badonkadonk

take a wisten!

studio[MUD]

MASSAtop

finished the kitchen countertops today. scrap massaranduba looks pretty good. (at least better than in a pile collecting dust) hope to fnish the island this week. it is a little more complicated. the whole island gets wrapped in some way. i will figure it out as i go. darrell at robin's shop is building the slabs for me then i will hack them up good and proper..

studio[MUD]

from the spring...

a back view from another property across the spring. you could see it a lot better if it were not for the trees. not bad for an eclectic 70's/80's suburb.

studio[MUD]

mas ROJO

finished with the red paneling (sans doors and drawers that will come after C.O.) turned out pretty well considering they parallel Robin's millwork. kitchen island is in. Darrell helped me with kitchen countertops made from scrap massaranduba which seems to be the material of choice. ill try and finish tomorrow. starting to put finish flooring in - cheap bamboo on wall and ceiling in picture above. Lothar (electrician) will wrap up this week hopefully. concrete guys pour the last of the flatwork and ac pad in the morning. Lumber for garage was dropped off today. LIFE IS GOOD....except the part about being broke.

PECAN....

robin's guys installed the office cabs today. the PECAN seems to be the favorite so far of all the millwork these guys have installed. they are perfect. a little adjustment here and there then i will oil them. the kitchen island will go in tomorrow along with the last of the riff-cut white oak paneling. sand - shoot - DONE. in a little over a week robin has transfomed the whole house. i was hoping his cabinets would deflect your eye away from the shoddie craft of everything else....INDEED.

studio[MUD]

i like em' THICK

john and darrell are almost finished with the maple THICKwalls downstairs. fantastic. 3' deep cabs with bookshelves in the hall side and drawers/closet on the other. door 'portals' make the perfect threshold. almost feel like you need to duck. we'll use some sort of translucent or colored acrylic in the top portion to share light from bedrooms/hall/library.

more millwork ACTION

john finished the kitchen cabinets and moved downstairs to work on the maple THICKwalls. we'll try and build the massaranduba countertops tomorrow and get the appliances in by the end of the week.

YEEEEHAAAWWWW!!!!!!

millwork has begun...

Robin Smith / millwork solutions (strapping young lad seen in the sweatshirt below) has started installing the kitchen cabinets. these guys really do amazing work. they will be here most of the week finishing the kitchen and cabs downstairs. the kitchen is riff cut white oak. they even sprayed them for me. cant find a run yet but i am sure there will be something i can complain about.action shots below..

studio[MUD]

mmmmmmmmm......

just a few shop lights inside.............

studio[MUD]

a little rip-off hackery

was a little frustrated a few weeks ago with the lack of progress due to lack of funds so i resorted to a little shop indulgence and built this cab for the toilet room. we have plenty of scraps from the massaranduba siding to build the island, master bath lav, stair trim, etc....was inspired by a few lavs MJ Neal built for a house in austin the he designed called the wolfe den. whats a little rip off hackery amongst friends.

we are back on track now. so stay tuned for many more updates.

studio[MUD]

red alert

we are almost finished with the red plywood paneling. we could not afford to use finform as we wanted so my cabinetmaker (robin smith) supplied us with some cheap chinese birch and we stained it ourselves. not a bad substitute. many more pics soon.

studio[MUD]

action update

we have been moving really slowly the past 6 months or so due to lack of funds. we are starting to see the light. we will list the house soon if anybody is interested..let me know.

this is a shot from the spring in the back. almost finished with the rainscreen. ran out of wood but will order the rest this week.

check back soon for more pics.

studio[MUD]

by the way...the house is located in arlington, TX.

turning the corner...

eiji has been painstakingly cutting boards all week while the fellas have been sanding, drilling, sanding, sealing and more sealing....most of the rainscreen is finished other than a few boards here and there. now you can see how the corners turned out. more Gnarly the better.when the sun hits.......it goes to eleven!

indeed!

studio[MUD]

hacked..furred..primed

some of the walls were looking a little flat...so we hacked away. might be a little obsessive but what the hell. everything primed now. time to get back on the siding.

more concrete......

deweerd concrete came back this week to put in the garage slab. next week they will pour the driveway.

studio[MUD]

a little drywall action........

we have been blazing...jon ennis who helped us out with framing came back to get the drywall moving. looking pretty good. almost finished... they have started MUDin' up the place. there is a flat wall that is driving me crazy so we will hack into it and furr it out a bit. the osb wall upstairs will be covered with bamboo as well as the floor and most of the ceiling. the furr down on the ceiling will be smooth, slick, glossy mdf panels.

level 5.....plz. a few fingerprint smudges here and there never hurt anybody.

finished is good enough for me.

studio[MUD]

BLOW this......

garland insulation guys came by today in blow in the spider. fantastic. a sub who shows up when they say they will and actually finish in one day...all within the bid they proposed. can u believe it?

studio[MUD]

more wood....finally

we have been messing around with little odds and ends trying to get our inspection. we finally got the green tag so we are able to get back on the wood siding to make room inside for sheetrock. eiji has been able to spend most of is time on the jobsite so things are starting to go more smoothly. hopefully we will be able to insulate this week and move forward. have a look........

studio[MUD]

more black

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more steel stuffs

eiji and antonio have been working on the guardrail and gutter for the roof terrace. should look pretty good when painted out. hopefully we will wrap it up by tomorrow.

rainscreen....

we started the rainscreen this week. you get a much better sense of the texture and color when the sun hits. should contrast well with the 16" thick white concrete block walls on the lower level.
library/hall glazing is finished. there is a long slider set back in the 18" stl. plate frame.
living room from the spring. hard to see the other part of the house due to the trees. maybe we should cut them down.

studio[MUD]

more sliders and glass

we are almost finished wih all the glazing. about 95%. so far everything has worked out just right. metal craft has done a great job. only have one pocket slider to go and a few exterior doors to go until it is completely dried in.

kids came by for a little cleanup and to start their habitual routine of going in and out..in and out. forgetting to close the door behind them of course.

studio[MUD]

more black

can u dig it?

studio[MUD]

more window frames......

eiji finished the last of the large stl. frames. tomorrow i will order the rest of the glass and sliders. about 80% of the glass is in place. will paint the frames this week while waiting for glass and start the wood rainscreen. cant wait.

studio[MUD]

livinglivingkitchen/dining kitchen/dining from roof terrace

library/hallup hill towards entry courtyardback of entry
cantilever from spring