Zee end…

Yep, they do houses too… and we’re thrilled to be the Top Tour on Apartment Therapy! Go on, take the tour. (Hopefully, the ample slideshow will more than compensate for our severe dereliction of blog duty.)

Many thanks to Will and Matthew at Green Bottle Workshop and Beth Lundell Garver at Apartment Therapy.

Also, be sure to check out Matthew & Mikel’s DIY Water+Works Remodel (aka. Green Bottle HQ) which was featured on Apartment Therapy in January… and the recently updated Green Bottle Workshop site.

[Update—March 22: Also in the spotlight, 1133's colorful kitchen on Apartment Therapy sister site The Kitchn. Have a butchers after the jump.]

Metropolis - Jul/Aug 09 | Thicket - Sept/Oct 09 | Dwell - Oct 09

Too quiet here… on the blog. In real life, not so much. It’s been insanely busy at 1133 since our move-in last May. Rest assured, more content to come.

In the meantime, some late summer reading…

Auburn’s Rural Studio graces the cover of the July/August issue of Metropolis (take that Tavern on the Green!) with a feature by Suzanne LaBarre on the program eight years post-Sambo (that is, after the death of co-founder Samuel Mockbee in 2001). Be sure to pick up a hard copy to learn more about this important program… and to marvel at 1133 design-builders Will Brothers and Matthew Finley’s magnificent thesis project—the Newbern Firehouse—which gets a full spread (with photos by Timothy Hursley). Kudos Green Bottle gang!

And our own 1133 gets some ink in the September/October issue of Thicket as part of the “Homes We Love” section in the Home Idea Guide (with photos by Jason Wallis). Read all about it (and watch a little video starring Liane, Will & Matthew) after the jump.

[Update—September 15: See also the latest issue of Dwell (October 2009) for a story on Rural Studio's $20,000 House... thanks Messr. Lambert!]

Red light!

Standard issue CB2 Industry Pendant Lamps come in black and, well, black.

That’s it.

No. Nothing wrong with black… but we were wanting something a bit more arresting to go over our work-in-progress kitchen island. More dramatic… more able to see from down the block. And now, due again to the limitless resourcefulness of the Green Bottle Gang, we have all that in spades.

Better redder.

Yes. No more “none more black.” Thanks to the kind artisans at Russell’s Speed Shop, the Industry Pendant Lamps are able to realize their full focal point potential.

Red lights are go!

The 13 steps.

The stringers—white, wooden bands on each side—support the risers (and, soon, the glass handrail), conceal the step profile and draw the eye up to connect with the base of the middle volume structure. Here, the thick, White Dove line transitions to a stain of Enduring Bronze and continues along the bottom edge of the volume toward the opposite end.

Step off…

Step on!

The risers—steel supports and bamboo treads—are an open design that allow light from the main living area to pass through to the east side hallway. In addition to this very well-thought out functional aspect, the openness also manages to create the illusion that the individual steps are floating.

Step off…

Step on!

Initially, Will and Matthew had explored the possibility of wrapping the steel supports in some of the remaining bamboo flooring in an effort to avoid pricey treads. Unfortunately, that approach didn’t pan out, so it was off again to Lumber Liquidators for another order of Supreme Bamboo (the kindly folks at Lumber Liquidators folks had them shipped overnight at no additional charge).

The end result, like so much else about 1133, is a perfect balance of form and function.

Galv-alum gutter.

Front door in the dining room.

One Light x 2.

For the downstairs bathroom vanity lighting, we’re going with 2 Kovacs One Light Bath Sconces by George Kovacs.

From the YLighting site:

“This contemporary wall sconce, part of the Simply Kovacs line by George Kovacs, features a cased etched opal glass cylindrical shade and a brushed nickel support. Dimensions: 12 inches high x 4.7 inches wide x 4.8 inches extension. Uses 1 x 60w max medium base T10 incandescent bulb.”

Blanco Maple (left) and Yukon Blanco (right).

On Saturday, we made another dreaded DirectBuy run to order our countertops.

Maybe we should quit complaining about DB, but we just can’t help but feeling like we’ve been taken for a ride. Maybe it’s because they rarely ever have what we’re looking for. Maybe it’s because we’ve managed to find a number of our pricier purchases for much less on Overstock.com or Amazon. Or maybe it’s the fact that, lately, our every shopping experience is soundtracked by the wistful strains of The Eagles’ Hell Freezes Over.

The Dude would not abide.

Still, in this instance, our DB membership did pay off… if only just a little bit. Although we still went over on our countertops budget, we were able to get our top choice for less than we could have anywhere else—Silestone® Quartz by Cosentino in Blanco Maple for the kitchen and Yukon Blanco for the downstairs bathroom.

