The Big Design Decision Has Been Made

The votes are in and the choice has been made--for the exterior colors and eaves. More than anything else, these choices will define the exterior of the house. Thinking about this I go back to how the house was originally conceived on the drawings and how that relates to the decicions of the last few weeks. While the paper design set the style of the house, it is the color and choice of exterior finishes that give it a much deeper depth.

And the choices are: smooth stucco (untinted or unpainted) with the natural wood lines that are illustrated in the following two drawings. There are also a few natural wood doors (not totally shown here) but the design also contains a heavy concentration of aluminum doors and windows (and horizontal aluminum lines otherwise known as reveals).

Also note the pool going in the foreground.

The great room is ready for painting. This view is from the kitchen, the dining area is in the foreground and the living area in the back.

This is the kitchen area as shown from the living area.

The elevator shaft and front-yard courtyard are also going in. Budget constraints mean I'm not going to get sick and need an elevator in the near future. There will, however, be a metal stairway going in this area. This door is from the garage into the courtyard.

Tying it All Together -- The Design Theme

The time has come when I have to make decisions about how all the design details come together to create the look and feel of the house. I don't think I have to remind anyone that these details will make or break the design of the house. Let me walk you through this, starting with the exterior stucco and little horizontal lines called "reveals." I'm not sure how they get their name but in this picture they are the three small horizontal lines between the two windows. These silver "reveals" match the color and material of the house's doors and windows giving it a contemporay and clean appearence. The silver will be played against the color of the stucco wall. Also in this picture the stucco has been applied but not the color.

P.S. I'm afraid of color so I have changed my mind several times, to the frustration of Mateo, of the stucco being either a stained white, or left unstained and unpainted so that it dries into a smooth grey. White or grey, grey or white, hmmmm. The reveals also appear in the second floor exterior elevations (not visible in this picture.)

Continuing this theme in the picture below, the silver reveals and baseboard are shown inside one of the rooms. The walls will be white, however, with the exception that one wall in each room will be a bright primary color.

Moving on to the next theme is the woodwork. The two wood panels below are the cabinets and floors. Half of the flooring will be concrete but the upstairs and all bedrooms will have wood floors. The vertical panel in the picture is the finished cabinets for the kitchens and bathrooms and the piece on the floor will be the floor. I think they match. No silver here.

Finally, the next two pictures are part of the same great room. All white walls, with silver doors and windows. There will also be a bench with cabinets below along the entire far wall and bookcases on the left corner of the room, enclosing the sets of small windows. The bookcases will be the same color as the cabinets.
This wood beam, although a different color than the cabinetry, will remain as is.

Insulation, Drywall, Retaining Walls, Drains, and a Discussion About Art

A week ago the house passed what Mateo says is the biggest inspection of the construction. It was for mechanical systems, framing, retaining wall grouting, and other stuff that halted construction until they were approved. Now that the Casa passed, construction resumed in earnst this week.

Insulation all around the house (including the fireplace) followed by drywall. It looks like the whole 2239 square feet interior of the house will be drywalled in about a week.

The following pictures are from two different angles but are of the same retaining wall along the easterly property line. In the first the foundation was approved so that the wall can be constructed. Here you see it made out of concrete block.

The finished wall from the other end of the lot with the drain pipe installed. Because the dirt was not as solid as originally believed (bedrock), the footing for this wall had to be dug deeper causing the wall to be taller than the plans called for. Structural engineer Jorge redrew the plans and was going to drop them off today.

Finally, the house begins to get wrapped in preparation for stuccoeing. I've changed my mind twice so far on the color of the exterior stucco. I believe the colors of the stucco and metal roof will more than anything else define the "look" of the house. I have thought long and hard on this (and changed and not made up my mind several times.) The relation between the surfaces or elevations, and the sharp lines of the roof and it's effect on the whole house are what is at stake in these colors.

84 Day Progress Report

It has been exactly 84 days since construction has started so I've been wondering if it's time to take some kind of assessment. The assessment I've been thinking of has not only to do with the house, but with events in my own life. I've got a good footing on everything but it does feel like the little part of the world around me is changing and I'm trying to get a handle on it.


Meanwhile, look at what's happened to the Casa in the last two weeks. Some of these pictures will be pretty boring but hey, it's progress.

The dirt covered panel with the circular hole in it is the cover for where the water service was installed. We are now getting water from the property's own water line instead of the neighbor's. (contain your excitement)






Digging for the pool has started in this area. It will be five feet from the garage wall pictured below.

The angle of this picture is taken from what will be the pool's jacuzzi. The pool will be in the foreground. In front of the blank wall to the left there will be a raised planter with a 6 foot by 3 foot trellis. I'm not sure which vines to plant. The wall will also contain two light sconces.

Finishing this water themed tour, framing for the shower stall went it this week as well as the bed for the jacuzzi tub. It's kind of high and will take a step or two to get into, it's designed to take in a view of the San Gabriel Mountains while soaking.

This is the rear garden courtyard area of the Casa. I'm giving this blank wall the same treatment as the pool courtyard wall. The upstairs sliding glass doors and windows above the lower level glass sliders went it.

