My Parisian Balcony, ready for use

Come on, check it out.

Before: Non functioning window (78" wide), One window wouldn't fully close from the inside and I didn't have a long enough ladder or the patience to push it in from the outside every time we used it. The wood was swollen and rotted.  Bathroom door had just been replaced with pocket door - all part of a larger kitchen renovation in the works.  Midway: New exterior, out swinging french doors (48"). Making wall space for kitchen reno plans. Door handles purposefully left off, so little people don't access the outside ... no balcony railings yet.

After: Doors wide open, let the outside in! Metal railing, in attempt to let as much light in and have a light balcony. Wide upper railing, to place a beer or plate on.  The cats and dogs love it too.

the Fun Factor (yep, I moved that big boulder at the landing to prevent head collisions): 
 


Safety first: some sliding horizontal bars to prevent any people spillage or toddler escapes. Yet room enough for pug to slip under and slide down to use the great outdoors for his early morning business.

from the outside: The door fits in perfectly, centered on the wall. (yeah, the rest of the fence will eventually come down) There are plans to back hoe the concrete steps leading to basement door and lower and grade a pathway to the basement door so tall people dont bump their heads. I originally wanted a curved slide so it wouldn't block the entire alcove... the contractor got this one for a really good price due to scratches (we dont mind scratches) and there is lots of room to access the water spout and alcove.

now 3/2012

then 9/2011

View through the dining room window. The slide is removable, but right now, it was important for me to have something fun for my kids. And surprisingly it is not blocking the alcove as much as I thought. Will see what gardening fun I can incorporate around it this summer. While I was doing backyard landscaping last year, I took many pictures from this angle:

then summer 2011

then fall 2011

current spring 2012

The out-swinging, exterior french door was custom made and blew the budget; everything else was on par for what I wanted to spend on this part of the kitchen reno. Bonus: Wall is now insulated!

Save a few bucks: the doors are gridless (I didnt want grids anyhow) and the inside frame is unfinished, something for me to do later on. But the handles, they are oil rubbed bronze and sweet.  Oil rubbed bronze hardware and faucet will carry over throughout the kitchen and other rooms (see my bathroom light). The contractor then got his contractor pricing discount.

Other ways to save:  Do some of your own work -> cleanup, varnish/stain the deck yourself. (a job for next year, it needs to "weather").   Buy banged up items: 50 dollars off the slide, due to scratches, plus the contractors special discount. 

Other work to do: Trim around the door and the bathroom pocket door will be put up later on, after the flooring. Touch up the exterior clapboard that had been removed.

Now that the door is in, time to choose the kitchen floor!

Around the home

Makeshift dining, while the kitchen undergoes a reno

Time for drawing

Playtime

Resting

Sneak peek

The new door to the Parisian Balcony!

Soapstone

I stumbled across Soapstone. Ordered a sample and fell in love. IT's rustic and heavy duty, with precisely chiseled edges. And beautiful.

IT arrives in the colour gray (right side) and then one applies mineral oil to it to enhance the colour (left side). Eventually, after a year, the dark deep black gray colour remains. Soapstone is dense and doesn't stain. Soapstone will be appear black with out actually being black.  Cool and warm at the same time. Soft looking, but not so soft that it will dent, we're talking rock here. Soapstone is my current #1 counter top choice. I may even throw in a soapstone sink.

Soapstone sample along side granite, silestone and corian samples

See Vermont Soapstone for standard and custom sinks and quarry'ing details.

City Country

Boston last weekend: Luxurious linens, puffy duvet. Cable, cleaning service, doormen, restaurants. Lots of walking. Lots of green. Lots of festivities. Metro and buses.  Aquarium, Natural History, Harvard, Little Italy. Newbury street.  Downtown, winding narrow streets, tall buildings. Fruitstands and coffee shops. Memorials and bagpipes. Rugby matches, cheering, bangers and mash.

Camping this weekend: Pitch a tent, orienteering, fire making and capture the flag. Beaver dams and lodges, flooded swamp, 5 mile hike. Pocket knives and sticks. Whittling novices. Chopping vegetables and chicken. Tinfoil dinner. Crawl into dome, zip up feathered sleeping bag, as puffy as it was 20 years ago. Pitterpatter rain, all night long; sleeping inside a drum. Take down, clear out. Farewell.

My Parisian Balcony, in the making

Half a year and 3 moons ago, the doodling and beginnings of the kitchen renovation plan. One can see that there was no plan for a balcony off the kitchen, although getting OUTSIDE from the main floor was essential and always part of the plan, although I was going to access the great outdoors via the dining room.

Some advanced technology, kitchen floor planning tools and playing around found a balcony off of the kitchen and I rather liked it.

I stalled on flooring selection for kitchen but didn't want to slow down progress so made a decision to carry on with another phase of Kitchen Reno, the now dubbed "Parisian" balcony which requires swapping out the 78" rotted window with a patio door.

And now we have the frame and supports...

That was two days ago. Yesterday he laid down the balcony floor, which has not been photographed yet. Look at that, a contractor that works faster then I can photograph! I suspect he is finished for the time being, until the double french doors arrive. A few more weeks.

