Taliesin- East

This past week I made a visit to family in Minnesota. On the way there I stopped to see Frank L. Wrights compound in Spring Green, Wisconsin. After visiting Taliesin West this was a very different experience. Attached are a few pictures took when I was there.

A lot of work needs to be done at this compound. I believe that of all the Wright buildings I have seen the one located in my home town of Grand Rapids seems to be the best and most complete restoration I have seen todate.

Details

I just recently completed a job doing a small renovation of a kitchen eating area and half bath. The colors and project details were designed by CJ Vandaff. Part of the project involved building a small bath cabinet with sliding glass doors and a coat/key rack that was also a peg board. Attached are the drawing I worked off as well as the finished project. Both pieces were built and than sprayed with paint in my shop.

Heritage Hill House- Doors

I have been working at a house in Heritage Hill that is located on Madison Street. Madison is a street on the south end of the hill district that has many fine homes that are very grand in scale. The house I am working on was built around 1910. I have been working there now for over a month on many projects. One of the projects I have worked on is install a small set of double or french style doors in a hallway. I needed a custom size but wanted something to look vintage. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any old doors in the house that would work so I challenge was to build and install a set of doors that looked original but to do it with in a budget. I managed to design two paint grade doors out of two fifteen dollar sheets of plywood and had a great deal of fun building them. So attached are a couple of pictures taken before the trim when on and before paint. I will include some finished pictures later.

SPRING!!!!

I think spring is finally here. It seemed along time coming this year. With all the snow we had the world we are living in seem frozen in pristine white. I however have been seeing robin's for weeks now. My firewood pile in the shop as been all but gone for awhile.

It always amazes me with the snow gone how many project become apparent around the house. The upbeat side of the warmer weather that we are now getting is that we are now into the time of year were it is so very pleasant to work outside and get projects done.

So the long and short of this is that if you have put off any large and small construction projects this winter now is a good time to give me a call. The phone always tends to get busy this time so don't put off calling for for too long. I look forward to hearing from you

Should have been planed down 1/8"

This past week I was working in a clients house on what had been a built-in mahogany china cabinet. Much of the cabinet had been removed and so the owner had wanted me to simply remove the remainder of the cabinet so the the space could be added to what was now a small bedroom. Once the work had been removed I needed to redo the interior of the hole in the wall with bead board. I took some measurements, cut wood for the opening up in my shop and then brought it out to the job for installation. When installing the wood I discover one of the upper left hand corners was too tight so I ended up planing down the wood an 1/8 of an inch. when I got done I remembered on of the piece of wood I removed from what was left of the old cabinet had something written on it. It said- "Should have been planed down 1/8 of an inch". Some how the carpenters that had installed the cabinet had to do some fudging somewhere to get their built-in installed. However, now that I was redoing the opening I was confronted with this 1/8" problem again.

Often, in old houses I have found myself confronted with these odds little bits of history. Sometimes is is just old newspapers, sometime old bits of clothes, or many times it is the notes of some earlier craftsman that has worked on the building. It is one of the enjoyable aspects of working on old buildings. I love the sense of history in these old building.

Einstein's Hair

My shop is truly one of the most fun aspects of having my own business. In fact I have had someone jokingly accuse me of starting my business as a pretext for buying tools and having a shop.

My shop allows my mind to run creative, it also allows me the opportunity to do custom work for clients. I have a very large inventory of customs knives for the many different pieces of trim that I have done for clients. I have always tried to match exist woodwork when doing new projects in existing houses. It allows the new but ties it aesthetically to what is already there.

I have also made many kitchen cabinets, furniture, and been able to repair existing doors and windows in the comfort of my own shop. But, I have also used is for play. Enjoyment of working with wood was always one of my main reasons for starting my business. I have enjoyed doing wood turning such as making wooden bowls, I have carved wooden spoons, and even done some traditional chair making.

At this point however, you are most likely thinking that all of this is good but what does that have to do with my blog title? Well, I have nicknamed my shop Einstein's hair because with all my interests sometime my shop looks like Einstein's hair. It can have a wild unkempt appearance with many projects lying everywhere. But, it is my shop and my space so I make no apologies. It is my inspired space that allows me the opportunity to use my creative talents and offer my clients some a little extra that most contractors don't offer.

Cabinets

One of the many things I get involved with is the building of cabinets. The pictured two matching cabinets were built for a client out of savaged pine. The design was based on an old cupboard that the client already had in the house. The details of the cabinet along with the shelf support system was based on the details found on the antique cabinets. The cabinets currently sit on either side of a window but were made so that they could be pulled together.

The finish on the cabinets is milk paint. Green milk paint on the background and white on the rest of the cabinet. Then both were clear coated after they were distressed. I did all of the finishing in my shop.

Seems Like Old Times

This beautiful Italianate Victorian house is located in Grand Rapid's Heritage Hill Historic district. Two years ago I was responsible as the general contractor for the complete restoration of this outstanding 1870's building. I had done work for the previous family that had owned the building for most of the life of the house. When the new owners came along my name was passed along as not only a person who was a contractor that had worked on this house but also as someone that had a real love of old houses. The new owners wanted to preserve the character of the house but also wanted all the mechanicals updated. So I worked with them and their designer CJ VanDaff to design a project that was respectful of all the historic details of the house.

