Kitchen Demo - Discoveries

Ok, so cabinets are out of the kitchen. The kitchen island is gone too. The paneling is removed from the wall between kitchen and living room. Here are some interesting observations:

First of all take a look at the wall and how it barely touches the beam above it!

I wasn't expecting the beam to be supported by a wall since these houses are post-beam construction anyway, but I wasn't expecting this either. So, it is probably possible to remove this wall (disclaimer: don't believe everything you read on the internet, check with a structural engineer)

 Of course, you need to figure something for all the wires in that wall and probably replace that vent pipe with whatever mechanism people use in kitchen islands with plumbing inside.

Oh, by the way, here is a little block of wood filling some of that gap. 

I wonder if that is original. What would happen if I pull it out? Could it be holding up the entire structure like a keystone? :)

Discovery #2:

There is a 220v conduit coming in right behind where I was planning to put the oven in. That will make our life easier in terms of getting all the proper circuits for the new kitchen. Look who is hiding in that corner.

Discovery #3:

In addition to the electrical conduit coming to the island, there is a smaller conduit with telephone line in it. I haven't had a land line for more than 10 years, so not sure what to do with it. Still I want to make use of that conduit somehow since it is buried in the concrete slab. Ideas? :)

More to come on conduits, electrical etc. later... 

Kitchen wing wall update, we have a solution!

We were discussing this problem with our contractor Michael, and Michael came up with a great idea: We cut the wall and move the wall as planned..we keep the wires at their location, and cover the wires with a box around them. We'll shape the box such that it will look like a cross-beam. Great way to match the Eichler look!

By the way, here is what  the wall looks like after being cut:

 Use your imagination to figure out what it will look like when we do the fake-cross-beam cover around it all the way to the right-most wire. Anything to the right will be cutoff..

Kitchen Demo -- the wing wall

We want to trim the kitchen wing wall by 2 feet. I was hoping that it is just a simple cut wall, reposition light switch, and close the wall operation. Of course something has to go wrong.

Our contractor Michael removed the paneling on that wing wall, and we have a problem. The wires from that light switch are going straight up into the roof. They travel buried in the tar&gravel roof all the way to the light fixtures in the kitchen.

Here are some before/after pics.
You are greeted by the wall as you enter from the atrium:

Paneling is removed:

Now we have to figure out a way to relocate those wires, otherwise we won't be able to shorten the wall. Time to discuss with our electrician Sergio from S&R Electric.

Starting the kitchen remodel...

We are finally starting the heavy work: The Kitchen! Here is the plan:
- Remove those old cabinets and replace them with glossy white cabinets from Ikea for a minimalist and modern look.
- Remove those brand new quartz countertops the sellers have just slapped onto the old cabinets to sell the place. I hate wasting things, so some of those countertops and cabinets are going to the garage to form a workbench. Details TBD..

This is what the cabinets and countertops look like today. Not bad actually.. but I don't want to remodel once I move in..

- That wing wall at atrium entry.. I just don't like it.  If that wall wasn't there, then one standing in the kitchen could have seen the atrium, and there would have been a much better flow: atrium->kitchen/family room->backyard through those nice floor to ceiling windows. I ideally would remove that entire wall, but my wife wants to keep some of it as it is used as a backer for high cabinets. She has a very good point, we actually need to live in this kitchen, so here is our solution: We'll cut half of the wall, get some more openness and still maintain some cabinet space.

Who is going to do all this work? Well, I was initially planning DIY, but then I chickened out and found a great contractor. Michael and Celina (husband and wife team) from Michael Pellegrino Construction are going to do the demolition, wall removal and install the new kitchen. What am I going to do?Assemble some Ikea cabinets.

Did I tell you that Ikea cabinets look great at a fraction of the cost of custom cabinets? All cabinet shops told me that Ikea cabinets will not stand against time, and won't last 10-20 years. I figured I can replace my kitchen with Ikea cabinets every 10 years and still save money compared to custom cabinets across a span of 30 years.

Ok less talking, more planning, let me go back to re-measuring the kitchen so that cabinets actually fit!

Floor plans...

Why is it so hard to find the floorplan for my Eichler? I think my plan is known as E-11 by Ashen & Allen, and it is the 1755 sqft atrium, flat roof model one can find all over Fairbrae and Fairglen communities in Sunnyvale and San Jose. There are probably 500 eichlers with this floorplan, but I can only find one lousy stamp sized black and white image when I google this plan.

 That is enough! I took this matter in my own hands, measured all the rooms in the house, downloaded a free drawing program, and drew my own plan! (As if I don't have fifty other things I have to do by tomorrow for my real job so that I can pay for this mortgage) Boys and girls, here is my plan:

Ok, so I felt lazy at the end and didn't bother putting in the dimensions for the bedrooms. Perhaps, I may have  screwed up the scale while drawing the bedrooms, but hey this is much better than what you'll find on google. I am sure you can figure out what is a wall, what is a glass panel, what is a sliding glass door etc.

Why do I blog?

Frankly here is what I thought of blogs and bloggers for a long time: Yawn..

That's because I've been seeing blogs like "Oh I've eaten this today, and I saw this movie, blah blah.." I just don't understand why people blog about boring everyday stuff. Same applies to most facebook updates.. But, hey, I understand everyone likes to have that feeling of having an audience, and feeling important.

Then, one day, I came across two great, informative blogs while I was researching Eichlers and renovation ideas. Redneck Modern and Dan's EichlerEichler blogs are great resources for anyone who is interested in midcentury modern houses or renovating one of those. Inspired by these two great blogs, I've decided to document my renovation experience and share it with fellow Eichler/MCM owners. If you are reading this, I hope you'll benefit from reading my blog and somewhat better prepared when it comes to renovating your Eichler.

Finally back to this blog

Ok, it has been a pretty busy month going through escrow, setting up remodeling plans, ordering tile, cabinets etc. etc. I had a thousand things that are worth blogging, and today I'll be dumping most of it here!