Since yesterday was my walk around the exterior of the KHouse Modern, I thought it was only fitting that today should be a walk around the interior. I haven’t focused on the interior on this project – few of these spaces have been seen before today and after tomorrow when the project turns over to the client, it might be a while before I get back inside (and when that happens, I doubt I will be toting a camera around from room to room).
So here’s how I am going to do this – I am going to arrange these photos in a (mostly) spatially sequential order in an effort to help you understand how one space flows in to the next. Also – and where it makes sense – I will identify the materials we used.
Hold on to your butts –
This is the main living room – this is the space that you experience when you walk in the front door. I’ve mentioned a few times about the wood deck that is outside and how it is a visual extension of this room – the two large window section between the columns on the right hand side of this photo are operable doors so that it is easy to open them up and move between the interior and exterior spaces.
The floors are 6″ wide white oak select with a 50/50 mix of rift cut and quarter sawn pieces with a clear finish. The white brick you see on the right is a 4″ x 16″ ‘Limestone’ burnished block made by Featherlite.
Still in the entry space – I’ve moved over by the fireplace and turned towards the kitchen area. The other windows across from the kitchen are also operable – they are actually stackable windows so when open, there is a 16′ wide opening between the kitchen and the screened exterior porch.
The ceiling is 6″ tongue and groove stained mahogany.
In this image, we are centered on the living room looking at the kitchen. The ceiling at the entry space is at 10′ – lowered to enhance the feeling of being welcomed into the home – but then the ceiling height in main room pops up to 14′ high.
The entry door is a custom-made steel door with stained 6″ wide black locust wood boards. The kitchen is by Bulthaup.
There are very few lights in the ceiling in this space – at least it seems to me that there are few. There are actually very few lights in any of the ceilings in this house – the natural light in most spaces is absolutely amazing. The house is basically one room wide and as a result, most rooms have a substantial amount of North facing glass.
The main living room also benefits from having a 30″ band of transom windows along three sides. There is a wonderful glow from these windows – not much light comes in directly because there is a 4′ overhang at the high roof. The fireplace surround is painted steel with Lueders limestone immediately surrounding the fireplace – the rest is white oak. There is a large sliding panel shown to the right that can move can cover the TV to make the room a bit more formal..
Here’s a look at the sliding white oak panel in the closed position.
The kitchen is very clean in appearance and extremely functional. If you are a fan of white kitchens then this kitchen would make you very happy.
This is a good look at the sliding doors that open directly off the kitchen on to the screened porch. The porch space is large enough to accommodate a dining table and a seating area – but we’ll get a better look at that space in a minute.
We are now past the kitchen and heading towards the service area of the house. It is back in these spaces where you’ll find another bedroom, a full guest bath, utility room, and large walk-in pantry. It’s hard to have such a minimal kitchen without having to supplement it with additional programming space just around the corner. You can also see in the picture above that there is a swinging door into/out of the screened in porch. It is reasonable to think that you might not always want to slide a massive door in order to go in and out of this space.
Here is the screened porch – the space itself measures 12′ wide and 25′ long … perfect for both a dining area and an informal seating area. You can see in the ceiling that there are fans and inline infrared heaters so that we can extend the seasons in which this space would be comfortable.
The wood decking on the exterior is black locust.
Oh yeah … see those two little dots next to each column? Those are lights.
Here’s a closer look …
There are no down lights in this space – the only illumination will be from daylighting or the little pairs of uplights at each column.
Here’s a look into one of the Guest bathrooms – shower bar has yet to be installed.
All the natural stone used on this project is honed Burlington slate, color ‘Baycliff Lord’. We actually had to have some of these stone tiles sanded more than once when a batch came in where you could see the sanding marks. At first nobody noticed it because you could only see it when the stone was tilted at just the right angle – so they were rejected. Nobody wanted to take the chance that “the right angle” would be discovered on July 14th at 3:27pm as the sun moved in to t a new position.
Looking back from the Guest Bathroom back towards the screened porch.
Since I was walking from the main house to the detached back house, I had to walk by the Oculus (yes, I am going to capitalize it) so of course I had to take another picture.
This might actually be the nicest room in the entire house – that’s a 16′ x 10′ window and it looks out and over the rear yard. This is also the space (if you read yesterday’s post) that is sitting above the lower level garage accessed off the alley. This room was originally intended to be guest quarters – either for family members, visiting house guests, or the possibility of a long-term live in provider. THe owner likes this space so much he’s been talking about making it his office – I can’t blame him for that.
