. Tomorrow I'll go up there and open a couple of windows. Even now, late in the evening it's hard to stay up in the attic for much longer than a few minutes without a mask (which I don't have). Because of the fumes, we stayed out late tonight with the kids and brought them home asleep. It sure will be nice to tear down this plastic.

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: First Coat on Millwork
The first coat of paint went on the millwork today. Because there is so much to paint (from the bottom floor to the top), the fumes get pretty powerful. The kids stayed away all day today and I stayed in my tightly sealed. The problem is that both cold air returns for the furnace are in the "paint zone", e.g. on the other side of the plastic tenting. It is late in the evening now and the paint is dry now, but the fumes are still pretty strong.

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Day of Sanding (#2)
All that bondo that was applied yesterday got hit with a sanding block today. It took them all day to sand down what they bondo'd yesterday. Did I mentioned that I was impressed with the care they are taking with the millwork prep? Wow.

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Bondo
The painting crew is being very meticulous about the millwork prep. Today they spent the entire day using bondo to fill in and fix any imperfection in the millwork. One of the two had some red bondo and the other had some dark gray bondo. After a day of application, the millwork looks very much like a Dalmatian dog. They hit everything, even the grain on the ash wood around the kids playhouse door... filling in the grain so that the paint will be smooth. Very nice.