This was truely one of the more enjoyable total house projects I have worked on. In the end all parties were very pleased with the results. Last year Better Homes and Gardens featured the kitchens in their Kitchen and Bath Ideas magazine(January/February 2007). This past Fall I was interviewed for a Public TV program that is being produced on the restoration of this house that should come out next Summer.

This and That

I haven't done an entry in my blog since I returned from Arizona. I had hoped to post more pictures of my project there but just got too busy.

Last week I spent the week putting up crown for a client. Crown is always an interesting thoughtful job. All the inside corners have to be coped. So it gives one time for handtool work which is always nice. The quiet of a tool working the wood gives one much time for reflection compared with power tool work which always is a little unnerving with the high pitched sound that most power tools eminate.

More tomorrow on a special project I worked one in the last couple of years. That is one of my favorite jobs.

TALIESIN WEST-FRANK L. WRIGHT

Today I went to Taliesin West which is Frank Lloyd Wright's home and compound. This was a compound that was set up in the 1930's for Wright to work on some projects in the south western part of our country. It eventually became Wright's winter home until he died and his studio/school. The compound is still a working school and architectural design studio. It is located in a desert preserve. The buildings, the setting, and the people are creatively inspiring. I hope my picture speak for themselves.

Arizona

I am working in Arizona this week at the home of a client. I am including a picture of street we are working on. All the building are stucco with tile roofs. There isn't much grass to speak of but since it is the desert I am seeing lots of cactus & palm trees as well as alot of other unfamiliar vegetation. The days are about 60-70 degrees with bright sunshine and no humidity and the night are so cool you need a sweater or coat. Just my kind of weather. The area we are in is called the valley. The population is growing at a rate of 300 to 500 people per day. This is a very different economy than Michigan which hasn't been able to get out of it's economic slump for over 5 years now.

Doors

Doors are an important part of the face of any house. The two pictures I am including in my blog today are of two door projects I have been involved in. The one picture is of a new wooden oak storm/screen door I built for a house. The second picture is of an old door that I restored and than installed on a house in Heritage Hill Historic district.

This week I am working in Scottsdale, Arizona for a client. This is a very different environment than northern Michigan. I hope to have a few blogs on the project I am working on as well as some pictures. My treat this week will be to fit in a visit to Frank L. Wright's Taliesin West. I will definitely blog about that.

Antique Hardware

Antique hardware is a specialty I have gotten into because of my many years of work on old houses. Often, a knob is missing, a lock set is broken or perhaps someone just wants old cabinet latches on new kitchen cabinets to match the existing hardware they have in their house. So over the years I have collect many unusual and beautiful pieces of hardware. I find old lock sets easy to work on and repair. In the time we live in so much is designed to be thrown away yet, most old hardware can be cleaned and repair to live another life. So even now when I see old door sitting by the trash I can't resist taking the time to see if there is some vintage hardware on them that can be salvaged. The beauty of the old cast and stamped hardware is easy to fall in love with.

I am always buying and selling hardware. So if you have an old can of hardware in your basement give me a call I would love to talk to you.

Kitchens

The kitchen often represents one of the most challenging room in a house to renovate. Often the work has to be done with the owner's living in the house and this can pose problems for both the owner and the builder. The design and layout of the kitchen become very important because the kitchen needs to reflect what the owner's needs are as well as relate well to the rest of the house.

The kitchen you see in this picture was no exception. This 1880 Heritage Hill house had a lot of character that the owner wanted to see reflected in the kitchen. As you can see from the picture I believe that we meet all of the owner expectations with the new cabinets , trim, and columns that we designed to match the existing architectural elements in the house.

This was a fun kitchen to work on and still remains one of my favorite kitchens that I have worked on in the last few years.

Millwork

One of the reasons I have enjoyed my business is that it has given me an excuse to have a professional shop with lots of fun and fascinating tools.

Early on in my business I discovered that much of the work with the houses I worked on involved custom wood trim. So I purchased a small machine that allows me to duplicate vintage trim such as crown, baseboard and casing. Over the years I have collects many knives for this machine and now find that I have a large inventory of blade options for this machine. So I am able to rum trim for jobs I am doing as well as for clients or other contractors.

Included are a few pictures of some crown I ran yesterday for a contractor as well as a picture of my inventory of blades.

New Blog- Welcome

Welcome to my new blog. I have been in business 12 to 15 years and am just now discovering this great new thing called blogging.

I hope you use this blog to promote my business and to keep people up to date on what is happening with my business. I will be posting jobs as well as interesting personal projects I am working on. So I encourage you to check me out often.

My business was born out of my love for old houses. The first two houses I owned and lived in here in Grand Rapids Heritage Hill Historic District are really what drove me to begin doing this as a business. So it seems only fitting that I included pictures of those house. The larger house with a very fine carriage house is the house I use on my logo. In fact the carriage house was a structure I designed and built to match the existing house.