And to further explain the creative process for the balcony ... Yes, most people WILL bump their head on the balcony while going down the steps to enter basement through door, which happens to be our main door into house as the car gets parked at back. A problem for some people.

Originally I was going to swap out the single double hung window in the dining room, seen on the right of the photo. Seemed like a good place to put a deck, in that alcove. But the window in the kitchen was rotted and malfunctioning and needed to be replaced. And the concrete steps leading into the basement, are cracked in half and also need to be replaced. (A quote on that work was 3500 dollars!!). Eye popping news for me, considering I just dug out a 12 x 6 concrete patio that was under the over growth. BY.MYSELF.WITH.MY.FAMILY. I decided the cracked steps were not a big problem after all, despite the small-waterflow-on-rainy-days-into-the-basement issue.

Thanks to Mother Nature and the warm temperatures we had this winter, I decided to do some outdoor work in January. I called a stump crusher operator and discovered he was thrilled for the job offer in January. Normally he plows snow, but no snow means no work. Fine weather, Bad stumps, bring on the work. He was an easy guy to work with. I snooped around his website and discovered he did contracting work, deck building, basement renovations, any and everything. I showed him my kitchen and he was willing to work with me on my kind of schedule, little jobs at a time. I told him my ideas and he was happy to make my visions come true. I showed him the cracked steps and the balcony idea and he suggested he could bring his back hoe over, haul out the concrete and lawn, grade the area and make it level with the driveway. And create a walk way into the basement door solving three problems at once! (and if you didn't catch those three solved problems, 1) grading slope / lawn away from house, prevent water issue flowing into basement. 2) hauling out cracked concrete steps. 3) Lowering entryway creating more space to walk under balcony / no more bumping head. Ill have to draw it up some time.)

Eventually, we may extend balcony into the alcove area but for now, I'm getting my outdoor access via the kitchen. A place to swing open french doors, step out, sip coffee, admire the rising sun and the sparkling dew drops glistening off the blades of grass. Hibachi some hotdogs in the late afternoon. Clip some basil and chives from the hanging herb garden. My Parisian Balcony.

1,2,3

Momentous event this weekend. Exciting and a tad nervous. Heading to IKEA to get the cook area stuff. EEKS!  One 30" oven cabinet. Two 15" cabinets and an oven.  Although I have narrowed in on design decisions, I'll make the final picks on the spot ... drawers vs baskets vs pullouts. Cabinet fronts.  Hardware. Hinges.   I am investigating soapstone for counters. Sample in the mail ... fingers crossed I love it when I see it - I like the idea of rubbing mineral oil on it and watching it transform to a darker colour... but I digress... The cabinets have to be sturdy enough to withhold the weight of stone.  Lets hope so. 

The NUTID vs FRAMTID - (IKEA appliances are made by Whirlpool) I like that these ovens still have knobs. I don't need a high tech pad for my baking considering I  never use any other button on the microwave other then selecting the time and pressing start. I also like that they are mostly black with just a panel of stainless steel.

NUTID via IKEA

FRAMTID via IKEA

Hardware: Definitely interested in cups (bin pulls) and knobs. Depending on the quality at IKEA, Rejuvenation is my 2nd option. I like the oil rubbed bronze options they have. That should go well with some lighting I just put together.

via Rejuvenation

In other kitchen news, my now coined "Parisian" balcony is in the making. The outswinging double french doors are ordered and will take 4 weeks to get to me.  I chose oil rubbed bronze for the door hardware as well. And my contractor is working on building the balcony portion. Another EEKS-I-am-so-excited/nervous.

As a reminder, here is a sketch I drew up and decided to go with.

wip kitchen

finale (except pocket door is installed correctly :)

The first drawing is flagged with work-in-progress areas. The other parts (sink, fridge,pantry) are current but will relocate later on as seen in 2nd drawing. I had always envisioned access to the backyard from the first floor (we have basement access to outside), but through the dining room to accommodate the nook in the back. Eventually that will maybe will well, it will depend on how things evolve and look.  I liked the look of this narrow balcony off of the kitchen so I took a leap and made the decision to go with it.  The blue marks are the work in progress, the sliding door is installed but the frames have been left off until we do the flooring. Since I couldn't decide on the flooring I decided to change the window to a french door. The huge 78" window was rotting and was part of the plan to update, so hello french doors and parisian balcony.

And for flooring! I found some old barn wood flooring company and I may go with that.

via Old Barn Wood

And for some eye candy, my original inspiration for the cooking area although mine should look a bit more rustic.

via Remodelista via...will be back with link

And this beautiful faucet. I love this. This is me.

via The Improvised Life

Cute dress

Actually, not as cute as ... soooo comfortable and a "welcome spring" dress.

The jersey striped dress @ Gap. Not super flattering, but definitely easy to wear and comfortable. I bought the gray and hot pink striped one (30% off instore, an incentive for me). I may go back for the blue and white stripes.

**kitchen update to follow