From the Silestone site:

“Silestone offers the unique combination of built-in Microban® antimicrobial product protection, National Sanitation Foundation certification and Greenguard Indoor Air Quality certification.”

“Unlike granite countertops where microbes can penetrate the countertop surface if not properly sealed, Silestone Quartz countertops are non-porous, keeping microbes from penetrating the surface of your countertop (quartz is an engineered stone). And Silestone countertops are the only quartz countertops with Microban antimicrobial protection, which inhibits the growth of microbes such as odor-causing bacteria, mold and mildew.”

“Certifications by the National Sanitation Foundation and the Greenguard Environmental Institute mean Silestone is a Safer Surface for areas where food preparation takes place, while protecting the quality of your indoor air quality because it has low-to-no emission (off gassing) of toxic chemicals into the indoor environment.”

Cosentino N.A. is also a member of the U.S. Green Building Council—a non-profit community of leaders working to make green buildings available to everyone within a generation—and has outlined how building teams can benefit from and derive valuable LEED credits when Silestone Quartz surfaces are utilized.

Cirrus Hugger in white.

We hadn’t really planned for a ceiling fan initially. But after getting reacquainted with a region where running the AC in the dead of winter is not unheard of (two years later and we’re STILL thawing out from New England’s harsh winters), we started mulling.

But, it’s just so hard to find a simple, unobtrusive ceiling fan that’s also durable and affordable (come on IKEA!). G Squared’s Artemis and just about everything on offer from Ron Rezek’s Modern Fan Co. are quite nice, but… cha-ching!

Hampton Bay’s 60-inch White Industrial Fan had offered a glimmer of hope. It is minimally designed, energy-efficient, and quite affordable at $59.97. But after the guys installed it two weekends ago (sorry Will and Matt), it just looked… well, cheap (and being the proud, card-carrying typography snobs that we are, we were appalled by the design of the wall switch).

About that time, DWR had just started it’s Ten Year Anniversary Sale (15% off and free shipping) making what we’d initially had our eye on ever-so-slightly more affordable (that and Liane’s $50 Christmas Gift Card). So we dismantled the Hampton Bay, took it back to Home Depot, and splurged on Modern Fan Co.’s Cirrus Hugger in white (it also comes in silver/brushed aluminum).

It’s up, though not yet running (I took on the installation duties this time… fingers crossed we’re all good when the juice is turned on)… and looking super-cool (photos forthcoming)!

More about the Cirrus from the Modern Fan Co. site:

“At 13-inches, the Cirrus Hugger is designed specifically for low-ceiling applications. While compact in scale, this hugger is an exceptionally powerful air mover. Although refreshingly simple in appearance, (the Hugger) involves mastery in design, powerful motors, maintenance-free bearings and Ron Rezek’s invention of blades that insert directly into a single-piece rotor.”

“Modern Fans can keep you comfortable while helping to reduce energy consumption in several ways. Like a nice breeze on a warm day, moving air offers recognizable relief from heat and humidity. This effect allows for upward adjustment of your AC thermostat by as much as 8 degrees, resulting in up to 40% reduction in power consumption. In many cases, air conditioning can be turned off entirely, with a Modern Fan using less electricity than a standard light bulb.”

Plan Master Terrace ©Green Bottle Workshop, LLC

With the paint drying on the inside volume structures (photos soon, once we’re up and running again after yesterday’s unfortunate C-Lux tragedy!), and the subfloor enjoying it’s last hours of light before bamboo-ing begins on Wednesday, the Green Bottle Gang—once again ably assisted by the Hardie Boys—turned their attention outward and upward to the master terrace deck.

More or less gathering pollen (and, fleetingly, a bit of snow) since it’s weather-proofing back around week 25, Monday saw most of its bare spots covered in the remainder of the Hardie Board fiber cement siding used to great effect on the rest of 1133 (again, photos forthcoming).

After this, only the decking and the glass handrail remain before the master terrace is in full service. Heck, we’re even wired for sound!

As for the decking, we’re going with composite over wood. Composites, which blend ground-up wood and plastic, can last two to three times longer than conventional decking material and don’t require painting or staining. We’ve narrowed the field to two: Weyerhaeuser’s ChoiceDek® available exclusively from Lowe’s and Home Depot‘s reputable Veranda™ line.

According to their site, ChoiceDek is composed of 100% recycled content—recycled wood fiber encapsulated in recycled polyethylene. Not much info on the Veranda site regarding it’s Green-liness, but Consumer Reports has given it top marks in its category, beating ChoiceDek in its resistance to mildew and sagging (woo hoo!).

Either way, we’re probably going with the gray.

Klutz drops C-Lux.

Dropped the trusty C-Lux today whilst showing some nice folks around the house.

It’s not working.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Sending it to Leica USA for repair tomorrow.

Fingers crossed.