Walls and Infrastructure

Before and after pictures of the west side property line.

I am going to place a sewer pipe along this property line for the northerly neighbor to use. As part of the deal to sell that lot I granted a sewer easement along this property line. The sewage, however, will have to be pumped up to reach this line.

There will be a small retaining wall at the northern property line.

Here it is. There will also be a privacy wall at the end of this wall to screen out the house in the picture.

The garage walls kept rising these last two weeks.

The wall is almost all done. The three car garage will have an 18 foot high ceiling, kind of like a cathedral for cars? The opening on the left side of the wall is where the stairs will reach the house level.

I think I have 54 four-inch can swivel lights. Plus a half dozen outdoor sconces, unchosen hidden soffit lighting in the living room and master bedroom, and a hallway that is a perfect place for a gaudy chandelier that is suppose to balance the starkness of the design and architecture.

Keeping the heating and cooling vents insulated for performance efficiency.

This is the second heater for the upstairs master suite. Also pictured is the venting, fire sprinkler (in orange) and two can lights. There's also a margarita glass for emergencies.The great room with most of the infrastructure in. It looks smaller in pictures.

Meet Linko and Braque

You never know where you are going to find a story in the big city, I guess everyone has one, but this week I ran into a very interesting one. I met them here, on the street, in front of the lot. The black-top hole in the street is their domain. However, before I get to Linko and Braque I should point out the extension of the courtyard/garage wall that was framed and poured this week.



The completed wall is shown here along with the cement blocks that will be used to raise it even higher.

An unscheduled pour. It appears that the neighbor's wall does not have a footing deep enough so we will have to reinforce it on our side.


One of the 16 foot long windows went in this week. There is a view there to Catalina on a clear day. The landscaping is designed to screen out the house to the right and frame the view with trees.
This pop-out design element went in this week. The original design only had one window on this side of the room and the pop-out was to the left. This was done after construction started.


The guy in the hole looking for the sewer pipe is Linko. The tall frail guy is Braque who hands Linko tools and watches the street making sure cars don't fall in. They have strong Eastern European accents we can't tell from where. They've been in the business of digging for sewer lines for decades and smoke constantly. Mateo says Linko smokes cigars all day to block the stench of the sewer. It's a slow, tedious process, Linko is careful not to hit any other pipes in the street.


The pipe was found about 10 feet deep. It took Linko all week to find, over 40 hours, with Braque faithfully standing over.

This just went in today.

Wow -- The Baby Has Taken Shape

The Casa has pretty much taken form. There are a few small exterior elements yet to be framed but the next three pictures are pretty much the shape of the house. I'm starting to realize the difference between drawings and true form. They really are two different things and it is fascinating to watch them merge, or maybe diverge is a better word. There are some minor changes from the plans, the biggest being opening up the second floor balcony, but otherwise it is very close to the drawings. And yet it is different.
My friend Enrique, an architect who I had showed the drawings to a few weeks ago, stopped by and was also impressed by the difference between drawings and true form. Being an architect I would have thought he would have been use to this but the intensity of his gazing at the place spoke volumes. He also verbalized the contrast.
I spent more than three years working on the design for this house, I poked and streched my favorite styles on the site. I commissioned a world famous artist, I worked with architectural designer friends, and eventually came up with the design I now see taking shape. Yet it's still a work in progress.

On paper this window looked enough to fill out the den, but to add another one is going to take a trip to the structural engineer and maybe a major reinforcement of this supporting wall. I think I should do it.
The "Y" sewer connection in the street was dug up this week.

Mystery Beam

Tuesday, August 26, 1pm. As scheduled, the crane, the beam, and I, each arrived separately at the site to watch it get put it place.

It is a solitary beam, lying all by itself, the only steel beam on the second floor. It doesn't even extend from wall to wall. A neighbor drove by, stopped me, and said "I grew up with a family of engineers and for the life of me can't figure out what that beam is all about." The beam is a product of the structural engineer's design but Mateo hadn't asked why. I asked a buddy at Building and Safety who after looking at the plans thinks it's to support the roof overhangs.

The plumbing began to be installed this week.

The upstairs fireplace was installed as well. It is designed to be open between the den and the master bedroom.

The Second Floor Goes Up

Within 5 days most of the second floor went up. Day one, Monday. By Friday, front view.

Rear view. It is exactly two months from the day when the earth was turned on this hillside lot.
By mid-week, based on this view, I decided to make what could be called a major design change. The sharp angle of the roof to the right is supposed to continue to the frame. I think I'm going to let it end where it is and substitute glass in this opening. I like the emphasizing the contrasts between verticals and angles. This design idea is not new here but it is emphasized by keeping the opening. And what looked one way on the drawings looks another way from an actual perspective.
I still have not settled on a color scheme for the exterior. I am partial to having a smooth unpainted stucco finish such as the grey in this neighborhood house but between my aluminum doors and windows, metal roof (color not decided) and facia of the eaves, it still has not crystallized.