Shin'enKan

I just happened to be lurking and realized you were talking about me.

Here are some pictures of the remodel...

Before:

Before Interior:

After:

After Interior (the floors are polished concrete):

I recently had our fifty year old concrete floors diamond polished and the look and feel is incredible. The company I used was Texas Concrete Effects. I saved $1 per sq ft by not staining the concrete in addition to the polish. And the floors have turned out fabulous without a stain. James went up to 1400 grit on our job. For those of you with old slabs, be aware that you will not get as much of the terrazzo look because the strength of the older concrete made it almost impossible for the machines to grind deeply enough to reach the gravel in our concrete. One of the great results with this flooring option is the fact that the concrete is made less porous by the grinding process, so if something spills it's not leaching through the entire slab.

Here are some pictures of the final look...

After the kitchen remodel the majority of the comments have been the visitors' interest in the concrete, go figure!

Close-up... the squares outline where the original vinyl composite tiles were installed. The lines were created by years of cleaning fluid that worked its way between the tiles and into the concrete.

The website of our contractor...

http://www.staintexas.com/STAINED_CONCRETE__HOUSTON_TEXAS_Home_Page.html

Here are a couple of links for concrete garden spheres...

http://www.belson.com/pcsb1.htm

http://www.aqua-man.com/subdetails.asp?product_num=5052

There's a ficus benjamina in our atrium. I think the tree's location is awkward though. The original owners said the atrium had an exposed dirt floor and was used to hold a lot of plants in containers. To clean up the look, I put in the white marble gravel and a small portion of DH's rock collection. I think the space still needs some work.

I have been quite nervous this year with all the rain that my roof may leak. It is about 6 years old or so, but was done by the previous owner's contractors so I have no clue how well it was done and just keep my fingers crossed. When should I expect to see problems? I may want to talk to William Stern (renovated the Frame House and restored the Menil House) about roofs sometime.

Jason

Jason-

Let me know if you find someone. We have a leak at our atrium skylight that may have developed due to the huge amount of rainfall we had this summer. The roof is approximately five years old and should have at least five more years of life.

I'll be docenting Sat and Sun. Hopefully I'll still have time to see most of the houses.

What is the color code for your woodwork/trims? I like the greyish look. I'm in the process of repainting myself.

Light trim color:

Glidden "Toasty Grey" 30YY 51/098

Dark trim color:

Pittsburgh Paints "Stoney Fields" 416-6

Just my 2 cents... Karen is great to work with. She's been very patient with our budget and slow timeline to get our mod pieces. As just one example, I'm especially pleased with the "office area" in our den. Karen steered us toward a Knoll style dining room table for a desk (yes, I still need to hide the cords) and Knoll credenza for the office supplies. We're not up to Jason and Venessa's standards, but we're getting there.

Allison

It looks like you bought a real gem. I love the wood pattern on the siding and the unique front gate. Usually those things are ripped out for some "wrought'n" iron Tuscan-y thing.

Now, we need more pictures!

Yeah, another Home Cheapo glass and brass monstrosity bites the dust!

How are you liking the new reed glass? I put it in our new kitchen door and I love the privacy it offers. Of course, anything's better than getting a view of our refrigerator when someone walks up.

Lowbrow, the paint job looks spectacular! I love how the trim makes a statement instead of blending with the brick color. Very appropriate. And I think your landscaping has made a huge improvement to the front facade.

Now, what's next on your list?

Speaking of the color, we are fans, what paint did you end up using? Is it from the Sherman Williams line or something else?

I chose Pratt & Lambert's "Tampico".

Lowbrow and Texasdago-

I'll have to walk by and see the progress. And don't be surprised if the "little one" rings your doorbell. It's one of his favorite activities now!

So you installed a new door when you could've just painted the old one, removed the kickplate, and changed out the hardware? Am I missing something?

The previous door was hollow core, and with the beltway nearby there was a LOT of noise coming thru the door alone, besides the security issue one swift kick could cause. So now we have a very quiet (and safer) house. So it was well worth it.

I just wanted to show off my latest home improvement project.

I finally changed our front door and gave it a MCM paint color. However, now that I've improved the front door, I need to replace the mailbox, doorbell, entry rug, etc., etc.

Oh, and if anyone can recommend a metal fabricator, I need a new escutcheon for the door knob. I have a replacement (many thanks to Russell and his intrepid estate sale shopping) but it doesn't work with the knob I purchased.

Before: BORING!!!

After: the color is more green than the pics show

Door hardware detail:

This is great news. I'm so pleased to see that your tenacity paid off, something that typically doesn't happen when trying to save these neglected mods. I'll be eagerly awaiting any news and pictures as your renovation takes off.

This story must be a real shocker to the non-believing realtors!

i figured it might be pricey. ballpark guess?

thanks for the contact, i will pass it along.

I had my terrazzo tiles repolished by John Calarco 832-671-8298. It was just the entry (36sq ft) and the guest bath (30sq ft). It came to approximately $12/sq ft. The smaller spaces are harder to do because the polishing machine is a BIG piece of equipment. But I'm very glad I had them refinished because the terrazzo looks beautiful!

The roof shingle application reminds me of the Price house by Bart Prince.

Miller Dahlstrand seems to be working on the more traditional house next to the Robertson House.

Rats!

Wow!!! That is one awesome remodel/renovation. Now, when is the tour?

Cool!

Kevin Dahlstrand is a former co-worker of mine who went out on his own. He does awesome work.

Now, if I could just get inside to see that house!

Parrothead-

Please elaborate on the "grassroots" work the folks on Bunker Hill Road are doing, has it been successful? Goodness knows there are plenty of MB owners who want to save the architectural heritage of the neighborhood.

This afternoon I saw an inspector on the roof of the house. Am I correct in assuming that when developers buy a house to tear down they don't spend money on an inspection? I'm hoping this is a good sign.

Of course this also explains the carpenters on the roof Sunday morning

I saw the house getting worked on a few months ago...I guess that explains the price jump. I can see why I was a bit worried about their "upgrading" when I saw the listing pictures of the "false front" garage door opening into a courtyard, Yikes!

Makes me wish folks would just ask for design advice before creating something like this.

This is an excellent question for us flat roof homeowners.

We won't be replacing our roof for another 5+ years but Sun Belt Roofing did our neighbors house (713) 465-4171. I have not asked her if she was happy with the job, however, I will say that they have not needed to return to fix something that was done incorrectly.

I would call them for an estimate.

retromodernjeff-

Well, I went by the house. It is set back further than the adjacent houses because of the carport, I couldn't say for sure but it's at least 50'. I'm sure the brick wall would help with the traffic noise but without being inside the house it's very hard to say one way or the other. At our house on Richmond the traffic didn't bother me until we had our son. But of course the house was much quieter with the double-paned, low-e, laminated glass. Also, a BUNCH of noise came through the old front door so once we had it replaced with a solid core door that also improved the sound reduction. And since we spent very little time in the formal living and dining rooms that kept things quiet too. For reference, the house was set back 25' from Richmond, which has three lanes of traffic each way.

I hope that answers your questions.