Gotta' Keep the Cook Happy!

The renovation inside was originally going to be some new kitchen cabinets and new appliances. Pretty straightforward stuff that is being done in a dozen places any day of the week. However, remember that we had an architect helping us, so...

David Smith was the moving force behind getting this whole project thru the HRB and on to material change. When he looked thru the house, the first thing he said was "have you given any thought to adding a door from the kitchen to the middle patio?" Hmmm... interesting.

Then in the hallway, "you know, adding a door here the opens to the middle patio would open this up more and would be a great safety consideration." Double hmmm.

"And what we could do at the same time is add a deck here in the patio." Triple hmmm. We were sold. I don't know if you can generalize, but we had such a positive experience working with David that I can't imagine going thru a significant remodel of any sort without having the sort of help he provided us.

The opening page for the house has some photos of the kitchen. Here's some pics during and after the kitchen remodel...

The northwest end of the kitchen. This addition is framed with some concrete blocks providing the transition from adobe to frame. This was taken before we had to replace the adobe wall.
The northeast corner (sorry for th poor image!). The wall heater went away and the door moved about 8" toward the heater area to accommodate an enclosure for the new stacked washer & dryer.

The southwest end. You can see the adobes exposed. Unfortunately the adobes had been shaved down and were threatening to collapse were we to create the opening for the door and relocate the window. This area had the adobe replace with frame.

You can see the vigas from the original house. Unfortunately there were only 4 as the new addition (behind the camera) didn't have them. It seemed like it was going to look a little too hokey, so we elected to re-enclose them with a ceiling. Bummer.

And the southeast corner.

Here's the pictorial tile set from Arius tile in place above where the range top will go. The vent hood has been framed and is almost ready for plaster.

Here's the northwest corner again, this time with the cherry wood cabinets in place, the Diamond plaster on, and the grout mostly done. The granite counter top is in except for a portion of the back splash. Those vents on the floor are for the toe heaters (part of the new baseboard heating system).
Northeast corner, this time with the laundry enclosure finished and the oven & microwave in place.
A not-very-good shot of the southeast corner. The fridge is in place but the handles, removed to get it thru the passageway to the living room, haven't been reinstalled.
And the southwest corner. We had Diamond plaster done in most of the house once we saw how good the kitchen looked!
Same SW corner, but a view of the door which leads to the deck. The deck is elevated about 18" over the original patio.
This is the hallway leading from the kitchen toward the office with the front bathroom out of view to the right. They managed to save the saltillo tile that was already in place though some of the grout suffered badly.