Happy New Year!

The year 2011 is drawing to a close, and a short reflection back on our first few months in the New Norris House reveals what we learned and what happened during that time. Similar to any new residence, there was a period of familiarizing ourselves to the house and the systems inside it. Some things in the house were brand new to us (the heating and cooling units, the rainwater cisterns, the solar hot water, and the small refrigerator and freezer), while others were familiar but required an adjustment (low flow faucets and shower, cabinet and storage configurations, and the furniture).

rainwater cistern in backyard (on flickr)

The house was ready for occupancy on July 1, and the finishing touches were completed throughout July and August. We set up our post office box and internet service, and enjoyed meeting people who came by for house tours over the 4th of July weekend. Students wrapped up their work on the yard and rainwater garden, and seeded the lawn. Kinks with fluctuating water temperature in the shower were worked out, and the solar hot water heater was installed. Railings on the deck and entry were leveled and secured. Temperature and humidity sensors were installed throughout the house. We became familiar with the air conditioning unit manual as we figured out the ideal way to run the systems in the summer heat.

the house in december (on flickr)

The official ribbon cutting ceremony for the house was in August, and hundreds of people attended and toured the house. Also that month, there were multiple media events to promote the finished project within the Norris and Knoxville areas, and at the University of Tennessee as well. Professors Tricia Stuth and Bob French, along with the student researchers and other student participants, have been a pleasure to work with during this experience. We've appreciated their patience with us while we went through learning about the house.

In the next six months, we’re looking forward to some new activities, including starting a garden in the raised beds in the backyard and exploring more of the Norris area. Until then, we wish you a Happy New Year!

Living in a small home, Part 2

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single house in possession of occupants, must be in want of plenty of closed storage space.* Although the house has a relatively small footprint, we’ve found the cabinets and closets provide just enough storage space for the two of us (just enough = everything we moved to the house fits, with a bit of room to spare). The house was designed with attention to storage space; there are three closets (bedroom, broom, and 24” wide freestanding wardrobe), and cabinets in the bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, swing space, and loft.

Bedroom and swing space

The cabinets were designed and built by students. They’re painted white, which provides uniformity throughout the house, and without any hardware, the cabinet doors have a clean, sleek look. In a way, the beveled edges on the bottom of the cabinet doors in the kitchen and swing space are the hardware; the edges are easy to grasp and pull open. The soft-closing mechanisms mean they are quiet. The cabinet doors (and drawers) under the kitchen counter and in the bedroom have beveled edges too, but they’re opened and closed by spring action. Pressing on the corner of a door releases a spring, and pressing the door on the same corner back into the cabinet housing compresses it.

Beveled edges and spring

While unpacking, it became clear we’d have to come up with some storage locations and strategies that were different from how we stored things before. The bathroom has one cabinet under the sink with some small shelves next to it; before, we had several cabinets and drawers. New strategy: daily use items stay in the medicine cabinet and under the sink, and the occasional items stay in the drawers of the freestanding wardrobe. The bedroom closet has one hanging rod; before, our closet had two different rod heights, so both shirts and pants were on hangers. New strategy: shirts and dresses hang in the bedroom closet, while pants are stacked horizontally in bedroom cabinets instead of hanging vertically. Other solutions were made for the kitchen and swing space too.

Bookshelves in the loft

Adapting to the storage space here as it was designed to be used, and organizing our items to fit within, has meant thinking about space in a different way. And, it means being conscious of what we bring into the house, not filling cabinets just because there’s room.

*With apologies to Jane Austen.

Casework Update

The casework team has been full steam ahead over the past couple of weeks, but we still have a lot of ground to cover. Every room in the house has some casework component and we have taken on the responsibility of completing the casework ourselves, from design to fabrication to installation. At this point, we have finished the majority of fabrication for the kitchen casework and are waiting for the flooring to be installed before we install our cabinets.

In the meantime, we will be setting up a large painting operation at our warehouse on Henson Rd. We decided to use a low VOC paint product to comply with our environmental goals, but with every decision comes some pros and cons. With this decision, the water based paint dries hard - similar to the quality of a lacquer based paint - but it takes about thirty days to cure. Therefore, our small, 10x10 paint booth was simply inadequate for the large amount of painting that we have to do.

We should receive a new order of plywood from A&M Supply within the next couple of days to continue fabricating the cabinets for the swing space and the bedroom. The challenge for these cabinets has been integrating all of the necessary components within them. Integrated into all of our cabinets are the Mitsubishi mini-split units which provide the heating and air for the whole house. In addition to the HVAC, most of the cabinets include recessed lighting, so all of the MEP disciplines are coordinated into one piece of millwork. Needless to say, we will have our hands full, blitzing towards the finish line.

This picture has nothing to do with my post... but its beautiful.

Cabinet Excursion Part Deux

The cabinet production is in full effect now!!!!!! And we couldn't be happier!

With the help of our new found friends at A&M Supply, Blum Hardware, and Columbia Forest Products, we have been able to dive pretty deep in the construction of the base cabinets. They have been great help in the process of picking material and coordination.

It is still a learning process as our lead critic Steve likes to walk by and laugh at us as we struggling to figure the details out. I 'think' we have figured out the process of construction now and the wall cabinets should come together pretty quick. Although we are slightly behind schedule, we are trying to work day and night to get them done. We barely have time to breath, little alone blog, with how hard these 'research specialist' are working us.

As I digress, we are about 90% done with the base cabinets and should start the wall cabinets within the next couple of days. Hoping to install as soon as the flooring is installed, we are trying to get them finished by the middle of next week.

So until the next time I get a Union Break.... I bid you adieu!

Cabinets & Casework

As the house continues to advance, we have come to a point where we need to buckle down and make some pretty important decisions about the interior construction and aesthetic. One major component is the built-in kitchen casework. We know that we are trying to achieve a clean, simple, and elegant look, but we are unsure as to how to advance with the construction. One method would be to order premanufactured cabinet boxes in standard sizes and then complete them by producing our own cabinet doors and custom components. While this limits us to standard cabinet sizes, it gives us the advantage of saving some time - keeping us from fabricating all of the components ourselves.

But in the interest of saving some cold, hard cash, we are pursuing the option of fabricating all of the casework ourselves. More than just saving money, this will allow us to produce more custom cabinetry to suite the needs of the house and it will prove to be an invaluable educational tool for all the students involved in the design and construction of the cabinets. In addition to the traditional woodworking tools found in the woodshop, we also have a CNC router available to aid in our attempt to create beautiful casework. Using CNC (computer numerical control) router, we can build a 3-dimensional model of the cabinets in the computer and have each piece precisely cut out on the router. This ensures precision and helps save material as it fits the most amount of pieces possible on each sheet of plywood. After the pieces are cut out, we just need to assemble them with a minimal amount of finishing of the materials.

We plan to use this week to ensure that we are competent to complete the casework in a timely fashion. By the end of the week, we will finish designing the cabinets and hopefully build one cabinet box using the CNC router, recognizing any weaknesses we have in our process.