Early plan

An early version of the plan before we moved the washers and dryers inside. It now seems extravagantly spacious but would have required building a separate structure to house the washer/dryer.

Ikea Kulla

This looks much better in person. Also it's made of steel so Britton can weld it. For a range hood, not a light.

Trying to buy displays

1. I was at Lowe's looking at bead board. It was ugly, like painted fake pine paneling. As I turned the pages of the display I saw something that looked like masonite. Finally, I thought, a nice honest material. I then discovered that what I was looking at was an empty display case.

2. When I was at Hacienda on Colorado, I saw a great rustic cabinet with dozens of drawers used to sell hardware. The guy said it cost "seven" so I thought it was $700 which would not be unreasonable. Of course, it ended up that he was referring to the hardware that sells for $7 a piece and the drawer was not for sale.

3. I was at Ikea looking for something that might make a good range hood. I saw these white metal buckets and a price tag that said $7. That is a great price for the bucket, I thought. Having been burned before I decided this was too good to be true and indeed it was—the $7 was for the flowers inside the bucket and the bucket was part of the display.

4. This whole experience has become so commonplace that I just assume that if I like it, it's not for sale. I was at Habitat for Humanity and found some nice drawers. Yes, they were just the display.

Slats & I just realized where the blog name comes from

For several weeks now I have been obsessed with the idea of putting slats on the living room wall next to the fireplace, my take on the Eichler bead board. I found that there are quite a few wood slat products out there, from retail display systems that go horizontally, to acoustic ceiling baffles. Yesterday at Ikea, I found the perfect prototyping solution—the Mandal headboard. Amazingly, it is just under eight feet tall so it fits the wall perfectly when I rotate it sideways. I told Mark that I have three obsessions—lines, floating planes and slats (which are basically planes made of lines). The slats are unusual, but I like them. I suspect it's the way they express the intersection of Japanese and ranch house sensibilities. I guess I could actually use several of these headboard systems placed together on the wall (at the cost of about $750) but I'm not sure how I feel about the knotty pine.

As the project goes on I find that my raw materials are second-level raw materials. They're not wood and metal as much as products that I can reconfigure. So rather than trudging into the forest to cut down a pine tree or Home Depot to find a pine board, I trudge into Ikea to find a pine headboard. Note that you really have to go to the Ikea "forest" for this to work. In a catalog picture (top), you can't see the material clearly. Hiking into Ikea to find raw materials. That's what it means to live in the urban wild.

More older designs

sir modern shelf storage

Microwave shelf (rough)

Phase 1

Pop up electric outlet PUFP-B

From Lew Electric Fittings. Their "top selling" floor box.

Roy Tam wall shelf

Paolo Rizzatto wall shelves

From nova68.com

Wall shelf

From stacksandstacks

Bamboo bench

From Pearl River.

Red wood burning stove

Nice stove

Entry idea

Hat rack

This hat rack from Urban Archaeology comes in different metals and heights. I really like it though I'm not sure what I'd use it for.

Another tube

Found the Sirius SIU404 on Ebay for $2000. I'd sooner use a trash can.

That Chinese one with glass

On Ebay Rangehood4less sells the Chinese one with glass for $700 incl shipping.

Trash cans

Trash cans might make a good range hood. These are from trashcansunlimited or garbagecandepot. What, no trash cans r us?

Notes on phase 2

>Whole house fan
>Note: Sliding door bump out is a soffit
>Phone jack split into alcove and pantry?
>Make all spotlights rotate the proper way
>Lead neutralize all windows and doors at same time as eaves?


NOT NEEDED Need acoustic insulation in pantry wall.
OK Yard drains
OK Entry rock and gate
OK Phase 2 vs. 3
OK Replace all ceiling fans with regular lights

Duratech pipe

From Northlineexpress but it's cheaper at other places.

Contemporary hanging light

Another possibility for a DIY range hood. This one could be mounted in a couple of ways. I found that in range hoods, it's the bottom, not the pipe, that makes all the difference.

Yet another pendant

This one would look good at the bottom of a black steel tube and it costs only $100. From Lamps Plus.

Another pendant

This one is nice but a bit pricey at $400.

Light

This cylinder pendant light could be attached to a pole to make a range hood.

Lights into range hoods?

These are about 2' high and made of frosted glass. I think these are about $100.

The TV problem

People who know me know that I'm interested in the "TV problem" The simple but hard to solve problem is this—where do you put a TV? Normally you'd like to sit with your back to a wall. But in most rooms, this means that the TV has to be mounted on an opposing wall at least 10 feet away shrinking the image considerably. Bring the TV closer and you have a TV floating in the middle of your living room where you have to look at its back and see all the weird cables sticking out. Put the TV on the wall and you don't get to sit against a wall. This photo is from Ikea where they had a nice solution in one of their displays. The TV is on the opposing wall, but the opposing wall is really close to couch. It's almost like a hallway in which you walk right between the couch and the TV.

Notes on prototyping

Visualism

Visualizing vs. understanding

The way lenses fool you

Spatial prototypes (e.g., kitchen)

Paper occlusion prototypes (windows, walls)

In situ prototypes (features & details)

Public space examples

Private space examples

Paste on prototypes

Blocks & models

Computer (e.g., Sketchup)

Bamboo/kraft paper

Knowing and understanding vs. predicting and controlling

Experience

Designing outside in vs inside out

Perforated metal tube

Would make a nice range hood but probably not too functional without a liner.

Pearl Elite tube cajon

This drum is 28" tall and costs $119. A wood range hood. Hmmm. Grease, wood, fire. Maybe not.

European style range hood

$475 includes shipping on Ebay.

36" Enjen

This is $550 on Ebay.

The Venato

Also at $680

Fabyka range hood

The price to beat at $680.

Useless internet color swatch

Handrail detail

For handrail by entry. From Inside Not So Big House.

Floating shelves

From Inside Not So Big House.

Built in bookcase idea

Bottom is the original version. Top is the version we came up with after Tim and Britton said that if I want thin shelves, they have to be supported. The line is a thin black steel rod.

Range hood info

At the heart of the ventilation system is the fan(s) it uses. An axial fan looks like a ceiling fan, while a centrifugal fan resembles a squirrel cage. A centrifugal fan moves more air than an axial unit does, and is better suited to long duct runs. However, an axial fans is less expensive.

The amount of air the fan can move is measured in cubic feet per minute (cfm). The Home Ventilating Institute recommends a minimum of 40 cfm for every linear foot of your range. That means a 120-cfm unit should be just enough for an average-size range. For a downdraft unit, that figure jumps to a minimum of 150 cfm. A remote-mounted motor, whose fan is located at the end of the ductwork rather than in the canopy so it's less noisy, also requires a higher cfm. How much higher depends on a number of variables, with length and layout of duct runs being the most important. Figure up to 400 cfm for a wall unit and as high as 600 cfm for an island cooktop.

From This Old House.

Informal cabinets

Ikea with Sorbo front. These doors are cheap enough that if they wear off you can just replace them.

Palette 1