Daily Archives: February 24, 2017

I gave a run at the Reflected Ceiling Plans for the project, although we might end up adjusting things slightly as work continues. An RCP is similar to a floor plan (a plan is a cut through the walls at a certain height above the floor – typically around 4′, and then the view down to the floor), except that an RCP looks back up at the ceiling, versus lying down on said floor and seeing the ceiling in reverse of the plan. Like imagining a mirror on the floor reflecting what you see above. So this sheet shows both floor and reflected ceiling plans – with power and data on the floor plans, and lights and switches on the ceiling plan. You can also see what the ceilings will look like in each room – the exposed framing in the basement den, and the skylights and ceiling changes on the main level. (The dashed squiggly lines show the switching – which lights are wired to the same switch, and where those switches are located on the walls.)

When we first renovated our house in 2000 we had a very, VERY tight budget. We thought about where we wanted light fixtures, but we only installed the recessed downlights in that plan. At all surface mounted or pendant locations we installed a $1 porcelain socket with a bare bulb, with the exception of the bathroom where we put in the cheapest Home Depot specials we could find. (Those came out in this renovation last year.) Over time we selected fixtures that we loved, and I’m pretty sure that we’re almost rid of those old $1 sockets! Just in time for this project, ha!

I have a feeling we might have some holdouts this go around as well. My taste in fixtures tend to run on the pricier side, and I don’t mind saving and waiting. In the kitchen and pantry, I’d like to use the same wall sconces we used in our master bathroom – these Artemide Dioscuri fixtures.

They have a very clean line to them, no visible hardware, and they let off a very diffuse glowing light. With no upper cabinets in the kitchen, we’ll have very tall walls that will look great with these fixtures on them. There would be a spot for one in the pantry as well, visible through the opening from the kitchen, and to the right of the high window in that room.

We’ll use recessed downlights for general lighting, but I do want one signature fixture for the center of the room. This light has several requirements – it needs to be able to raise and lower, and also to swivel and angle into various positions depending upon what is happening in the center of the room. We plan to have a mobile island in here – likely one that breaks into two pieces for added flexibility. So I want task lighting that can be pulled into use when the island is there, moved as the island moves, and lifted out of the way when the island is gone so we don’t bonk our heads on it.

The Artemide Tolemeo is always an option – we have one in F’s room, and its articulating arm is perfection. (Old picture / cute baby alert.)

My favorite is the Flos Mod 265 – it would be wall mounted and swing where we want it. I need to model it in Sketchup and see if it would really work. It’s very cool, and I think it could look great in the space.

The photos above are all from our friends / owners of Centro Modern Furnishings in the CWE. It’s my favorite dream and drool store, and I’ve got no shortage of dreaming and drooling for light fixtures. (My motto: Dimmers on everything!!)

I’ll pick up the lighting conversation again in the next post.

I’m pretty sure the framing plans are not that exciting to look at, but I’m sort of partial to them. When I look at them I see something real – not just a sketch or an idea, but a real plan for how this thing is going to come together. 

A few things of interest, if you are into this sort of thing – you’ll see in the foundation plan that we have a pretty complicated one for such a simple little room addition. All of our footings are offset, which is atypical. Typically you’d pour a wide, shallow footing below the frost line where each of your foundation walls are going in. The walls would be centered on those footings – so if you had a 12″ concrete foundation wall, it might sit on a 24″ wide / 12″ deep footing – so 6″ of that footing would be on either side of the wall. In our case, our new foundation walls are just 2″ off our property line – just enough to get the waterproofing and some perimeter drainage installed. That means our footings are offset – they extend out to one side only – towards the interior – and they must be wider and have specific reinforcing to accommodate for being off center. We have a three sided addition and a four sided garage on this project, and we have (at least) twelve unique wall sections, which is slightly ridiculous.

The middle plan shows the framing for the first floor of the addition and the infill at the old side porch. We have a stair opening there, and a pretty sizable header at the rear wall with the folding glass wall.

The plan on the right shows the roof framing – you can see the skylight openings there – as well as the second floor balcony floor framing. Along with the steel at the new masonry opening at the kitchen, we’ve got quite a few large wood framing members. And because of the limited site access, we’ll have to pour the foundations and set the framing for the addition and the garage in two separate phases.

Sometimes when I write this out it makes me feel like we’re a little crazy. Maybe you’ve known that all along – but I’m a little slower on the uptake!