These rooms – with their extensive glazing – all have a level 5 finish (don’t know what that is? Read this). There is simply too much light raking the walls to go with a lower drywall finish.
Another look at the Guest Room / Office. There are 4 downlights in this space but they don’t really contribute much during the day – they are really there for nighttime navigation.
We kept to the same palette of materials throughout the house so while you might think this is a duplicate of the inside guest bathroom,. it’s actually the one located in the detached back house. There is a space that you can see through the open door – looks like a closet. It is … but that space is also designed to accommodate a future laundry hookup and a small kitchenette .
This is where I need you do make a spatial jump with me. This is the Master Bedroom wing – the space just behind the fireplace wall off the main entry. I took you to the left and towards the kitchen … this is where you would be if you had turned to the right.
More large windows as well as a outdoor bump to the wood deck so allow for a seating arrangement right off this space.
This room is large and once the furniture goes into place, you would see that this one large room is really two rooms that haven’t been subdivided just yet. The millwork layout gives you a bit of a clue.
Here’s the millwork … see the brick column that separates the two sections of millwork? To the left is the sleeping area – you can see where a king-sized bed would slide in; as well as the built-in nightstands to either side. TO the right of the brick column is a work desk, this would also be the area where a small seating arrangement would be organized.
All the millwork in these rooms is clear finished white oak.
Another view of the millwork in the Master Bedroom.
Just like all the rooms in this house – there is a lot of glass and a wonderful view. In this room you can see the bit of wall that actually isn’t window … it’s there for two reasons
- Privacy. This is the bedroom portion of the room and most people would prefer to have just a bit of space where they aren’t getting in and out of bed in front of a floor to ceiling piece of glass.
- Solar Protection – this is a LEED house after all and windows that face East are frowned upon to a certain extent. We needed to keep the solar gain down.
I thought this picture might show the seating area on the porch a bit better. This is where the exterior ramp attaches to the deck that wraps around the exterior rear of the house.
The Master Bathroom is fairly large … maybe spacious would be a more appropriate word. This is obviously the dual faucet/sink area but I included this image because of the two doors you see in this picture. The one on the right is an Infrared Sauna. What’s that you say? Well, An infrared sauna uses infrared heaters to emit infrared light experienced as radiant heat which is absorbed by the surface of the skin. Traditional saunas heat the body primarily by conduction and convection from the heated air and by radiation of the heated surfaces in the sauna room. Well said Wikipedia – nicely done.
The door on the left is the toilet room because this house is nice enough so that it shouldn’t have a prison toilet.
Large shower, nice big piece of high glass to allow in natural light while providing visual privacy … and a slot drain that runs along one edge so you don’t have to stand on it while taking your shower.
This is all the honed Burlington slate in the color ‘Baycliff Lord’.
Still in the Master Bathroom looking towards the Master Closet … but just a peek at it. We also transition back to the white oak flooring once we leave the wet area of the bathroom. I should point out (because I didn’t take any pictures of it) but to the left, once you enter the closet, is a second utility room that will have a washer/dryer. If for some reason, the owners decide that they want to enlarge the closet space (and create a his/hers type setup) they can eliminate this redundant laundry room and go with the straight closet arrangement,
All white oak cabinetry in the closet. Plenty of space for hanging clothes, shoes, a dresser for undergarments, and space for storage at the bottom.
… and now we are leaving the Master Bedroom portion o the house and returning to the main Living room.
Make sense or did I lose you along the way?
So yesterday, I walked around the exterior and commented on how turning these projects over to the client was a bittersweet moment. We have been working on this project for 2 years and starting this week, it is no longer ours to walk through and enjoy (and if you’ve ever seen my house, I need to walk through my client’s houses to maintain the thought that I have some skill). I compared this to the gestation period of an Elephant … and I stick by that comparison.
Today, as I was walking through the interiors taking pictures, I noticed something else that happens whenever we turn a project over to our clients: We identify all the things that we got wrong or could have done better. I have a running mental list of all the details I will improve upon, the lessons learned, the “how we did this” sort of things that ultimately make an architect any good. It takes a while before it al starts coming together but I’d like to think that I am still taking the time to pay attention to the things going on around me that will make me better at what I do for a living.
There is no doubt in my mind that this is a beautiful house – possibly one of the very best I have ever had the fortune to work on … at least until the next one comes along.
Cheers,
